The collection of essays highlights a dimension of Paul’s theology of justification which has been rather neglected in earlier decades: that his teaching emerged as an integral part of his understanding of his commission to preach the gospel to non-Jews; and that his dismissal of justification ‘by works of the law’ was directed not so much against Jewish ‘legalism’ but rather against his fellow Jews’ assumption that the law remained a dividing wall separating Christian Jews from Christian Gentiles. The long opening essay interacts with critiques of this ‘new perspective on Paul’ and seeks to carry forward the debate on Jewish soteriology (‘covenantal nomism’), on the relation of justification by faith to judgment ‘according to works’, on Christian ‘fulfilment’ of the law, and on the crucial role of Christ, his death and resurrection.
This book is a wonderful resource for anyone wishing to become acquainted in particular with the work of James Dunn, and in general with the so-called ‘new perspective’ on Paul. Preston Sprinkle in Europaische Theologische Zeitschrift 15. Jg. (2006), S. 171
Es ist zu wunschen, dass die uber die kontroverstheologischen Fixierungen des 20. Jh.s weit hinausfuhrenden Anregungen von den Vertretern der anderen theologischen Disziplinen aufgegriffen und produktiv rezipiert werden. Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr in Theologische Literaturzeitung 132. Jg. (2007), S. 168