Reviewed Book: Barrett, C K. (Charles Kingsley). Paul: An Introduction to His Thought. London: Geoffrey Chapman; Louisville, Ky: Westminster/John Knox Pr, 1994. Outstanding Christian thinkers

Donaldson, Terence L.

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 22Issue 1 Canadian Lutherans and Social Justice:Sampling of a HeritageArticle 105-1-1996Paul: An Introduction to His ThoughtTerence L. DonaldsonFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationDonaldson, Terence L. (1996) "Paul: An Introduction to His Thought," Consensus: Vol. 22 : Iss. 1 , Article 10.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol22/iss1/10114 ConsensusPaul: An Introduction to His ThoughtC.K. BarrettLouisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1994xii + 180 pp. $12.99 U.S. paperWritten as part of a series on outstanding Christian thinkers, by ascholar who himself has had an outstanding career as an interpreter of theNew Testament, this is a masterful, lucid, and highly readable introductionto the apostle Paul. At the same time, however, since it tends to downplaysome of the more recent shifts in Pauline interpretation, it represents moreof an expert summary of where Pauline scholarship has been than a guideto where it might be going.While the focus is on Paul as a thinker, C.K. Barrett is too careful astudent of Paul to attempt an introduction to his thought without givingdue consideration both to the context in which it took shape and to the formin which it was expressed. Accordingly, he begins by surveying Paul’s career(ch. 1), and then—on the assumption that “conflict was what made Paulcreative” (p. 169)—discusses the various controversies in which his thoughtwas forged and honed (ch. 2). The result is a chronological reconstructionof Paul’s life and letters that is admirably succinct, surprisingly fresh andconsistently stimulating.In chapter 3—the longest, representing more than half the book—heturns to a direct consideration of “Paul’s theology” itself. While sensitiveto those aspects of Paul’s letters that have led some to postulate stages ofdevelopment in his thought, and others to describe him as an unsystematicor even incoherent thinker, Barrett believes nonetheless that there is a realthematic unity to be perceived, at least in the seven undisputed epistles.This unity of thought, however, is dynamic, not static—cohering in themessage of salvation that Paul preached, but displaying a characteristic“variety, mobility, [and] spontaneity” (p. 56) determined by the occasionalnature of the epistles and the brilliance of their author. And so, strikingjust the right balance between dynamic creativity and systematic structure,he sets out Paul’s theology under the following heads: the reign of evil; lawand covenant; grace and righteousness; Christ crucified; the church; and theHoly Spirit and ethics. Even here, though, he stays close to the text in allits contextual particularity. Indeed, exegesis is the strong point of the book;page after page contain shrewd insights and fresh perspectives on even themost familiar texts. The treatment of the Christ-hymn of Philippians 2(pp. 105-109) is but one especially pertinent example.Since the publication of E.P. Sanders’ Paul and Palestinian Judaism in1977, there has been a significant reassessment of several central aspectsof the traditional understanding of Paul, resulting in a “new perspective”(James D.G. Dunn) on his thought. Stated very briefly, the new approachhas tended to displace justification by faith from the central place tradi-tionally assigned to it, seeing the faith/works language more as a specificBook Reviews 115argument which Paul uses to defend his central conviction (Christ as saviourof all on equal terms) against objections raised from Jewdsh or Jewish Chris-tian quarters. While Barrett is well aware of this development (e.g., p. 83),he tends to give it short shrift, continuing to see justification by faith ascentral to Paul (indeed, to Christian existence itself; see pp. 174-175), andopposition to legalistic religion as the substance of his “works” language.Readers’ appreciation of this aspect of Barrett’s book will vary, of course,according to where they hang their theological hats.The book concludes with two shorter chapters, one dealing with “the se-quel” to Paul’s thought in the six disputed letters, the other containing briefbut incisive observations about the significance of Paul for today. Thesechapters round out what can only be described as a superlative introduc-tion, one that will in its own way help to ensure Paul’s ongoing significancefor today.Terence L. DonaldsonCollege of Emmanuel and St. ChadSaskatoon, SaskatchewanA Social Reading of the Old Testament: PropheticApproaches to Israel’s Communal LifeWalter BrueggemannEdited by Patrick D. MillerMinneapolis: Fortress, 1994328 pp.A Social Reading of the Old Testament is a collection of fifteen previ-ously published essays by one of the most accessible Old Testament teach-ers, Walter Brueggemann. In his erudite and yet lucid manner, Bruegge-mann encourages a social reading of the text which simultaneously chal-lenges contemporary society and reveals new avenues of possibility.The essays in A Social Reading are grouped into three sections. Thethree essays of Part I, Guidelines a,nd Approaches, are programmatic. In“Trajectories in Old Testament Literature and the Sociology of AncientIsrael”, Brueggemann traces two competing trajectories in the Old Testa-ment, the royal (Davidic) trajectory which presents God as faithfully sup-porting the powers that be, and the liberation (Mosaic) trajectory whichsupports societal have-nots.It becomes soon evident that Brueggemann is clearly more comfort-able with the liberation stream. Indeed, the two other essays of Part I,“Covenant as a Subversive Paradigm”, and “Covenant as Social Possibil-ity”, deal with covenant clearly from the Mosaic point of view.Covenant for Brueggemann is more than a theological construct. To en-ter into a covenant relationship with God affects the whole realm of society.

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