THY 502: Christian Scriptures: Paul

A respected expert on Paul's writings, Klaus Haacker presents this introduction to the theology of the Letter to the Romans to complete Cambridge's New Testament Theology series. Haacker focuses on themes such as righteousness, mission, the "mystery of Israel", suffering and hope, and preaching. Engaging with Paul's rhetoric, he reveals how ancient Rome and the Christian reinterpretation of the legal heritage of Israel provide contexts for the Letter. The book will be of interest to teachers, pastors, and students of theology and the New Testament.

In this volume, leading scholars in the study of Romans invite students and nonspecialists to engage this text and thus come to a more complete understanding of both the letter and Paul's theology. The contributors include interpreters with different understandings of Romans so that readers see a range of interpretations of central issues in the study of the text. Each essay includes a short review of different positions on a topic and an argument for the author's position, set out in clear, nontechnical terms, making the volume an ideal classroom tool.

Prior to the middle of the fourth century, the exegesis of St. Paul had been monopolized by Greek and Syriac commentators. Then, in the space of half a century (c. 360 - c. 409), there appeared no less than 52 commentaries by six different Latin authors. This sudden flurry of literary activity has been dubbed the western "Renaissance of Paul." Jerome's commentaries on four Pauline epistles (Galatians, Ephesians, Titus, Philemon), which he composed in 386 shortly after establishing himself in Bethlehem, occupy a central place in this relatively short but prolific segment of the history of Pauline exegesis in Latin. Jerome was the greatest biblical scholar of the ancient Latin church, and his Commentary on Galatians is one of the crowning achievements of his illustrious career. It far outclasses the five other contemporary Latin commentaries on Galatians in its breadth of classical and patristic erudition, Hebrew and Greek textual criticism of the Bible, and expository thoroughness. It is unique also because it is the only one of the Latin commentaries to make the Greek exegetical tradition its main point of reference. Jerome's Commentary in fact preserves, in one form or another, a treasure-trove of otherwise lost Greek exegesis, particularly Origen's Commentary on Galatians, from which he worked very closely when composing his own work. Jerome's Commentary on Galatians is presented here in English translation in its entirety. The introduction and notes situate the Commentary in its historical, exegetical, and theological contexts and also provide extensive coverage of ancient and modern scholarly debates about the interpretation of Paul's epistle. ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR: Andrew Cain is associate professor of classics at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has published widely on Jerome and other late Latin writers. He has authored The Letters of Jerome: Asceticism, Biblical Exegesis, and the Construction of Christian Authority in Late Antiquity and has co-edited Jerome of Stridon: His Life, Writings, and Legacy as well as The Power of Religion in Late Antiquity.

This anthology is a thorough introduction to classic literature for those who have not yet experienced these literary masterworks. For those who have known and loved these works in the past, this is an invitation to reunite with old friends in a fresh new format. From Shakespeare's finesse to Oscar Wilde's wit, this unique collection brings together works as diverse and influential as The Pilgrim's Progress and Othello. As an anthology that invites readers to immerse themselves in the masterpieces of the literary giants, it is must-have addition to any library.

This new commentary in the New Testament Library series is not a systematic study of Pauline theology; rather, the aim of this study is to trace Paul's theology as it unfolds in his letter to the church at Galatia, and to attempt to illuminate, as far as possible, how the Galatians likely comprehended it, at the time they received it. The author asks readers to imagine themselves as silent witnesses to Paul's dictation of the letter and to observe, through a historical perspective, how the Galatian Christians might have understood Paul's words.

Exhaustive recent scholarship has focused on Paul's insistence that Gentiles be granted equal status with the Jews as members of the people of God. Tet-Lim Yee's study of Ephesians 2 reveals how the distinctively Jewish world view underlies this key text and he highlight's the reconciling work of Christ for both Jew and Gentile. His study represents an important contribution to the continuing reassessment of Christian and Jewish interaction during the critical period of the latter decades of the first century CE.