In 1963 Krister Stendahl, a SwedishNew Testament scholar and Christian theologian, who served as professor emeritus at Harvard Divinity School[6] and is considered by modern biblical scholarship to have been as influential as E. P. Sanders in the development of the "New Perspective on Paul",[7]:63 published a paper arguing that the typical Lutheran view of Paul's theology did not align with statements in Paul's writings, and in fact was based on mistaken assumptions about Paul's beliefs rather than careful interpretation of his writings.[8] Stendahl warned against imposing modern Western ideas on the Bible, and especially on the works of Paul.[8] In 1977 E. P. Sanders, an American New Testament scholar and Christian theologian, published the essay Paul and Palestinian Judaism.[9]
Sanders continued to publish books and articles in this field, and was soon joined by James D. G. Dunn, a British New Testament scholar and Wesleyan theologian who served as President of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas in 2002. Dunn reports that N. T. Wright, a British New Testament scholar and Anglican theologian who served as bishop of Durham from 2003 to 2010, was the first to use the term "New Perspective on Paul" in his 1978 Tyndale lecture.[10] The term became more widely known after being used by Dunn as the title of his 1982 Manson Memorial lecture, where he summarized and affirmed the movement.[11][12] The work of these writers inspired a large number of scholars to study, discuss, and debate the relevant issues. Many books and articles dealing with the issues raised have since been published. N.T. Wright has written a large number of works aimed at popularising the "new perspective" outside of academia.[13]
It is often noted that the singular title "New Perspective" gives an unjustified impression of unity.[17] In 2003 N. T. Wright, distancing himself from both Sanders and Dunn, commented that "there are probably almost as many 'new' perspective positions as there are writers espousing it—and I disagree with most of them".[18]
By contrast, "New Perspective" scholars see Paul as talking about "badges of covenant membership" or criticizing Gentile believers who had begun to rely on the Torah to reckon Jewish kinship.[21] It is argued that in Paul's time, Israelites were being faced with a choice of whether to continue to follow their ancestral customs, the Torah, or to follow the Roman Empire's trend to adopt Greek customs (Hellenization, see also Antinomianism, Hellenistic Judaism, and Circumcision controversy in early Christianity). The new-perspective view is that Paul's writings discuss the comparative merits of following ancient Israelite or ancient Greek customs. Paul is interpreted as being critical of a common Jewish view that following traditional Israelite customs makes a person better off before God, pointing out that Abraham was righteous before the Torah was given. Paul identifies customs he is concerned about such as circumcision, dietary laws, and observance of special days.[19][20][22]
Craig A. Evans argues that a text of the Dead Sea Scrolls known as 4QMMT employs the expression "works of the Law" to refer solely to purity laws like avoiding eating with Gentiles, which he argues shows that Paul's criticism of salvation through "works of the Law" was meant that Gentiles need not adopt Jewish purity laws in order to be justified.[23]
Recent studies of the Greek word pistis have concluded that its primary and most common meaning was faithfulness, meaning firm commitment in an interpersonal relationship.[24][25][26][27]
Grace, or favor
Writers with a more historic Protestant perspective have generally translated the Greek word charis as "grace" and understood it to refer to the idea that there is a lack of human effort in salvation because God is the controlling factor. Proponents of the New Perspective argue that "favor" is a better translation, as the word refers normally to "doing a favor". In ancient societies, there was the expectation that such favors be repaid, and this semi-formal system of favors acted like loans.[28] Gift giving corresponded with the expectation of reciprocity.[29] Therefore, it is argued that when Paul speaks of how God did us a "favor" by sending Jesus, he is saying that God took the initiative, but is not implying a lack of human effort in salvation, and is in fact implying that Christians have an obligation to repay the favor God has done for them. Some argue that this view then undermines the initial "favor"—of sending Jesus—by saying that, despite his life, death and resurrection, Christians still have, as before, to earn their way to heaven. However, others note this is the horns of a false dilemma (all grace versus all works). Many new-perspective proponents that see "charis" as "favor" do not teach that Christians earn their way to heaven outside of the death of Christ. Forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ is still necessary to salvation. But, that forgiveness demands effort on the part of the individual (cf. Paul in Phil. 3:12–16).[30]
To writers of the historic Protestant perspectives, the penal substitution atonement theory and the belief in the "finished work" of Christ have been central. "New Perspective" scholars have regularly questioned whether this view is really of such central importance in Paul's writings. Generally, "New Perspective" scholars have argued that other theories of the atonement are more central to Paul's thinking, but there has been minimal agreement among them as to what Paul's real view of the atonement might be.
The following is a broad sample of different views advocated by various scholars:
E. P. Sanders argued that Paul's central idea was that we mystically spiritually participate in the risen Christ and that all Paul's judicial language was subordinate to the participatory language.[9]
N. T. Wright has argued that Paul sees Israel as representative of humanity and taking onto itself the sinfulness of humanity through history. Jesus, in turn, as Messiah is representative of Israel and so focuses the sins of Israel on himself on the cross. Wright's view is thus a "historicized" form of Penal Substitution.[31]
Chris VanLandingham has argued that Paul sees Christ as having defeated the Devil and as teaching humans how God wants them to live and setting them an example.[32]
David Brondos has argued that Paul sees Jesus as just a part in a wider narrative in which the Church is working to transform lives of individuals and the world, and that Paul's participatory language should be understood in an ethical sense (humans living Christ-like lives) rather than mystically as Sanders thought.[33]
Stephen Finlan holds that Paul uses numerous different metaphors to describe the atonement; "justified by his blood" (Rom 5:9) means that a cultic substance has a judicial effect. Paul also taught the transformation of believers into the image of God through Christ (Theosis).[35]
Criticism
The "New Perspective on Paul" has been a controversial subject and has drawn strong arguments and recriminations from both sides of the debate.[36]
In 2003 Steve Chalke, after being influenced by "New Perspective" scholars, published a book targeted at a popular audience which made comments that were interpreted as being highly critical of the penal substitution theory of the atonement.[37] This caused an extensive and ongoing controversy among conservative Evangelicals in the United Kingdom, with a strong backlash from laypeople and advocates of the historic Protestant traditions.[38]
The continuing controversy led to the Evangelical Alliance organising a symposium in July 2005 to discuss the issue. A record of this symposium includes a chapter by Chalke and his views are also contained in "the atonement debate".[39][40][41] A group of three conservative Evangelical theologians responded to Chalke with their book, Pierced for our Transgressions (Crossway Publishing, 2007), which strongly criticised Chalke's position as inconsistent with some evangelical confessions of faith.[42][43] However, N. T. Wright endorsed Chalke and spoke out against the latter book, commenting, for instance, that 'despite the ringing endorsements of famous men, it [Pierced For Our Transgressions] is deeply, profoundly, and disturbingly unbiblical.'[44]
The most outspoken critics of the "New Perspective on Paul" include Douglas Moo,[45]Tom Schreiner,[46]Wayne Grudem,[47] Robert J Cara,[48]John Piper,[49]Sinclair Ferguson,[50] C. W. Powell,[51] Tom Holland,[52] and Ligon Duncan.[53] In 2015, John M.G. Barclay published Paul and the Gift which re-frames Paul's theology of grace and, in doing so, provides a nuanced critique of the "New Perspective".[54] The book has been praised for keeping grace at the center of Paul's theology while illuminating how grace, understood in light of ancient theories of gift, demands reciprocity and thus the formation of new communities based not on ethnicity but the unqualified Christ-gift (much like the "New Perspective").[55][56]
Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox reactions
The "New Perspective on Paul" has, by and large, been an internal debate among Protestantbiblical scholars. Many Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox scholars have responded favorably to the "New Perspective", seeing a greater commonality with certain strands of their own traditions.[57]
↑ For example, Wright, NT (1997), What Saint Paul Really Said, Eerdmans, chapter 4 (pp 63-75).
↑ Esler, Philip F.Conflict and Identity in Romans: The Social Setting of Paul's Letter. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.
↑ Malina, Bruce J. & Neyrey, Jerome H., Portraits of Paul: An Archaeology of Ancient Personality, Louisville: John Knox Press, 1996.
↑ Neyrey, Jerome H., Paul, in Other Words: A Cultural Reading of His Letters. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990.
↑ Nanos, Mark D.; Zetterholm, Magnus, eds. (2015). Paul within Judaism: restoring the first-century context to the apostle. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press. pp.277–278. ISBN978-1-4514-9428-0.
↑ For "badges of covenant membership", see N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Romans part one (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2004), 35–41. 5. For reliance on the Torah to reckon Jewish kinship, see Eisenbaum, Pamela (Winter 2004). "A Remedy for Having Been Born of Woman: Jesus, Gentiles, and Genealogy in Romans"(PDF). Journal of Biblical Literature. 123 (4). The Society of Biblical Literature: 671–702. doi:10.2307/3268465. JSTOR3268465. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
↑ Dunn, James D. 'The New Perspective on Paul', 104, 2005.
↑ Douglas A. Campbell, "The Quest For Paul's Gospel: A Suggested Strategy", 2005, pp. 178–207
↑ Hay, D. M. (1989). "Pistis as "Ground for Faith" in Hellenized Judaism and Paul". Journal of Biblical Literature. 108 (3): 461–476. doi:10.2307/3267114. JSTOR3267114.
↑ Despotis, A. 2014, Die "New Perspective on Paul" und die griechisch-orthodoxe Paulusinterpretation, [VIOTh 11], St. Ottilien: EOS-Verlag, ISBN978-3-8306-7705-5
Badenas, Robert, Christ the End of the Law, Romans 10.4 in Pauline Perspective, 1985. ISBN0-905774-93-0
Despotis, Athanasios (2014), Die "New Perspective on Paul" und die griechisch-orthodoxe Paulusinterpretation, VIOTh, St. Ottilien: EOS, ISBN978-3-8306-7705-5
——— (2017), Participation, Justification and Conversion: Eastern Orthodox Interpretation of Paul and the Debate between Old and New Perspectives on Paul, WUNT II, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Oropeza, B. J. and Scot McKnight, "Paul in Perspective: An Overview of the Landscape More Than Forty Years after Paul and Palestinian Judaism." Pages 1–23 in Perspectives on Paul: Five Views. (Baker Academic Books), 2020 ISBN978-1-5409-6075-7
Smith, Barry D., What Must I Do to Be Saved? Paul Parts Company with His Jewish Heritage, 2007.
Pitre, Brant; Barber, Michael P.; Kincaid, John A., Paul, a New Covenant Jew: Rethinking Pauline Theology. (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing), 2019 ISBN978-1-4674-5703-3
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