What Was Paul Thinking?
Introducing the “New Perspective”
For 2,000 years Apostle Paul has been surrounded by controversy. In the first century CE that centered on conflicts between Jews and Gentiles. Today’s Christianity has little to do with that, yet Paul is praised and vilified for ideas that define vastly different approaches to Christian discipleship.
Forty years ago a new movement among biblical scholars began to emerge. Eventually it was given the name “The New Perspective on Paul.” Christian and Jewish scholars have produced a stunning array of books, journal articles, essays, and published lectures. Sadly, only a fraction of that scholarship has found its way to church members in the pews. That’s why this study text for adults was written.
What did Paul really think about his Jewish roots? Did he actually hate both women and gays as many people would have us believe today? Why is the translation of one little Greek word, pistis, so critical to his entire “theology”? And why did he change his name from Saul to Paul?
Table of Contents
Introduction
Lesson 1: First the Forest, Later on the Trees
Lesson 2: Call Not Conversion
Lesson 3: Paul’s Authentic Letters
Lesson 4: Paul’s Disputed Letters & Acts
Lesson 5: Our Father Abraham
Lesson 6: Adam and Christ
Lesson 7: Women’s Roles & Marriage
Lesson 8: Homosexuality Then & Now
Afterword
For Further Reading
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Here’s what a few folks are saying about the book:
“I thought I knew Paul well, but Richard Brown’s very readable study gave me many startling new insights, especially about Paul’s Jewishness and his desire to include all people in loving community. He does a great job of presenting the findings of recent research and their implications for contemporary Christian practice. I highly recommend use of this excellent resource in adult study classes everywhere. It will deepen people’s engagement with the Bible.”
Don H. Compier, dean
Community of Christ Seminary
Graceland University
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“Richard Brown seeks to help the contemporary Christian understand shifting ideas in the study of Paul that have arisen in the past four decades but still have not become widely known outside of scholarly circles or seminary classrooms. This is no simple task, not least because of the enormous cultural gaps between the concerns of Paul and his audiences and those of our own times. Moreover, this revolution in reading Paul is in its middle stages, at best. These new perspectives on Paul can unsettle in helpful ways, challenging long held views with substantial evidence to the contrary, but they can also seem confusing because often they are still framed by later traditional Christian ways of posing the issues that remain alien to
the first-century language and ideas of Paul, of his practice of Judaism, and of his Greek and Roman culture. I am confident Brown’s teacher, Lloyd Gaston–may his memory be for a blessing–would have been pleased with his student’s effort to popularize current trends in the development of these ideas and some of their implications for Christian readers of Paul today.”
Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D. (University of St. Andrews, Scotland), Rockhurst University
Author of The Mystery of Romans: The Jewish Context of Paul’s Letter (Fortress, 1996; winner of The 1996 National Jewish Book Award in Jewish-Christian Relations), and The Irony of Galatians: Paul’s Letter in First-Century Context (Fortress, 2002).
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“Whether you are annoyed or satisfied by traditional views on Paul, prepare yourself for a highly stimulating read! No one should use or study Paul without engaging in the ‘New Perspective on Paul’ – and Rich Brown does a superb job of outlining its basic tenets. As someone who at best would only cherry-pick Paul’s writings, I am finding I have to reconsider the entire enterprise of Paul’s central aims. I was also glad to see Rich tackle the thorny issues of the place in society of women and homosexuals. In the Christian dialogue on these topics, Paul’s writings sometimes form central anchors and Rich shows how ill-grounded these are. Finally, while the book doesn’t explicitly probe this, I found that the New Perspective provides more solid footing for Christian-Jewish relations. Overall, a very worthy read!”
Rod Downing
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
International Human Rights Award recipient (2007)
Community of Christ
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“Richard Brown offers a readable study text on the Apostle Paul. Not the Paul that later Christianity developed but the Paul who lived as a devout Jew in the mid-first century. He offers insight into the cultural milieu of Paul, the context of his communities and writings, and some of the subtleties of Paul’s literary style. Rich’s writing captures current scholarly thinking on Paul without overwhelming us with the complexities of academic writing. The discussion questions at the end of each chapter lend themselves to group study. Well-researched and well-written, this book is an insightful text for persons desiring to know more about the real Saul of Tarsus.”
Mark Euritt
Austin, Texas
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“Rich Brown has succeeded in addressing Pauline complexities in a straightforward, plainspoken manner. Even so, Brown reaffirms that scriptural study just isn’t all that easy and that there is far more to be mined from the text than what lies on the surface. For those who think Paul provides clear, precise answers to Christianity’s pressing contemporary issues, they may indeed have to think again. This promises to be a good adult study course for people willing to open themselves to new exploration and insight.”
Ken McLaughlin, senior advisor
Outreach International
(former member of Community of Christ Council of Twelve)
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“This new text gave me a broader understanding of Paul than I had previously had. And it certainly enlarged my understanding of Paul’s message. I had not realized he was not the author of salvation theology as it pertains to the afterlife. Also, it was interesting to note that Paul’s most misunderstood writings were not his at all. I hope this book does well as study material since so many of us in the pews have long misunderstood Paul.”
Margie Miller, pastor
Crossroads Community of Christ
Coffeyville, Kansase>__________
“Rich Brown has written a very accessible introduction to “New Paul” scholarship. Perfect for adult Sunday school classes or church book study groups, Brown clearly and concisely exposes the reader to a new way of seeing Paul, one which has been prevalent in the academy for some time but hasn’t reached the pew. Topics include the authenticity of letters attributed to Paul; a new way of looking at the traditional understanding of Paul’s “conversion” to Christianity; the role of Abraham and Adam in Paul’s writings; a historical trace of Pauline, Augustinian, and Lutheran theologies of justification; the role of women in Paul’s letters; and the “clobber texts” which have been used to discriminate against members of the sexual minority. Brown’s new Issac’s Press is dedicated to publishing “religious curriculum for progressive Christians,” but Christians of many theological stripes will find WHAT WAS PAUL THINKING to be a challenging but pastoral approach to new ideas about Paul, the ‘apostle to the Gentiles.’”
Andy Shelton
(from his Amazon.com review)
