Paul: Windows on His Thought and His World by Maria Pascuzzi

Abstract

Reviewed by: Paul: Windows on His Thought and His World by Maria Pascuzzi Mary T. Brien maria pascuzzi, Paul: Windows on His Thought and His World (Winona, MN: Anselm Academic, 2014). Pp. 302. Paper $31.95. Only a scholar of Maria Pascuzzi’s standing and experience could successfully introduce the reader to the essentials of Paul’s thought and world in a slim volume of some three hundred pages. Instead of treading the well-worn path of surveying Paul’s life and apostolate in a sequential manner, the author chooses the novel method of opening “windows” onto Paul’s world and his message. These “windows” come in the guise of ten chapters, the first three of which cover the basics of “Putting Paul in His Place,” “What Did Paul Do?,” and “The World of Paul’s Ministry.” The remaining seven chapters explore the heights and [End Page 150] the depths of Paul’s message as presented in those Pauline writings regarded as authentic. Topics covered include Paul’s good news, salvation, Paul and the law, fellowship with Christ, living as members of a saved community, Paul and women, and Paul and the Roman Empire. A valuable epilogue invites the reader to three “takeaways” that sum up neatly the author’s own approach in this book: “Paul must be studied in context” (p. 278); his theology is “re-shaped by an Encounter and re-focused through an Event”; and “responsible use of the biblical text is up to the reader” (p. 279). These “takeaways” are exemplified in the author’s methodology and conclusions throughout. Pascuzzi’s “windows” on Paul provide the reader, whether student or advanced scholar, with a rich vein of assimilated scholarship, which shines a light on the Jewish and Greco-Roman worlds of Paul’s day and on Paul’s powerful message. Footnotes, sidebars and apt illustrations provide valuable resources and pointers toward further exploration. Reference to reliable websites adds another useful dimension. Knowledge of the prevailing cultures—Jewish and Greco-Roman—is shown to be relevant to any informed grappling with some of Paul’s most troublesome texts. Controversial aspects of Paul’s teaching are not shunned. Contemporary scholarship is invoked on the heated topics of Paul’s attitudes to women, to the empire, to sexual morality, and to homosexual activity. The disputed texts of 1 Cor 11:2–16 and 1 Cor 14:34–35, while contextualized within “the gender ideology prevalent in both pagan and Jewish culture at the time” (p. 239), are presented for what they are: “texts that were and are offensive to women.” A reminder follows: responsible scholarship would be remiss “if it filtered Paul’s views on women through these two texts alone to the neglect of the rest of the evidence” (p. 242). The vexed question of Paul’s ambivalent attitude to the Roman Empire, especially in texts such as Rom 13:1–7, is addressed at length. Yet the ambiguity is not excised. I know of no other scholarly companion to Paul published within the past ten years that achieves what this book achieves. Scholarly without being ponderous, it is much more than a primer. Attractively presented, with copious notes and references, it allows the amazing and enigmatic Paul to walk alive from the pages. Each chapter is prefaced by a list of selected biblical texts—required reading for what follows. By opening up “windows” on Paul and his thought, P. succeeds in respecting the richness and complexity of Paul and his message while refusing to deny the attending problems. As a most valuable resource for pastoral as well as academic requirements, this book deserves a place on bookshelves in parish and academy throughout the English-speaking world. It is a handbook to which academics, homilists, and interested readers are likely to return again and again. Mary T. Brien PBVM, MIC/University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland Copyright © 2017 Catholic Biblical Association of America