Pauline theology

Review: Pauline Theology as a Way of Life

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Pauline Theology as a Way of Life, Joshua W. Jipp. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2023.

Summary: A study of Paul’s theology as an invitation to a flourishing life through participation in Christ, observing parallels and contrasts with both ancient philosophy and modern positive psychology.

The language of human flourishing may be found wherever one turns. That is not surprising since it is a matter of perennial concern to understand how one might live well. Joshua W. Jipp makes that the focus of a study that seeks to understand how both ancient philosophy and modern positive psychology have articulate how humans may be said to flourish. He then asks the same question of the theology of Paul showing both parallels and distinctives. In fact, Paul engaged the philosophies of his day, identifying both points of contact and the more excellent way of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is our task today, addressing how the received truths of scripture speak to the important concerns of the day.

The first part of the book attempts to extrapolate some basic principles of human flourish of ancient philosophy and positive psychology in turn. Ancient philosophy recognized the necessity of a supreme good that offers both a model and rationale for a good life. It identified virtue, coupled with wisdom is central to the enjoyment of a good life. In the good life appropriate emotion must be aligned with virtuous action. Philosophy also addresses human nature and the puzzling aspect of why we do not always do the good we know. Finally, such philosophy must be all encompassing, addressing our relationships in society and the place of adversity as it relates to human flourishing.

Similarly, positive psychology focuses not on illness but on living well. Jipp summarizes positive psychology in five theses that parallel his summary of ancient philosophies:

  1. Positive psychology is devoted to helping people flourish.
  2. People flourish when they use and actualize their character strengths.
  3. Flourishing requires good relationships in all spheres of life.
  4. Adversity can make important contributions to human flourishing.
  5. Flourishing requires practices and exercises.

One of the interesting parts of this chapter was the summary of the Virtues in Action (VIA) study and the list of virtuous character traits clustered around six: wisdom and knowledge, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.

The latter part of the book, then, considers Pauline theology with regard to human flourishing and in conversation with these other two. Jipp begins with the idea of transcendence. He proposes that in Paul, the goal of human existence, the supreme good is to share in the life of God through the person of Christ. This addresses the supreme human predicament, death, allowing us to live in resurrection hope. The moral life is rooted in the transformed mind in Christ through which we experience God’s life. This gives us the capacity to think, feel, and act as we ought as we are in union with Christ and empowered by his Spirit. Union with Christ unites us with his people, his body, his family, and his temple. This brings unity in diversity. Jipp explores the implications of this in Paul’s teaching on slaves, celibacy, marriage and the status of women. As such, the church visibly embodies Christ’s love and hospitality. Finally, we flourish in Christ through disciplines, practices, and exercises that position us to grow in the knowledge of Christ and the enjoyment of God.

What Jipp offers is an account of Paul’s theology that shows God’s intent that we flourish in Christ, growing in moral character, in community with his people and through spiritual practices. Much of this parallels both ancient philosophy and positive psychology, but what sets the Christian account apart is the empowering work of Christ aligning thought, emotion, and action, and offers an account of loving relationships that transcend divisions and bring diverse peoples together.

It does seem to me that what Jipp draws from Paul is shaped, at least in part, by his engagement with the other two systems. I wonder if Jipp would have articulated this theology of human flourishing in Paul in the same way if he had first pursued this study, and then engaged the other two. That said, Christian theology is often characterized as a constraint on human flourishing, a confinement on human freedom, and on the realization of the good life. This articulation of “positive” theology (though not apart from addressing the realities of sin, suffering, and death) offers resources for Christian engagement with interested spiritual seekers who may have considered both philosophy and positive psychology and still haven’t found what they are looking for.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.

Review: Paul & The Power of Grace

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Paul & the Power of Grace, John M. G. Barclay. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2020.

Summary: Looks at the theology of Paul through the lens of grace, an unconditioned and incongruous gift for Jew and Gentile alike, personally and socially transformative.

John M. G. Barclay stirred up a conversation in Pauline studies in 2015 with the publication of Paul and the Gift, an analysis of what Paul meant by “grace.” This book represents both a distillation and extension of the ideas of the former book. It is less technical, expands the analysis beyond Galatians and Romans while summarizing the previous work in these texts well, and does more to consider the present implications of these ideas.

His central contention, based on analysis of charis in other Second Temple Jewish texts, and especially of Paul in Galatians and Romans, is that grace may be understood as God’s unconditioned and incongruous gift that is both personally and socially transformative. “Unconditioned” emphasizes that there is nothing the individual does to deserve the gift. It is not unconditional, because the empowering presence of God’s grace in those who trust in Christ, is meant to transform people who live new lives in dying bodies, and transforms social relationships, creating a new community making no distinctions by ethnicity, gender, or status. All this is redounds to the glory of God. It is also incongruous whether for the Gentiles as uncircumcised outsiders or for disobedient Jews. Indeed, Barclay points to Paul’s argument in Romans 9-11 as an example of the incongruity of grace in saving all Israel.

In this work, Barclay extends his analysis to the Corinthian correspondence and Philippians. He notes Paul’s treatment of grace and power in Corinth, how the incongruity of grace overturns the power value system of Corinth. and what it means to be “in Christ,” as Christ’s gift of himself to the believer in Philippians. He then extends the significance of grace as gift in inspiring giving communities, generously given to one another where all are cared for, as well as to other communities, as in the offering for Jerusalem, from when the gift of Christ arose.

Barclay addresses the various “perspectives” on Paul and what his own contributes to each. To the traditional Protestant view, his unconditioned but not unconditional reconciles the free aspect of grace and the obedience of faith as the consequence of grace. To Catholics, there are not two stages of grace, but grace transforms, eventuating in good works. For the New Perspective folks, the incongruity of grace explains the inclusion of the Gentiles and the hope for the nation of Israel. For the “Paul within Judaism” people, the incongruity of grace reconfigures his understanding of the law in ways that offer hope both for Israel and the nations.

A concluding chapter considers contemporary implications. Incongruous grace doesn’t recognize distinctions when it comes to who is included. The generosity of giving is one that recognizes all are “gifted,” regardless of economic status. And we all need the gifts of each other as manifestations of God’s incongruous gift.

I appreciate the explicit focus on “grace” in Paul, both for the correctives Barclay brings to notions that smack of “cheap grace” while focusing on the incongruous, unconditioned initiative of God. I’ve often sensed that grace gets eclipsed in the covenantal nomism and focus on faithfulness in various renderings of the New Perspective. Yet Barclay draws on the wealth of learning about Second Temple Judaism to sharpen our understanding of grace such that we don’t read the Reformation back into the New Testament language of grace. And the material about how grace transforms in this volume casts a joyful vision of the possible of our life in Christ, where incongruent grace transforms us into people living congruently with that grace.

Review: Paul’s New Perspective

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new-perspective

Paul’s New Perspective, Garwood P. Anderson. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2016

Summary: Argues that both the traditional Protestant perspective and the New Perspective on Paul are each partly right, based on the idea that Paul’s ideas on salvation developed as he wrote over a period of time and addressed different circumstances.

If you follow the discussions in biblical theology at all closely (something of a personal idiosyncrisy), you may be aware that since the work of E. P. Sanders over thirty years ago (and followed by contributions and modifications by James D. G. Dunn and N. T. Wright, among others), there has been what is called the “New Perspective on Paul (NPP),” It argues that the Traditional Protestant Perspective (TPP), traced back to Luther with its focus on justification not by works of the law but by grace through faith, is a mistaken reading of Paul. Beginning often with the book of Galatians, these proponents argue that “works of the law” are the defining boundary markers of God’s covenant with the Jews that kept Gentiles outside the covenant promises of God. These proponents contend that Paul’s emphasis is that by  faith (or the faithfulness of God through Christ), Gentiles are included in God’s covenant and part of God’s family apart from the boundary markers defined by the Jewish law. Those from the TPP fire back that this ignores the argument of Romans as well as passages like Ephesians 2:8-9 that focus on works more broadly, and for a forensic idea of justification where the righteousness of Christ is imputed by faith to those who believe.

Paul’s New Perspective could be a game-changer in this discussion. Garwood P. Anderson argues that the “contradictory schools of Pauline interpretation are both right, just not at the same time.” What Anderson contends against advocates of these contrary schools is that a static understanding of Paul’s thought is not the best way to understand the Pauline corpus as a whole, but that Paul’s thought developed over time and that a developmental understanding (not that Paul changed his mind) best explains the aspects of the Pauline corpus that each perspective has difficulties explaining.

The book divides into three parts. Chapters 1-3 explore the landscape of the discussion between the two perspectives as well as more recent post-NPP contributors. As part of this, in chapter 2 he considers three key passages in which Paul is seemingly uncooperative with either perspective: Philippians 3:1-11, Romans 3:21-4:8, and Ephesians 2:1-22.

In chapters 4 and 5, Anderson then contends for a particular itinerary of Paul’s ministry and the writing of his letters that lends itself to his thesis. He would contend for both an early date, and southern setting for the letter to the Galatians, next the Thessalonian and Corinthian correspondence, followed by Romans. He believes Romans is not Paul’s last work but that Philippians as well as the contested letters to Philemon, Colossians, Ephesus, and the Pastorals followed and are genuinely Pauline. While a number of critics would dissent, there is critical support for this chronology and Pauline authorship and Anderson briefly outlines the basis for these judgments, which are critical to his contention that a significant enough period of time elapsed in the writing of the Pauline corpus for Paul’s understanding of the salvation wrought by Christ to develop toward the vision of cosmic reconciliation (carefully delineated by Anderson) apparent in Colossians and Ephesians.

Chapters 6 through 8 then turn to an exegesis of the relevant passages following this developmental chronology, followed by a concluding chapter summarizing his argument. In these he shows particularly how the New Perspective gets Galatians more or less right on “works of the law” but that Paul’s use of “works” in later letters is not equivalent but reflects a developing understanding of the grace of God apart from human effort. He also argues that, while important, justification is not the center of Paul’s understanding of salvation, that the language of reconciliation informs this, and that perhaps most central is the idea of union with Christ.

I’ve tried to summarize in several hundred words a detailed argument that runs to nearly 400 pages in Anderson’s book and thousands of pages of writing over the years. No doubt I’ve glossed over many matters in both his and others’ scholarship. What I appreciated in this work is an effort to listen to the whole canonical Pauline corpus rather than to force it onto the Procrustean beds of either the old or new perspectives, either by ignoring uncooperative passages or dismissing books as pseudo-Pauline. What he proposes is not a compromise between the two perspectives, a via media, but rather a different way of conceptualizing Paul’s emerging perspective on salvation that allows for the intellectual growth of core convictions in a coherent and non-contradictory fashion.

Anderson speaks of having “friends” in both “camps.” I hope that his effort to articulate a “third way” will not result in “unfriendly fire” from both sides but rather promote the kind of theological reconciliation that would seem to be the fruit of the reconciliatory work of Christ, of which he writes, that enriches for all our grasp of the great salvation that is ours in Christ. I found that true for myself in the reading of this work, and trust it will be so for others.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher . I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.