Paul & the Law: A Contextual Approach, By Frank Thielman
Paul & the Law
Paperback
  • Length: 336 pages
  • Dimensions: 6 × 9 in
  • Published: November 14, 1995
  • Imprint: IVP Academic
  • ISBN: 9780830818549

No issue in contemporary Pauline studies is more contested than Paul's view of the law. Headline proponents of the "new perspective" on Paul, such as E.P. Sanders and J.D.G. Dunn, have maintained that the Reformational readings of Paul have led todistorted understandings of first-century Judaism, of Paul and particularly of Paul's diagnosis of the Jewish situation under the law. Others have responded by arguing that while our understanding of Paul needs to be tuned to the clearer sounds nowemanating from Jewish texts of the apostle's day, the basic Reformational insight into Paul's analysis of the human plight remains true to the apostle. Paul was opposing works righteousness.Paul and The Law is a careful attempt to assault this crucial interpretive problem with a new strategy. Rather than taking a systematic, topical approach, Frank Thielman examines Paul's view of the law in context: the context of each letter's language and argument. While many studies have focused onPaul's explicit statements about the law, Thielman goes further in investigating those contexts where Paul's language is allusive and his view implied.The result is an illuminating and significant contribution to Pauline studies. Paul and the Law clarifies our understanding of Paul's perspective on the law in the light of his gospel of Jesus Christ, and it reaffirms the coherence and integrity of Pauline theology as it relates to this pivotal axis of his thought.

CONTENTS

Preface
1. Paul, The Law Judaism
The Creation Collapse of a Theological Consensus
2. Oppression, Election Salvation
The Law of Moses the Hope of Israel in the Time of Paul
3. Sanctified Gentiles in Thessalonica
A Paradox in the Thessalonian Letters
4. Sanctified Gentiles in Corinth
The Paradox Intensifies
5. Old Covenant New in the Corinthian Letters
The Paradox Explained
6. The Law of Moses the Law of Christ in Galatians
7. Rubbish Resource
The Law of Moses in Phillippians
8. The Law of Moses, The Human Plight the Law of Faith in Romans 1-4
9. Old Covenant Sin New Covenant Sanctity in Romans 5-15
10. Old Convictions in New Settings: The Law of Moses in Paul's Later Letters
11. Paul the Law in Context
Notes
Bibliography
Scripture Index

Index of Modern Authors
Subject Index

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Frank Thielman

Thielman is associate professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author of From Plight to Solution: A Jewish Framework for Understanding Paul's View of the Law in Galatians and Romans. (Brill).