Divine and Human Agency in Paul and his Cultural Environment

(Paperback)

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Description

Since the work of E.P. Sanders, most modern approaches to this topic have been focused on social or sociological aspects of the issue (particularly in relation to Paul's mission to the Gentiles), but the last few years have seen an increasing willingness to open up questions seemingly 'settled' in the New Perspective, and a renewed desire to examine the structures of theology concerning grace and human action both in Paul and in his contemporary Judaism. It seems now worthwhile to examine to what extent there was an internal debate within Judaism about divine grace and its relation to human agency, and whether this debate could or did spawn various more or less radical solutions.

The aim of this volume is to re-examine Paul within contemporary Jewish debate on this topic, attuned to the significant theological issues he raises without imposing upon him the frameworks developed in later Christian thought.

Reviews

Mention -New Testament Abstracts, Vol. 53 No. 1, 2009
Review in International Review of Biblical Studies, vol. 54:2007/08
"...with contributions by nine first-rate scholars...this volume [is] a must read for everyone interested in an update on this often hotly debated topic." Expository Times, November 2009

Author Bio

John M.G. Barclay is Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at the University of Durham, UK. Simon J. Gathercole is Lecturer in New Testament at the University of Cambridge, UK.