Paul and the Faithfulness of God, Parts I and II, III and IV. By N. T. WRIGHT.

Abstract

T hese are the next two volumes in Tom Wright’s massive multi-volume study, Christian Origins and the Question of God . Since the time gap between volumes is substantial, it is perhaps appropriate to recall the earlier volumes—Vol. 1, The New Testament and the People of God (SPCK 1992), Vol. 2, Jesus and the Victory of God (SPCK 1996), and Vol. 3, The Resurrection of the Son of God (SPCK 2003). The last named, Vol. 3 of the series, had obviously broken away from the original sequence (the resurrection of Jesus being so important). The consequence of this change in sequence was that questions left hanging from Vol. 2, about Jesus’ own expectations and their fulfilment, were not really taken up and remain(ed) hanging. One wonders whether they will ever be taken up in sequence, since the next two volumes make a substantial jump from the first Christian Easter to Paul, leaving the issue of the beginnings of Christianity in Jerusalem (and elsewhere?), and the most immediate corollary in Jewish Christianity abandoned in the gap. The fact that the two Paul volumes, although listed under the overall heading of Christian Origins and the Question of God , break the sequence by not being numbered volumes 4.1 and 4.2, presumably indicates the author’s awareness that the sequence suffers somewhat from a degree of discontinuity.