Paul's Rhetoric in Its Contexts: The Argument of Romans

by Thomas H. Tobin

Paul's Rhetoric in Its Contexts offers a substantially new interpretation of Romans, looking in detail at the specific contexts in which Paul wrote the letter, the internal literary cues to its structure, and the rhetoric and philosophical style of his arguments. The resulting interpretation is not a commentary. Rather, it offers new and perhaps truer views of Paul's actual concerns and objectives in writing the letter and to the arguments he makes in it. According to Tobin, Paul wrote this letter as a response to the Roman Christian community's suspicion of him because of his controversial past and writing, rethinking and revising some of the positions he took earlier in his letters to the Galatian and Corinthian churches. Tobin argues that, while recent ecumenically minded works have moved beyond longstanding denominational interpretations to offer a broader perspective on Romans, they have still not broken through the basic framework itself of these interpretations. For example, while most interpreters have moved beyond taking denominational positions in the interpretation of Romans on such topics as justification by faith, salvation, or "the works of the law," the belief has remained that these topics are, indeed, what Paul's letter to the Romans is about. This substantial reevaluation of Romans provides a rich array of fresh perspectives on the book, offering new ways to understand and use the letter, both in the interpretation of early Christianity and in contemporary theological discussion. Scholars and pastors alike will find the bibliography, outline, and indexes useful.

Genres: New Testament

496 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for Lent Hardcore Bible study with James' bookclub.

Although I converted to Catholicism last year, I have never considered myself to be a big fan of Paul. From the homilies I heard given by various pastors on the various letters, I found Paul's view of the Gospel's to be narrow and rigid, and kind of strange candidate for the "word of God".

But that's because I wasn't reading Paul IN CONTEXT. In each of his letters, Paul is writing to a very specific audience. In this case, he is writing to the Roman Christian community, and dealing specifically with the problem of the place of the Mosaic law in the practice of the new Christian community, and also its historical role in general. Displaying a very nuanced, "history-as-a-system" (looking at you Ortega y Gasset) understanding of faith, Paul argues that the mosaic law used to be necessary, but isn't necessary now because Christ showed us a better way (to love one's neighbor). In fact, following Christ leads to fulfilling the spirit of the law, although not necessarily the letter.

However, Paul also displays quite a bit of humility and nuance in suggesting that the law (or its variations) maybe is still required for the less strong-willed among us in the community. And thus in the interest of the coherence of the community, we shouldn't begrudge them that.

I came away impressed with Paul's rhetoric (or at least Tobin's understanding of it), and wishing that Christians actually made an effort to understand these letters in their context, rather than the out of context quoting that can be used to justify almost anything now. Tobin's reading of the evolution of Paul's rhetoric (Romans was a response to the bad impression left by Galatians), and the idea that there could be an evolution of ideas/practices within the faith was something I really liked. A reading of God as immutable and always right doesn't really fit with the narrative of the Old Testament, or the rhetorical struggle evidenced in the letters. Maybe we want to think of God and the faith as something closer to the process of evolution: something that is growing and evolving towards a teleological end. Heretical probably I know, but wasn't Paul a heretic to some in his time?