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Paul
172 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1953
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 27, 2024
THE FOUNDER OF FORM CRITICISM LOOKS AT THE APOSTLE
Martin Dibelius (1883-1947) was a German theologian and New Testament professor at the University of Heidelberg. He also wrote books such as 'From Tradition to Gospel,' 'Jesus,' etc.
Editor Werner Georg Kümmel explained in his 1949 Editor's Note, "When Martin Dibelius died ... he left six and a half chapters of a manuscript of a small book on Paul which was to be published ... Those chapters were almost ready for the press, but of the rest of the manuscript there was nothing except the headings of the chapters and a rough indication of the scope of what was still to be written... I willingly accepted [Dibelius's wife's] suggestion that I should try to take my late teacher's place by revising the manuscript for the press and adding the parts that were still lacking... the text of the first seven chapters ... is as Dr. Dibelius intended it.. The rest ... has been added by me." (Pg. vii)
He observes, "It is unlikely that Paul would have become the great Christian missionary if his home had not been in this wider Judaism, if he had not been able to read and write Greek and possessed the Septuagint as his Bible, if he had not been used to accommodating himself to foreign customs, and if he had not had an eye for the wider world of highways by land and sea and for the great cities of the Mediterranean world." (Pg. 21)
He asks, "Who can say whether Paul himself did not keep the Jewish ritual of prayers in his own private life? The radical nature of his faith was shown in another matter, and one must be careful not to put him down as a 'Protestant.' At least once in his letters he took for granted a Jewish custom even in the churches of Gentile Christians, the reason being that it was in force in all the Christian churches: this was when he forbade the women of Corinth to pull down the veil covering their hair, when they were in prophetic ecstasy or praying extempore." (Pg. 38) Later, he adds, "We know (see p. 38) that in his personal life Paul held fast to the religious customs of Judaism, without connecting with them any idea of merit, and without imposing any obligation on his churches to observe them." (Pg. 79)
He suggests, "The most vital link between Jesus and Paul is this: the essence of Jesus' gospel was found in the nature of his Church; and the nature of that Church compelled Paul to realise beyond doubt that what leads men to God is not their pious deeds, but only divine grace and human readiness to receive it." (Pg. 56) He asserts, "the apostle's belief in the approaching end determined his methods as a missionary; he did not spend his time on baptising, or, in the main, on what we call organization." (Pg. 86-87) He says, "Again and again we are compelled to realize that just when we think we see Paul on the path of mysticism, a sudden turn or an unexpected choice of words shows that his inward experiences are different from those of the mystic." (Pg. 108)
This book will be of value to anyone critically studying the life and teachings of Paul.
Martin Dibelius (1883-1947) was a German theologian and New Testament professor at the University of Heidelberg. He also wrote books such as 'From Tradition to Gospel,' 'Jesus,' etc.
Editor Werner Georg Kümmel explained in his 1949 Editor's Note, "When Martin Dibelius died ... he left six and a half chapters of a manuscript of a small book on Paul which was to be published ... Those chapters were almost ready for the press, but of the rest of the manuscript there was nothing except the headings of the chapters and a rough indication of the scope of what was still to be written... I willingly accepted [Dibelius's wife's] suggestion that I should try to take my late teacher's place by revising the manuscript for the press and adding the parts that were still lacking... the text of the first seven chapters ... is as Dr. Dibelius intended it.. The rest ... has been added by me." (Pg. vii)
He observes, "It is unlikely that Paul would have become the great Christian missionary if his home had not been in this wider Judaism, if he had not been able to read and write Greek and possessed the Septuagint as his Bible, if he had not been used to accommodating himself to foreign customs, and if he had not had an eye for the wider world of highways by land and sea and for the great cities of the Mediterranean world." (Pg. 21)
He asks, "Who can say whether Paul himself did not keep the Jewish ritual of prayers in his own private life? The radical nature of his faith was shown in another matter, and one must be careful not to put him down as a 'Protestant.' At least once in his letters he took for granted a Jewish custom even in the churches of Gentile Christians, the reason being that it was in force in all the Christian churches: this was when he forbade the women of Corinth to pull down the veil covering their hair, when they were in prophetic ecstasy or praying extempore." (Pg. 38) Later, he adds, "We know (see p. 38) that in his personal life Paul held fast to the religious customs of Judaism, without connecting with them any idea of merit, and without imposing any obligation on his churches to observe them." (Pg. 79)
He suggests, "The most vital link between Jesus and Paul is this: the essence of Jesus' gospel was found in the nature of his Church; and the nature of that Church compelled Paul to realise beyond doubt that what leads men to God is not their pious deeds, but only divine grace and human readiness to receive it." (Pg. 56) He asserts, "the apostle's belief in the approaching end determined his methods as a missionary; he did not spend his time on baptising, or, in the main, on what we call organization." (Pg. 86-87) He says, "Again and again we are compelled to realize that just when we think we see Paul on the path of mysticism, a sudden turn or an unexpected choice of words shows that his inward experiences are different from those of the mystic." (Pg. 108)
This book will be of value to anyone critically studying the life and teachings of Paul.
December 3, 2021
Dibelius was one of the great biblical scholars of the 20th century. He died before completing this work, and his student W.G. Kümmel edited and completed it. Both Dibelius and Kümmel are hardcore fans of Paul, and the book overall puts forth a view of (Pauline) Christianity as an entirely novel religious phenomenon in the Greco-Roman world, quite distinct from the supposed "nature religion" of pagan piety on one hand, and Judaism on the. Paul is presented as a theologian who apprehended the system of Christianity right from the start, and for whom the challenges of his career as an evangelist called only for explication of the system of his gospel, never addition or correction. Finally, Judaism is dismissed as a religion of "works" definitively superseded by Christianity. Research since the mid-20th century has cast considerable doubt on all these claims, so this is a work of interest to a fairly narrow audience today, scholars of the history of modern biblical studies.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews