Collected Essays of Mark Nanos (3 vols.)

by Mark D. Nanos

Publisher:

Wipf and Stock

, 2017–2018

Overview

The dominant portrayals of the apostle Paul are of a figure who no longer valued Jewish identity and behavior, opposing them for both Jew and non-Jew in his assemblies. This prevailing version of Paul depends heavily upon certain interpretations of key “flashpoint” passages. In this series, Mark Nanos undertakes to test a “Paul within Judaism” (re)reading of the apostle, especially of these “flashpoint” texts.

Key Features

• Interprets Paul’s life and letters from within Judaism
• Provides new paradigms for Paul’s original meaning and audience
• Examines key passages in Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Philippians

Product Details

• Title: Collected Essays of Mark Nanos (3 vols.)
• Author: Mark D. Nanos
• Series: Collected Essays of Mark D. Nanos
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Volumes: 3
• Pages: 784
• Resource Type: Collected Essays
• Topic: Pauline Studies

Reading Paul within Judaism: Collected Essays of Mark D. Nanos, Vol. 1

• Author: Mark D. Nanos
• Series: Collected Essays of Mark D. Nanos
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Publication Date: 2017
• Pages: 214

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The dominant portrayals of the apostle Paul are of a figure who no longer valued Jewish identity and behavior, opposing them for both Jew and non-Jew in his assemblies. This prevailing version of Paul depends heavily upon certain interpretations of key “flashpoint” passages. In this book and the subsequent volumes in this series, Mark Nanos undertakes to test a "Paul within Judaism" (re)reading of the apostle, especially of these “flashpoint” texts.

Nanos demonstrates how traditional conclusions about Paul and the meaning of his letters are dramatically altered by testing the hypothesis that the historical Paul practiced a Jewish, Torah-observant way of life, and that he expected those whom he addressed to know that he did so. Nanos also tests the hypothesis that the non-Jews addressed were expected to know that his guidance was based on promoting a Jewish way of life for themselves, at the same time insisting that they remain non-Jews and thus not technically under Torah on the same terms as himself and the other Jews in this new (Jewish) movement.

In conversation with the prevailing views, Nanos argues that the “Paul within Judaism” perspective offers not only more historically probable interpretations of Paul's texts, but also more promise for better relations between Christians and Jews, because these texts have informed Christian concepts of, ways of talking about, and behavior toward Jews based on the premise that Paul considered Jews and Judaism the mirror opposites of what Christians should be and become.

For over twenty years, Mark Nanos has been working on situating Paul and his thought within early Judaism. This volume brings together Nanos’s innovative arguments that Paul was not an apostate Jew, but a Second Temple Jew who sought to be faithful to the Jewish law and Israel’s God as he pursued a mission to gentiles. This is a must read for anyone looking to break out of traditional readings of Paul!

—Matthew Thiessen, McMaster University

Reading Romans within Judaism: Collected Essays of Mark D. Nanos, Vol. 2

• Author: Mark D. Nanos
• Series: Collected Essays of Mark D. Nanos
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 342

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Over fifty years ago, Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate 4 drew from Romans 11 to challenge the way Paul’s voice has been used to negatively discuss Jews and Judaism. The church called for Catholics to conceptualize Jews as “brothers” in “an everlasting covenant,” and many other Christian organizations have expressed similar sentiments in the years since. Nevertheless, the portrayal of Jews as “branches broken off,” “hardened,” “without faith,” “disobedient,” and “enemies of God” whom Christians have “replaced” as “true Israel,” are among the many ways that readers encounter Paul’s views of Jews and Judaism in today’s translations and interpretations of this chapter, and throughout the letter as well.

In the chapters in this volume, Nanos shows why these translations and interpretive decisions, among others, do not likely represent what Paul wrote or meant. Each essay offers challenges to the received view of Paul from the research hypothesis that Paul and the Christ-followers to whom he wrote were still practicing Judaism (a Jewish way of life) within subgroups of the Jewish synagogue communities of Rome, and that they understood Paul to observe Torah and promote Judaism for their communities.

These essays will remind readers why Mark Nanos is rightly regarded as one of the chief architects of the Paul within Judaism perspective. Paradigm shifts in biblical studies often involve fresh, challenging, and credible exegetical insights, and one will find a plethora of them here. Even when I’m not fully convinced by a particular rereading, I always come away feeling like my hermeneutical horizons have been profitably expanded by what Mark has to say. I look forward to discussing these essays with students for years to come!

—Mark D. Given, Missouri State University

Reading Corinthians and Philippians within Judaism: Collected Essays of Mark D. Nanos, Vol. 4

• Author: Mark D. Nanos
• Series: Collected Essays of Mark D. Nanos
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Publication Date: 2017
• Pages: 228

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The commentary tradition regarding 1 Corinthians unanimously identifies the “weak” as Christ-followers whose faith was not yet sufficient to indulge in the eating of idol food with indifference, as if ideally Paul wanted them to become “strong” enough to do so. Commentaries also do not hesitate to explain that Paul advised the Corinthians that he behaved like non-Jews (e.g., ate idol food) in order to win non-Jews to Christ, convinced that he was free from any obligation to observe Jewish covenantal behavior—except when he expediently chose to mimic Jewish behavior in order to win Jews to Christ.

Similarly, commentators continue to conclude that in Philippians Paul called Jews “dogs” for upholding the value of undertaking circumcision, and that he renounced such identification as “mutilation.”

None of these interpretations likely represent what Paul meant originally, according to Nanos. Each essay explains why, and provides new alternatives for re-reading Paul’s language “within Judaism.” In this process, Nanos combines investigations of relevant elements from Jewish sources and from various Cynic and other Greco-Roman contemporaries, as well as the New Testament.

Reading Corinthians and Philippians within Judaism is a convincing exploration into some of Paul’s letters when he is seen as still within his ancestral tradition. Nanos’s essays provide substantive arguments that when combined result in a more historical and persuasive reading of Paul than the traditional Paul of Paulinism. The interpretive insights found here are vital for those concerned about issues of supersessionism.

—J. Brian Tucker, Professor of New Testament, Moody Theological Seminary

About Mark D. Nanos

Mark D. Nanos (University of St. Andrews, Scotland) is a Lecturer at the University of Kansas; his books include The Mystery of Romans (1996), The Irony of Galatians (2002), and as co-editor, Paul within Judaism (2015).