Pauline Perspectives: Essays on Paul 1978–2013

by N. T. Wright

Publisher:

Fortress Press

, 2013

Overview

This companion volume to Paul and the Faithfulness of God and Paul and His Recent Interpreters brings together N.T. Wright’s most important articles on Paul and his letters over the last three decades. The book begins with Wright’s auspicious essay of 1978, when as a young, aspiring scholar, he gave the annual Tyndale lecture in Cambridge, and proposed, for the first time, “a new perspective” on Pauline theology. The book ends with an expanded version of a paper he gave in Leuven in 2012, when as a seasoned scholar at the height of his powers, he explored the foundational role of Abraham in Romans and Galatians. In all, the 33 articles published here provide a rich feast for all students of Paul, both seasoned and aspiring. Each one will amply reward those looking for detailed, incisive, and exquisitely nuanced exegesis, resulting in a clearer, deeper, and more informed appreciation of Paul’s great theological achievement.

This volume is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in Paul and his continuing relevance for today. Logos Bible Software dramatically improves the value of the collection by enabling you to find what you’re looking for with unparalleled speed and precision. The Logos edition is fully searchable and easily accessible. Scripture passages link directly to your preferred English translation and to the original language texts, and important theological concepts link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of resources in your digital library.

Don’t forget to check out N.T. Wright’s latest volume in this series, Paul and His Recent Interpreters.

Product Details

• Title: Pauline Perspectives: Essays on Paul 1978–2013
• Author: N.T. Wright
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 2013
• Pages: 864
• Christian Group: Anglican
• Resource Type: Monographs
• Topic: Pauline Studies

About N.T. Wright

N.T. Wright is the former bishop of Durham in the Church of England and one of the world’s leading Bible scholars. He is now research professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of St. Andrews. He is the author of over 50 books, including the ‘For Everyone’ guides to the New Testament, the highly acclaimed series, Christian Origins and the Question of God, and the best-selling Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope, and Virtue Reborn.

Contents

Top Highlights

“My case here is simply stated: the tradition of Pauline interpretation has manufactured a false Paul by manufacturing a false Judaism for him to oppose.” (Page 14)

“My proposal is this. When Paul refers to ‘the gospel’, he is not referring to a system of salvation, though of course the gospel implies and contains this, nor even to the good news that there now is a way of salvation open to all, but rather to the proclamation that the crucified Jesus of Nazareth has been raised from the dead and thereby demonstrated to be both Israel’s Messiah [249] and the world’s true Lord. ‘The gospel’ is not ‘you can be saved, and here’s how’; the gospel, for Paul, is ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’.” (Page 278)

“The point of God’s glory, in Jewish expectation, was that this glory would once again come to dwell in the renewed, restored Temple. Thus when we find, in Paul, the theme of God’s indwelling, we are dealing with the same notion, even though the word doxa itself may not occur. And, classically, we find just this in the first two chapters of Colossians. At the climax of the wonderful poem in chapter 1, Paul declares that in Jesus Christ eudokēsen pan to plēroma katoikēsai, ‘all the Fullness’—in other words, the Fullness of divinity—‘was pleased to take up residence’.” (Page 384)

“His proposal about the meaning of ‘works of the law’ in Paul—that they are not the moral works through which one gains merit but the works through which the Jew is defined over against the pagan—I regard as exactly right.” (Page 276)

“When he says that all the powers in heaven and earth were created in, through and for Christ, defeated on his cross, and then reconciled to him, he knows perfectly well that this statement stands in obvious and probably bitter tension with his own present situation. More: all this is, for Paul, something which is only visible in the light of the cross itself, both the cross of Jesus himself and the cross which Jesus’ followers are called to bear. This is not a theme ‘added on’ to what we have just been studying. It is woven tightly into its very structure.” (Page 387)

Product Details

• Title: Pauline Perspectives: Essays on Paul, 1978–2013
• Author: N. T. Wright
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Print Publication Date: 2013
• Logos Release Date: 2013
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul › Theology; Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul › Criticism, interpretation, etc; Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul
• Resource ID: LLS:PLPRSPCTVS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-07-10T18:10:55Z

About N. T. Wright

Nicholas Thomas “Tom” Wright (1948–) is a New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian, and Anglican bishop and currently Research Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Early Christianity at St. Mary's College in the University of St Andrews and Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Christianity Today named him one of today's top theologians. 

Wright was born in Morpeth, Northumberland, and recounts an awareness of God's presence from a young age—and that relationship with God ever since is reflected in his life and work. He's a prolific author; one of his most popular books, Surprised by Hope, frames the resurrection of the dead as the appropriate hope for all believers rather than an overemphasis on just "going to heaven when you die." He's among the leading theologians in the New Perspective on Paul debate. Wright has several honorary doctoral degrees, and in 2014, the British Academy awarded him the Burkitt Medal "in recognition of special service to biblical studies." In 2015, he was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Wright served as chaplain at Cambridge from 1978 to 1981, then as assistant professor of New Testament language and literature at McGill University in Montreal. Before becoming a chaplain, tutor, lecturer, and fellow at Oxford in 1986, Wright served as dean of Lichfield Cathedral, canon theologian of Westminster Abbey, and the bishop of Durham from 2003–10. In addition to the entire New Testament for Everyone Series, some of N. T. Wright's books include The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians, Who Was Jesus, The New Testament and the People of God, God and the Pandemic, Evil and the Justice of God, Surprised by Hope, and Simply Christian. He coauthored Jesus the Final Days with Craig A. Evans.