Paul within Judaism: Restoring the First-Century Context to the Apostle

384 Pages·2015·2.24 MB·English

by  Mark D. Nanos (Author

BeyoNd the “New PersPective” N
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In this collection, a group of renowned international scholars seek to describe Paul and his work from N
“within Judaism,” rather than on the assumption, still current after thirty years of the “New Perspective,” o
that in practice Paul left behind aspects of Jewish living after his discovery of Jesus as Christ (Messiah). s

After an introduction that surveys recent studies of Paul and highlights the centrality of questions about a
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Paul’s Judaism, chapters explore the implications of reading Paul’s instructions as aimed at Christ-fol- d

lowing non-Jews, teaching them how to live in ways consistent with Judaism while remaining non-Jews. Z
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The contributors take different methodological points of departure: historical, ideological-critical,
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gender-critical, and empire-critical, and examine issues of terminology and of interfaith relations. Sur-
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prising common ground among the contributors presents a coherent alternative to the “New Perspec- e
tive.” The volume concludes with a critical evaluation of the Paul within Judaism perspective by Terence r
L. Donaldson, a well-known voice representative of the best insights of the New Perspective. h
o
l
coNteNts
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introduction
Mark D. Nanos
1. Paul within Judaism: the state of the Questions
Magnus Zetterholm
2. the Question of terminology: the architecture of contemporary discussions on Paul
Anders Runesson
3. the Question of assumptions: torah observance in the First century P
Karin Hedner Zetterholm a
4. the Question of conceptualization: Qualifying Paul’s Position on circumcision in dialogue
u
with Josephus’s advisors to King izates
Mark D. Nanos l
5. the Question of identity: Gentiles as Gentiles—but also Not—in Pauline communities
w
Caroline Johnson Hodge
6. the Question of worship: Gods, Pagans, and the redemption of israel i
t
Paula Fredriksen
h
7. the Question of Politics: Paul as a diaspora Jew under roman rule
i
Neil Elliott
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8. the Question(s) of Gender: relocating Paul in relation to Judaism
Kathy Ehrensperger J
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9. Paul within Judaism: a critical evaluation from a “New Perspective” Perspective
Terence L. Donaldson d
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MArk D. NANoS is lecturer at the University of kansas and author of The Mystery of Romans
(Fortress Press, 1996) and The Irony of Galatians (Fortress Press, 2002). i
s
MAgNUS ZeTTerhoLM is associate professor in New Testament studies at Lund University m
and author of Approaches to Paul: A Student’s Guide to Recent Scholarship (Fortress Press, 2009) and The Formation
of Christianity in Antioch (2003); he edited The Messiah: In Early Judaism and Christianity (Fortress Press, 2007).
reLIgIoN / New TeSTAMeNT
Paul within Judaism

Paul within Judaism
Restoring the First-Century Context to the Apostle
Mark D. Nanos and Magnus Zetterholm,
editors
Fortress Press
Minneapolis
PAUL WITHIN JUDAISM
Restoring the First-Century Context to the Apostle
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Contents
Contributors vii
Introduction 1
Mark D. Nanos
1. Paul within Judaism: The State of the Questions 31
Magnus Zetterholm
2. The Question of Terminology: 53
The Architecture of Contemporary Discussions
on Paul
Anders Runesson
3. The Question of Assumptions: Torah Observance 79
in the First Century
Karin Hedner Zetterholm
4. The Question of Conceptualization: Qualifying 105
Paul’s Position on Circumcision in Dialogue with
Josephus’s Advisors to King Izates
Mark D. Nanos
5. The Question of Identity: Gentiles as 153
Gentiles—but also Not—in Pauline Communities
Caroline Johnson Hodge
6. The Question of Worship: Gods, Pagans, and the 175
Redemption of Israel
Paula Fredriksen
7. The Question of Politics: Paul as a Diaspora Jew 203
under Roman Rule
Neil Elliott
8. The Question(s) of Gender: Relocating Paul in 245
Relation to Judaism
Kathy Ehrensperger
9. Paul within Judaism: A Critical Evaluation from a 277
“New Perspective” Perspective
Terence L. Donaldson
Bibliography 303
Index of Modern Authors 329
Index of Biblical and Ancient References 335
Contributors
KathyEhrenspergerisReaderinNewTestamentStudiesatTrinity
St. David College, University of Wales. She is the author of That We
MayBeMutuallyEncouraged:FeminismandtheNewPerspectiveonPaul
(T & T Clark, 2004); Paul and the Dynamics of Power: Communication
and Interaction in the Early Christ-Movement (T & T Clark, 2007); and
Paul at the Crossroads of Cultures: Theologizing in the Space Between(T
& T Clark, 2013).
Neil Elliott is Acquiring Editor in biblical studies at Fortress Press.
He is the author of The Rhetoric of Romans (1990; Fortress Press
edition,2005);Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the
Apostle (1994; Fortress Press edition, 2006); The Arrogance of Nations:
Reading Romans in the Shadow of Empire (Paul in Critical Contexts;
FortressPress,2008);and,withMarkReasoner,DocumentsandImages
for the Study of Paul (Fortress Press, 2010).
Paula Fredriksen is the Aurelio Professor of Scripture emerita at
Boston University, and currently Distinguished Visiting Professor at
The Hebrew University, Jerusalem. She is the author of From Jesus
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PAUL WITHIN JUDAISM
to Christ (2nd ed., Yale University Press, 2000); Jesus of Nazareth,
King of the Jews (Knopf, 1999); Augustine and the Jews: A Christian
DefenseofJewsandJudaism(YaleUniversityPress,2010);andSin:The
Early History of an Idea (Princeton University Press, 2012). She also
edited with Adele Reinhartz and contributed to Jesus, Judaism, and
Christian Anti-Judaism: Reading the New Testament After the Holocaust
(Westminster John Knox, 2002). Her latest book, Paul, the Pagans’
Apostle,is forthcoming from Yale University Press.
Karin Hedner Zetterholm is Associate Professor in Jewish Studies
at Lund University. She is the author of Jewish Interpretation of the
Bible: Ancient and Contemporary (Fortress Press, 2012); Portrait of a
Villain: Laban the Aramean in Rabbinic Literature (Peeters, 2002); and
various articles on the impact of Jesus-oriented Judaism on rabbinic
Judaism.
Caroline Johnson Hodge is Associate Professor at the College of
the Holy Cross. She is the author of If Sons, Then Heirs: A Study of
Kinship and Ethnicity in the Letters of Paul (Oxford University Press,
2007). Her essays include “Married to an Unbeliever: Households,
Hierarchies and Holiness in 1 Corinthians 7:12-16,” Harvard
Theological Review 103, no. 1 (2010): 1–25; “A Light to the Nations:
The Role of Israel in Romans 9-11,” in Reading Romans, ed. Jerry
L. Sumney (Society of Biblical Literature, 2011); “Paul and Ethnicity
and Race,” in the Oxford Handbook of Pauline Studies, ed. Barry
Matlock (Oxford University Press, forthcoming); “Daily Devotions:
Stowers’s Modes of Religion Meet Tertullian’s ad Uxorem,” in “The
One Who Sows Bountifully”: Essays in Honor of Stanley K. Stowers,
eds. Caroline Johnson Hodge, Saul M. Olyan, Daniel Ullucci, and
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CONTRIBUTORS
Emma Wasserman (Brown Judaic Studies, 2013), 43–54; and“Mixed
MarriageinEarlyChristianity:TrajectoriesfromCorinth,”inCorinth
in Contrast: Studies in Inequality, eds. Steve Friesen, Dan Showalter,
and Sarah James (Brill, 2014).
Mark D. Nanos is a Lecturer at University of Kansas. He is the
author of The Mystery of Romans: The Jewish Context of Paul’s Letter
(Fortress Press, 1996); The Irony of Galatians: Paul’s Letter in First-
CenturyContext(FortressPress,2002);andtheeditorofTheGalatians
Debate: Contemporary Issues in Rhetorical and Historical Interpretation
(Hendrickson, 2002) and “Paul between Jews and Christians,” a
special issue of Biblical Interpretation 13, no. 3 (2005). He has written
many essays on the topic of reading Paul within Judaism, including
“PaulandJudaism:WhyNotPaul’sJudaism?”inPaulUnbound:Other
Perspectives on the Apostle, ed. Mark Douglas Given (Hendrickson,
2010), 117–60; “Romans” and “Paul and Judaism,” for The Jewish
Annotated New Testament, eds. Marc Brettler and Amy-Jill Levine
(Oxford, 2011); and “Paul: A Jewish View,” in Four Views on the
Apostle Paul (Zondervan, 2012).
Anders Runesson is Associate Professor of New Testament and
Early Judaism at McMaster University. He is the author of The
OriginsoftheSynagogue:ASocio-HistoricalStudy(Almqvist&Wiksell
International, 2001); O That You Would Tear Open the Heavens and
Come Down! On the Historical Jesus, Jonas Gardell, and the Breath
of God (Libris and Artos, 2011; in Swedish); and Divine Wrath and
Salvation in Matthew (Fortress Press, forthcoming 2015). In addition
to numerous articles on Matthew’s Gospel, Paul, and ancient Jewish-
Christianrelations,heistheco-editorofTheAncientSynagogue:From
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