Deliverance Of God Research Articles

The Justice and Deliverance of God: Integrating Forensic and Cosmological in the ‘Apocalyptic Paul’

Recent ‘apocalyptic’ interpretations of Paul often highlight a distinction between ‘forensic’ and ‘cosmological’ varieties of apocalyptic eschatology. This essay surveys this phenomenon against the backdrop of the Bultmann/Käsemann debate. Various scholars have attempted to resolve the tension between these two poles, whether through circumscribing the forensic by the cosmological, or vice-versa, generating a spectrum of approaches within which this question is generally framed as a zero-sum game. This essay outlines a ‘non-competitive’ construal of this duality and examines a selection of integrative approaches in recent theological interpretation that allows for both forensic and cosmological aspects of Paul’s apocalyptic thought.

The Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge: The Role of Esthetics in Ancient and Modern Interpretations of Paul

ABSTRACTS This article explores the effect of basic hermeneutical commitments on biblical interpretation, both historical-critical and theological. First, it examines a recent and controversial historical-critical reading of Rom 1, found in Douglas Campbell's The Deliverance of God, by placing it in conversation with St. Augustine's own exegesis of the same passage in De Trinitate. Campbell sees Paul to be enacting in the opening chapters of Romans a parody of an opponent's preaching and performing a Socratic reduction to absurdity of the argument, clearing the way for his own message. Although many critiques of Campbell's reading note its novelty with some frustration, I suggest that the complex of interpretive moves St. Augustine performs on Rom 1:18–32, and especially on 1:20, constitute a weighty recognition from tradition in support of Campbell's thesis that the passage is ripe for rereading. Campbell's unintentional sympathy with Augustine is found owing to a similarity in approach between Campbell's Polanyist hermeneutic and Augustine's fides quaerens intellectum, both of which admit the effect of readers' own commitments on a text while preserving a meaningful way to arbitrate between competing readings. For both readers, I suggest, competing construals of a text depend for their validity on their ability to negotiate all the features of a text on multiple interpretive planes with simplicity and ease, an admittedly esthetic criterion that ancient theologians would call "fittingness." I conclude that esthetic modes of inquiry may be especially fruitful in discovering other sympathies such as those of Campbell and Augustine.

The Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge: The Role of Esthetics in Ancient and Modern Interpretations of Paul

ABSTRACTS This article explores the effect of basic hermeneutical commitments on biblical interpretation, both historical-critical and theological. First, it examines a recent and controversial historical-critical reading of Rom 1, found in Douglas Campbell's The Deliverance of God, by placing it in conversation with St. Augustine's own exegesis of the same passage in De Trinitate. Campbell sees Paul to be enacting in the opening chapters of Romans a parody of an opponent's preaching and performing a Socratic reduction to absurdity of the argument, clearing the way for his own message. Although many critiques of Campbell's reading note its novelty with some frustration, I suggest that the complex of interpretive moves St. Augustine performs on Rom 1:18–32, and especially on 1:20, constitute a weighty recognition from tradition in support of Campbell's thesis that the passage is ripe for rereading. Campbell's unintentional sympathy with Augustine is found owing to a similarity in approach between Campbell's Polanyist hermeneutic and Augustine's fides quaerens intellectum, both of which admit the effect of readers' own commitments on a text while preserving a meaningful way to arbitrate between competing readings. For both readers, I suggest, competing construals of a text depend for their validity on their ability to negotiate all the features of a text on multiple interpretive planes with simplicity and ease, an admittedly esthetic criterion that ancient theologians would call "fittingness." I conclude that esthetic modes of inquiry may be especially fruitful in discovering other sympathies such as those of Campbell and Augustine.

Review Article: The Deliverance of God: an Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul by Douglas A. Campbell

Campbell launches a sustained attack against traditional theological conceptions of justification and aims to free Romans 1–4 (on which these conceptions seemingly rest) from a widespread rationalistic, contractual, individualistic (mis)reading, which gains its plausibility only by the modernistic theological superstructure forced upon it. Campbell then presents an in-depth re-reading of Romans 1–4 (as well as parts of chs. 9–11, Gal. 2–3, Phil. 3), in which Paul engages in a highly complex, ‘subtle’ polemic, creatively employing ‘speech-in-character’ as a means of subverting a Jewish Christian ‘Teacher’ whose visit to Rome threatens to undermine the Roman Christians’ assurance of salvation. Campbell argues that justification is participatory and liberative: Christ’s death and resurrection constitute the ‘righteousness/deliverance of God’, by which he justifies, or delivers, an enslaved humanity from the power of sin. This article concentrates primarily on Campbell’s own exegesis, concluding that, while important aspects of Campbell’s critique of both “justification theory” and traditional readings of Romans 1–4 must be carefully considered, his own exegesis is not only ingenious, asking too much of Paul and the letter’s auditors, but altogether untenable at key points.

An Apocalyptic Rereading of “Justification” in Paul: Or, an overview of the argument of Douglas Campbell’s The Deliverance of God—by Douglas Campbell

This essay summarizes my book The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul in two main stages. First it describes the book’s distinctive account of a problem in modern Pauline scholarship in relation to several key debates and some of their most important representative figures—Wrede, Sanders, Stendahl, and Martyn. It then describes how the book offers in its first half (Parts I-III) an underlying unified and theological account of these issues—the unwitting release of Arianism within Paul’s interpretation in the specific form of a conditional conception of salvation in terms of a sequence of contracts. Following this the essay charts quickly the solution to this conundrum offered by the book’s second half (Parts IV and V): a non-contractual reading of all the texts in Paul that could generate a problematic contractual and conditional construal. This rereading concentrates on Romans 1-4 (1:16-5:1), and, within that passage, on the especially important 1:18-3:20, which is construed as a Socratic argument and thereby unconditionally in the broader setting of Romans.

Beyond Justification in Paul: The Thesis of the Deliverance of God

Let me begin by observing that many Pauline interpreters share with me a fundamentally participatory view of Paul's gospel, understanding salvation as a pneumatological incorporation into Christ's death and resurrection. This is arguably an irreducibly proto-trinitarian account as well, so recently Michael Gorman has rightly emphasised theosis within its description. This view holds further that the only effective ethic for a sinful humanity is generated by divine action, essentially in terms of inaugurated eschatology; humanity must be transformed in Christ in order to act well. Hence Douglas Moo clearly shares this articulation. Indeed, I do not know of an Evangelical who does not affirm everything that has just been said; but it tends to be arranged under the rubric of ‘sanctification’, and hence treated in second position in any account of Paul's gospel. And this brings us to the nub of the problem, and to the solution, that I articulate in my book The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul.

Zeal for Paul but Not According to Knowledge: Douglas Campbell’s War on ‘Justification Theory’

Douglas Campbell’s The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul is a thoroughgoing critique of what Campbell calls ‘Justification theory’ (JT, ‘a fundamentally contractual and hence also individualist and rationalist soteriology’), which he takes to be the underlying cause of a vast range of historic and current difficulties in reading Paul. Campbell aims to eliminate JT from Paul, both criticizing it in its own right and displacing it via a ‘rhetorical’ and ‘apocalyptic’ rereading of Rom. 1–4 and related texts. In this way, he hopes to lead Pauline scholarship not only ‘beyond the “Lutheran” reading of Paul’ but ‘beyond the protests of “the new perspective” as well’, declaring his book to be ‘an important moment in the advance to ecclesial and scholarly triumph of the participatory and apocalyptic gospel’. This review essay follows closely Campbell’s account of JT and its difficulties, offers a methodological and substantive critique of his ‘theoretical description’ of JT and its ‘conventional reading’ of Romans, and identifies and critiques the key moves that make up Campbell’s rereading of Rom. 1–4.

An Attempt to be Understood: A Response to the Concerns of Matlock and Macaskill withThe Deliverance of God

This is a rejoinder to the criticisms of Grant Macaskill and Barry Matlock of The Deliverance of God. Because they largely misunderstand the complex argument of Deliverance it is redescribed and exemplified here in relation to Gal. 2.15-16, in the light of which the concerns of Macaskill and Matlock can be seen to be either misdirected or inadequate. Counter to their negative contentions it is argued that the essentially Arian problems within Paul’s description described by Deliverance remain real, widespread, and critical, but that no serious difficulties are visible as yet in the fundamentally Athanasian reading of Paul’s justification texts Deliverance offers. In alternative terms: if Paul is read consistently and rigorously ‘backward’, and never ‘forward’, a quagmire of interpretative difficulties can be negotiated, but not otherwise.

Review Article: The Deliverance of God

Douglas Campbell’s recent work The Deliverance of God represents a major rereading of Paul’s letter to the Romans, especially its early chapters, and through this offers a broader reinterpretation of Pauline soteriology, deliberately set in dialogue with theological traditions, particularly those founded on forensic understandings of atonement. This article evaluates the key elements of Campbell’s argument, particularly (1) his depiction of Jewish soteriology (2) his suggestion that much of Rom. 1.18–3.20 utilizes the rhetorical device of ‘speech-in-character’, and therefore represents the opinion of Paul’s opponent rather than that of the apostle himself, and (3) his treatment of historical theology. The Deliverance of God is found to be stimulating and provocative at points, and to be a significant contribution to the field, but unconvincing in its major moves.

The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul

Book Review| April 01 2011 The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul Douglas A.Campbell The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in PaulGrand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009. CHRIS TILLING CHRIS TILLING Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters (2011) 1 (1): 83–98. https://doi.org/10.2307/26426440 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation CHRIS TILLING; The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul. Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters 1 April 2011; 1 (1): 83–98. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/26426440 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectivePenn State University PressJournal for the Study of Paul and His Letters Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2011 Eisenbrauns, Inc.2011Eisenbrauns, Inc. Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Douglas Campbell's “The Deliverance of God": A Review by a Friendly Critic

Douglas Campbell's “The Deliverance of God": A Review by a Friendly Critic

Douglas Campbell's “The Deliverance of God": A Review by a Friendly Critic

Douglas Campbell's “The Deliverance of God": A Review by a Friendly Critic

The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul

The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul

Book Review: The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul

Book Review: The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul

The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul – By Douglas A. Campbell

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 37, Issue 1 p. 61-61 The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul – By Douglas A. Campbell Thomas M. Anderson, Thomas M. Anderson London School of TheologySearch for more papers by this author Thomas M. Anderson, Thomas M. Anderson London School of TheologySearch for more papers by this author First published: 16 March 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-0922.2010.01489_30.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume37, Issue1March 2011Pages 61-61 RelatedInformation

Book Review: The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul

Book Review: The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul

The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul

The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul