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Romans: An Introduction and Study Guide: Empire and Resistance
Sze-kar Wan examines the social and political ramifications of Paul's last and longest letter. By taking seriously Paul's faithfulness to his ancestral tradition, Wan argues that Paul is engaged in ethnic construction by incorporating non-Jews into Ideal Israel. With its claim of universality and the cosmic Son of God installed as king, Ideal Israel stands in pointed opposition to the Roman Empire. Wan presents the Letter to the Romans as Paul's extended argument to his Gentile audience in defence of Ideal Israel and their place in it, without ignoring such prominent themes as good news, faith and belief, eschatology, and the collection for the poor. By also including a reading of Romans 13 as resistance against absolute authority, at variance with historical interpretations that defended American slavery and German Nazism, Wan gives readers a new perspective on a defiant message that can be marshalled to resist oppressive regimes.
136 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 10, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 19, 2026
A small commentary rather than just a guide book, the author goes through the whole book of Romans, section by section.
His thesis is that Paul, when he wrote the book, adopted the universalism that was part of the Roman imperial ideology and applied it to the church. In this sense, the apostle to the gentiles undermines the authority of the state by using the same weapons as the empire itself.
For Paul, Jesus was a leader of a universal community, undivided ethnically. This doesn't imply supersessionism, especially because, as Sze-Kar Wan sees it, Paul is assuming the role of the jewish rabbi trying to lecture the newly converted gentiles on the basics of the Jewish faith. This might seem strange but it is now obvious that Paul wouldn't have ever seen himself as something else than being in the truest tradition of Judaism.
The way the new empire of God assumes universal authority over the world is through a reconcilitation: the enemies of God become His sons. This is also contrasted with the Pax Romana, achieved through violence.
Sze-Kar Wan also spends a great many pages on on chapter 13, problematic through its history of being used in the defence of state-wrought crime. It's not hard to see how this chapter might stand in stark contrast with the rest of how the epistle is read. The author's effort is concentrated on proving that Paul is writing two messages using the same text, by assuming that Roman officials would have been uneducated in the particular valences of the terms used.
His thesis is that Paul, when he wrote the book, adopted the universalism that was part of the Roman imperial ideology and applied it to the church. In this sense, the apostle to the gentiles undermines the authority of the state by using the same weapons as the empire itself.
For Paul, Jesus was a leader of a universal community, undivided ethnically. This doesn't imply supersessionism, especially because, as Sze-Kar Wan sees it, Paul is assuming the role of the jewish rabbi trying to lecture the newly converted gentiles on the basics of the Jewish faith. This might seem strange but it is now obvious that Paul wouldn't have ever seen himself as something else than being in the truest tradition of Judaism.
The way the new empire of God assumes universal authority over the world is through a reconcilitation: the enemies of God become His sons. This is also contrasted with the Pax Romana, achieved through violence.
Sze-Kar Wan also spends a great many pages on on chapter 13, problematic through its history of being used in the defence of state-wrought crime. It's not hard to see how this chapter might stand in stark contrast with the rest of how the epistle is read. The author's effort is concentrated on proving that Paul is writing two messages using the same text, by assuming that Roman officials would have been uneducated in the particular valences of the terms used.
September 21, 2024
This is a must-read when it comes to the study of Romans. It has depth, balance, and is of great import to the understanding of Paul's writing today. It is readable as well, which is always a plus. The only other commentaries that come close to it in importance for me are the one by Mark Nanos and the out-of-print one by Anders Nygren.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews