Paul and Judaism: The Jewish Matrix of Early Christianity: Issues in the Current Debate

Abstract

0. Fifteen years ago, E. P. Sanders published his book Paul and Palestinian Judaism (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977) and began what might well be called a Copernican revolution in Pauline studies. One of the leading advocates of the newer knowledge has dubbed it New Perspective on Paul. The revolution, however, is not yet complete. Some of us, moreover, continue to believe that the evidence still points to a geocentric universe—at least so far as Paul's theology is concerned. In this brief paper I can hardly do justice to the subject, but I nevertheless propose to analyze the recent discussion of Paul and Judaism and also at the same time to offer some critique. 1. The fundamental point of the new perspective on Paul has to do not with Paul himself, but with the nature of first century Judaism: contrary to the widespread view held even in leading reference works, Judaism was not and is not a religion where acceptance with God is earned through the merit of righteousness based on works. In the same way that Copernicus had his predecessors, this main insight of the new perspective on Paul was adumbrated long before Sanders' book