Paul and the New Perspective

by Kim, Seyoon

• ISBN13: 9780802849748
• ISBN10: 0802849741
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co

Summary

Understanding Paul and his conversion to Christianity is imperative for a thorough knowledge of the New Testament. In Paul and the New Perspective Seyoon Kim offers an extensive argument for the foundation of the gospel that Paul spread in the first century.

A re-examination of Paul's Damascus experience in a debate with James D. G. Dunn confirms the view that Paul obtained his gospel of justification from that experience. The discovery that Isaiah 42 influenced Paul's interpretation of his apostolic call helps explain how Paul developed his antithesis between the Spirit and the flesh/law and why he insisted on the impossibility of justification by works of the law. Against the assumption of the New Perspective School, Kim's provocative study issues a call to take Paul seriously as an important witness to his contemporary Judaism.

The book also explicates how Paul used the Jesus tradition in light of the Damascus experience to develop his christological and soteriological doctrines. While reaffirming the significance of the Damascus event, Kim now appreciat

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction	xiii
Paul's Conversion/Call, James D. G. Dunn, and the New Perspective on Paul	1	(84)
Dunn's Interpretation	2	(2)
Dunn's Critique of My Thesis	4	(3)
Only an Apostolic Call for the Gentiles?	7	(6)
The Christological Component Not Essential?	13	(7)
The Crucified Christ Only for the Gentiles?	20	(2)
The Problem of the Law	22	(23)
Excursus: Terence L. Donaldson's Theory	35	(10)
What Gospel Did Paul Preach before the Antiochian and Galatian Controversies?	45	(8)
The Doctrine of Justification Developed Only for the Gentile Mission?	53	(4)
``Works of the Law''	57	(3)
The Antithesis between Faith in Christ and ``Works of the Law''	60	(6)
The Forensic and Ethical Dimensions of Justification	66	(4)
The Problem of the Law and Liberation from It	70	(5)
``My/Their Own Righteousness''	75	(6)
Conclusion	81	(4)
Justification by Grace and through Faith in 1 Thessalonians	85	(16)
No Doctrine of Justification in 1 Thessalonians?	85	(1)
Salvation as Deliverance from the Wrath of God through Christ's Atoning Death	86	(2)
God's Sovereign Initiative and Grace	88	(1)
Not by Works of the Law but by the Holy Spirit	88	(2)
Paul's Initial Preaching (1:9b-10)	90	(6)
By Faith Alone	96	(1)
The Absence of the Terminology ``Righteousness/Justification''	97	(1)
Conclusion and Corollaries	98	(1)
Appendix: Justification in the Corinthian Correspondence	99	(2)
Isaiah 42 and Paul's Call	101	(27)
God ``Was Pleased (ϵυδoκησϵν)...''	102	(1)
God's ``Call'' to Be ``a Light to the Gentiles''	103	(1)
``I Immediately Went Away to Arabia''	103	(1)
``Chosen'' and ``Set Apart''	104	(2)
``The Old Things'' and ``The New Things''	106	(1)
To Preach the Gospel of God's Saving Judgment or His Righteousness	106	(3)
The Hope of the Gentiles	109	(1)
Unfaltering and Undaunted, to the Ends of the Earth	109	(1)
``A Covenant to the People''	110	(5)
``I Will Put My Spirit on Him''	115	(8)
The Hardening of Israel	123	(3)
Conclusion	126	(2)
Paul, the Spirit, and the Law	128	(37)
Galatians 3:10-14 as a Test Case	128	(2)
The Challenges of the New Perspective	130	(6)
The Theory of the Continuing Exile	136	(5)
No Alternative to the Traditional Interpretation	141	(2)
The Judaism of Paul's Day	143	(9)
Revelation of God's Righteousness in the Crucified Christ	152	(2)
The Flesh/Law-Spirit Antithesis	154	(1)
The Origin of the Flesh/Law-Spirit Antithesis	155	(2)
Paul's Experience of the Holy Spirit at His Conversion/Call and Its Impact on His Theology	157	(6)
Conclusion	163	(2)
Christ, the Image of God and the Last Adam	165	(49)
Summary of My Thesis	165	(9)
Recent Research on the Tradition-History of the Theophany Vision of Ezekiel 1	174	(2)
Contra James D. G. Dunn Again	176	(8)
Alan F. Segal	184	(8)
The Origin of Adam-Christology	192	(2)
The ``Son of Man'' Christology Hidden	194	(14)
Christ, the Last Adam, and the Wisdom of God	208	(5)
Conclusion	213	(1)
2 Corinthians 5:11-21 and the Origin of Paul's Concept of Reconciliation	214	(25)
Linguistic Background	215	(1)
Uniquely Pauline Terminology within the New Testament	216	(2)
Various Suggestions about Its Origin	218	(2)
2 Corinthians 5:11-21	220	(16)
Conclusion: Origin and Development of the Doctrine of Reconciliation	236	(3)
The ``Mystery'' of Romans 11:25-26 Once More	239	(20)
My Original Thesis in Brief	239	(3)
From Scriptural Exegesis Alone?	242	(5)
The Damascus Revelation and Call	247	(3)
For an Early Dating	250	(3)
Paul's Visit with Peter the Terminus ad Quem?	253	(4)
Conclusion	257	(2)
The Jesus Tradition in Paul	259	(34)
Certain or Probable References	259	(11)
Possible Echoes	270	(5)
Continuity/Similarity in Theology and Attitude	275	(4)
Theological Loci and Sayings of Jesus	279	(2)
Narrative Tradition	281	(3)
Paucity and Allusive Character of References	284	(5)
Summary and Conclusion	289	(2)
Bibliography	291	(2)
Conclusion	293	(5)
Bibliography	298	(20)
Index of Modern Authors	318	(4)
Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Texts	322