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This important work challenges the validity of the -New Perspective- on Paul and Judaism. Working with new data fom Jewish literature and a fresh reading of Romans 1-5, Simon Gathercole produces a far-reaching criticism of the current approach to Paul and points a new way forward.
Building on a detailed examination of the past generation of scholarship on Paul and early Judaism, Gathercole's work follows two paths. First, he shows that while early Judaism was not truly oriented around legalistic works-righteousness, it did consider obedience to the Law to be an important criterion at the final judgment. On the basis of this reconstruction of Jewish thought and a rereading of Romans 1-5, Gathercole advances his main argument -- that Paul did indeed combat a Jewish perspective that saw obedience to the Law both as possible and as a criterion for vindication at the final judgment. Paul's reply is that obedience to the Law is not a criterion for the final judgment because human nature makes obedience to the Law impossible. His doctrine of justification can therefore be properly viewed in its Jewish context, yet anthropological issues also take center stage.
Info autore
Simon Gathercole is professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Cambridge. He is chair of the NIV translation committee and has served as editor of the
Journal for the Study of the New Testament and
New Testament Studies. His publications include
The Apocryphal Gospels,
The Gospel and the Gospels: Christian Proclamation and Early Jesus Books, and
The Genuine Jesus and the Counterfeit Christs: New Testament and Apocryphal Gospels.
