Paul and the Apocalyptic Imagination

by Ben C. Blackwell, John K. Goodrich, Jason Maston

Since the mid-twentieth century, apocalyptic thought has been championed as a central category for understanding the New Testament writings and the letters of Paul above all. But “apocalyptic” has meant different things to different scholars. Even the assertion of an “apocalyptic Paul” has been contested: does it mean the invasive power of God that breaks with the present age (Ernst Käsemann), or the broader scope of revealed heavenly mysteries, including the working out of a “many-staged plan of salvation” (N. T. Wright), or something else altogether? Paul and the Apocalyptic Imagination brings together eminent Pauline scholars from diverse perspectives, along with experts of Second Temple Judaism, Hellenistic philosophy, patristics, and modern theology, to explore the contours of the current debate. Contributors discuss the history of what apocalypticism, and an “apocalyptic Paul,” have meant at different times and for different interpreters; examine different aspects of Paul’s thought and practice to test the usefulness of the category; and show how different implicit understandings of apocalypticism shape different contemporary presentations of Paul’s significance.

405 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 3, 2016

About the author

Ben C. Blackwell is Associate Professor of Early Christianity and Director of Houston Theological Seminary at Houston Baptist University as well as Tutor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Centre. After studying with John Barclay at the University of Durham (UK) and serving as the research assistant for N.T. Wright, Ben moved to Houston to teach New Testament and theology at HBU.

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deep dive into Pauline studies not for the timid. A series of essays examining Paul's understanding and use of the apocalyptic event of Christ's birth, return and what the period between these events is. For me these articles introduced new perspectives into what Paul was saying and how he was saying it within his epistles - some articles did that well, others seemed to quickly devolve into an academic polemic that quickly lost the fact that Paul was preaching the Gospel, not writing for a doctorate thesis. For some of the articles its helpful to have a bit of an understanding of Koine Greek, or at a minimum, have a reverse interlinear reference near by to help with key Greek phrases and terms. If you want to understand the current state of Pauline apocalyptic studies this is the book to read.

[Neil White · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of papers presented for the Society of Biblical Literature and it highlights the disagreement among scholars about what it means to talk about Paul and the Apocalyptic. There are some very solid papers in this but it is a very technical work and there are times where the quest for concreteness reflects our Western way of reading. The quote of Richard B. Hays at the end of the last article is reflective of where I find myself: "to understand "apocalyptic" in Paul, we must attend to the gospel's imaginative remaking of the world. To interpret the apocalyptic rhetoric and theology of Galatians we must reflect on the poetics of the letter, the way in which Paul deploys language and imagery to reshape the symbolic world in which his readers live and move."

[Vic · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Completed first three or so chapters): Good introduction and great range of top scholarship in the field.

[Kwan Qi Xiang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good discussion of different views of the apocalyptic theme, with strong dissonances between them on display. Yet, both main camps set up in the introduction converge powerfully upon the heart of Christianity - the God who has revealed Himself, and continues to do so, and who will continue to do so until the end.