Approaches to Paul: A Student's Guide to Recent Scholarship

by Magnus Zetterholm (Translator)

What distinguishes the "new perspective on Paul" and what lies beyond it? What are scholars saying about Paul and the Roman Empire or about the intersection between feminist and postcolonial interpretation of Paul? Magnus Zetterholm provides a clear and reliable guide to these and other lively issues in the contemporary study of Paul, surveying the history of the principal perspectives on Paul's relation to Judaism and the Jewish law and showing the relationships between answers given to those questions and the assumptions scholars bring to other issues as well. This is an indispensable handbook for the beginning student of the apostle and his thought.

Genres: Religion, New Testament, Theology

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2009

Reviews

[Sanjuro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the books I've read in New Testament studies, and they're in the 100s, I can safely say that few books have humbled me as much as this book has. This is for two reasons; first due to its learned effectiveness, but second, and much more so, because this book, more than almost any other, has cemented for me the fact that it is very, very difficult for scholars, if they're truly being honest, to be completely certain of our interpretations of ancient texts.

With remarkable clarity and brevity Zetterholm has effectively set out in this book a thoughtful and well organized synopsis of all Pauline scholarship over the past 40 years. More than its clarity, the book is remarkable for its fairness, as Zetterholm describes extremely divergent views, from his own and from one another, while offering very little critique - his goal is simply to describe, like a good reporter, the state of the field, and to offer a robust analysis of exactly why certain trends in Pauline scholarship have emerged. His analysis in this regard is especially apt and helpful.

Zetterholm describes both the historical circumstances behind interpretive trends, as well as the critique that each trend has of the others. He details the traditional Protestant views on Paul, as well as the so-called "new perspectives" and the radical new perspectives, giving the views of the major proponents and the philosophical foundations that underlie each.

By the end, Zetterholm notes what the reader has come to understand - the picture is muddy, and it's only getting less clear, not more. And yet he offers hope, in demonstrating that new interpretations often serve to refine old ones, and that better interpretations often emerge as a result. This is proven historically, and already seems to be taking shape in Pauline scholarship. If anyone desires to understand the state of Pauline scholarship over the last 40 years, I know of no better primer.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to the changing scholarly perspective on Paul with a particular focus on the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. This is a scholarly work but you don't need to be a biblical scholar to read it. It really helped me to get a sense of both how the debate over Paul developed historically and what the main threads of the debate were/are and might be in the future. Very glad I stumbled on this at Half Price Books.

[Jose Papo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book! If you want to know all the different readings possible when you read Paul you must buy this book.