Paul Among Jews & Gentiles

Despite a back cover note which depicts the work as a "sharp challenge to traditional ways of understanding Paul . . . by a distinguished interpreter of the New Testament," Stendahl's thesis is neither sharp nor challenging. Rather, it is simply one preacher's viewpoint supported only by scripture. Instead of filling a void in academic theology which has yet to be fully explored, the author merely recites familiar hypotheses which others before him have done time and again.

Now the time has come for me to recognize that whatever insights I may have they are perhaps most useful to others if I share them more or less in the impressionistic form of lecture style. . . . (I)t allows your colleagues and critics to see what you think when you cannot balance every statement . . . with footnotes or by the guarded precision of noncommitment" (v).

This, precisely, is the foundational flaw of the work. It removes the text from the academic sphere and relegates it to the dreary realm of Christian apologetics. Instead of forceful argumentation, it is just another dogmatic examination of Paul which jus

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Approximate Word count = 1074
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page)

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