Reviewed Title: Paul: In Fresh Perspective, by N. T. Wright, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005, 195pp

Wolthuis, Thomas R.

English

Dordt College

Volume 34 Number 4 Article 7 June 2006 Paul: In Fresh Perspective (Book Review) Thomas R. Wolthuis Dordt College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/pro_rege Recommended Citation Wolthuis, Thomas R. (2006) "Paul: In Fresh Perspective (Book Review)," Pro Rege: Vol. 34: No. 4, 38 - 39. Available at: https://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/pro_rege/vol34/iss4/7 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the University Publications at Digital Collections @ Dordt. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pro Rege by an authorized administrator of Digital Collections @ Dordt. For more information, please contact ingrid.mulder@dordt.edu. 38     Pro Rege—June 2006who have been my teachers.  I found little with which I disagreed, but for me little was new.  Still the articulation was helpful.  I think that the book is a worthy contribu-tion to the discussion in at least focusing some of  the ba-sic perspectives of  Christian education and issues within the academy.  For those who teach in systemic Christian schools, this book should be helpful in clarifying their own perspective and approach.  For those who do not teach in such institutions and some who may be suspicious of  them, this book may help them understand the approach more fully.  Yet I fear that it will not fully convince them or  answer many of  their questions, and it may even con-fi rm some suspicions of  the way Scripture and theology are used.  This book should help the discussion, but there is still much to address.N. T. Wright is a signifi cant force in New Testament scholarship.  His three large and highly detailed volumes, in a project he entitled “Christian Origins and the Question of  God,” are on Jesus’ reconstitution of  the People of  God, the death of  Jesus and the victory of  God, and the resurrection of  Jesus.  These works, along with many other smaller books, have stimulated a great deal of  discussion within New Testament scholarship.  Wright has challenged the so-called “historical” reconstructions of  Jesus with one of  his own, which is much more amenable to traditional Christian perspectives yet which also challenges these per-spectives to see Jesus in his real historical situation.  Yet Wright’s scholarly beginnings were in Pauline Studies, to which he has now returned in his new book, Paul: In Fresh Perspective.This book is a reworking of  Wright’s 2004 Cambridge University Hulsean Lectures and still retains signifi cant aspects of  this origin.  Wright divides the book into two parts:  themes and structures.  He defi nes the themes in the light of  recent scholarship on Paul and the structures as “a miniature systematic account of  the main theological contours of  Paul’s thought” (xi).  This arrangement and perspective make it clear that this work is meant to address the scholarly debates about Paul, the background of  whom is often assumed.In the fi rst chapter Wright seeks to locate Paul in both his historical world and the world of  scholarship.  Wright sees Paul as rooted in Judaism but seeking to address a Hellenistic world in the face of  Roman domination.  He advocates the “New Perspective” on Paul, both in terms of  Paul’s Jewishness and his concern for how God has ful-fi lled his promises in Jesus the Christ, contrary to ahistori-cal, individual, and Hellenistic approaches to Paul.The second chapter develops Pauline themes of  cre-ation and covenant based in the Hebrew Scriptures.  Wright explores three fundamental Pauline passages—Colossians 1:15-20, 1 Corinthians 15, and Romans 1-11—in the con-text of  the Hebrew background and expectations met in Jesus, the Messiah.  He summarizes the problem as the fracturing of  human community and creational relation-ships based in the human failure to trust and praise God. Jesus overcame this problem through perfect obedience and returned the people of  God to the original covenantal purpose of  a worldwide mission of  light.Wright develops Paul’s view of  Jesus, the Messiah, in the third chapter in the light of  apocalyptic expectations. Here much of  Wright’s work on Jesus rings through, but the main thrust is to advocate the redefi nition of  apocalyp-tic as “inaugurated eschatology,” that God’s ultimate future has come forward into the middle of  history.  The implica-tions of  this in Paul’s setting in Roman Empire are devel-oped in the fourth chapter.  Fundamentally, Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not.  Here again Wright’s strong political perspective on the implications of  Jesus and the Christian message comes through.In the “Structures” section, Wright returns to themes from his earlier work on Jesus.  In the fi fth chapter he ex-plores how Paul’s Christology and view of  the Spirit could fi t within Jewish monotheism.  The sixth chapter looks at Paul’s view of  the People of  God in continuity with Jewish views and Jesus’ and the Spirit’s reworking of  those views in the church.  Here Wright restates his position that “justifi cation” addresses who belongs to the people of  God and how one can tell, not how someone becomes a Christian.  Then, in the seventh chapter, Wright returns to understanding Jesus, the Spirit, and Paul in the context of  eschatology, again advocating the expressions and implica-tions of  the presence of  the future.In the last chapter, Wright addresses the old question of  the relationship among Jesus, Paul, and Christianity.  He argues that Paul stood in a different place within God’s purposes and work and in a different cultural context than did Jesus.  Paul clearly saw his unique role within God’s purposes in the world, and Wright briefl y presents how the church is to carry out its role in its place in God’s purposes and its present cultural setting.I approached Wright’s work as a teacher of  biblical studies, a preacher, and a believing Christian.  In all these roles I found the book stimulating and at times disappoint-ing.  The form of  the book raised some frustrations.  The length is more manageable than many of  Wright’s books, but it still reads like slightly reworked lectures.  At times one needs to picture a lecture setting to catch the fl ow of  a section, to understand the hidden humor, or to translate Paul: In Fresh Perspective, by N. T. Wright, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005, 195pp.  Reviewed by Dr. Thomas R. Wolthuis, Associate Professor of  Theology, Dordt College.Pro Rege—June 2006     39 British styles.  The references to previous works of  Wright and the works of  other scholars with whom he is directly and indirectly in dialogue would have been more helpful as more detailed footnotes than as brief  endnotes.  There are many assumptions about scholarly backgrounds and debates within the text.  Even Scriptural referencing could have been clearer.  Some less-informed readers could fi nd these formal elements very frustrating.Wright’s positions are always stimulating, well-sup-ported, and fairly presented, but I often wished that the arguments had gone further.  This is a tribute to their stimulating nature and yet a frustration, perhaps based in my own desires and interests.  Wright is clearly presenting a theology of  Paul.  He places more emphasis on Paul’s re-working of  his Jewish background in the light of  Jesus and the mission of  the church than on explaining exactly how Paul does this within his own life and historical context. On the other hand, Wright’s work is tantalizing when it ad-dresses the implications of  his view of  Paul for the church today.  Wright’s perspective on the people of  God and the church’s relationship with Judaism today is pregnant with possibilities.  Still, Wright’s redefi nition of  justifi ca-tion needs further discussion.  I often agree with Wright’s brief  challenges to ahistorical, individualistic views of  Christianity, but I fi nd the challenges underdeveloped and the practical implications lacking.  Wright is doing what he sees Paul and the New Testament doing.  He is challenging his readers to continue the story and the mission.This book is a helpful contribution to discussions of  Pauline theology in scholarly circles, although it does not advance the discussion as signifi cantly as Wright’s books on Jesus have done.  A teacher at an undergraduate level will fi nd this book stimulating but probably not useful for most students.  I plan to use Wright’s earlier book, What Saint Paul Really Said, for a college-level New Testament Epistles course.  Pastors and preachers will fi nd this work helpful in providing context for preaching on individual texts in the Pauline writings and for leading people to un-derstand the Christian faith and mission. 

Paul: In Fresh Perspective (Book Review)

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Paul: In Fresh Perspective (Book Review)

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