It is difficult to write about the apostle Paul in a way that makes a meaningful contribution to the field. From E. P. Sanders onward, there has been a deluge of proposals on how Paul must be understood differently, some more successful than others. In this concise but weighty effort, Gabriele Boccaccini lays out his own take on Paul, focusing on the apostle’s relationship to the law and to apocalypticism within the context of a form of Judaism influenced by Enochic literature. For Boccaccini, who serves as professor of Second Temple Judaism and early rabbinic literature at the University of Michigan, this book follows numerous publications over the last three decades related to the influence of apocalypticism on Middle Judaism.From the preface, Boccaccini places himself alongside the “Paul-within-Judaism” approach, which argues that Paul was a Second Temple Jew and never ceased to be one and that he understood the Jesus movement as situated within apocalyptic Judaism. Boccaccini suggests that placing Paul against law observance or separating him from Judaism has imputed to Paul views that he never had. He prefers to situate Paul within an apocalyptic movement that is closer to 1 Enoch than to the Gospel of John (which he holds partially responsible for the “parting of the ways”). He contends that this produces a more consistently Jewish Paul—specifically with respect to the ideas of justification by faith, the forgiveness of sins, and final judgment.In ch. 1, Boccaccini dismisses the idea that Paul converted to Christianity from Judaism or preached that all must accept Jesus as Messiah or be condemned. Rather, he contends that Paul’s primary message was reconciliatory, and that the misunderstanding of this message has built “an impenetrable wall of intolerance between unbelievers and believers” (p. 2). Boccaccini then provides an overview of recent scholarship, agreeing with the basic tenets of the NPP but explaining that he hopes to improve on it, removing any residual ideas of a “radical contraposition” between Paul and Judaism (p. 12). He begins this process by arguing that Paul preached Christ never as the way of redemption for Jews but only for Gentiles. Thus, the way of redemption for Jews through law observance is retained, and the inclusion of Gentiles through Christ becomes a legitimate outgrowth of Judaism and not an abrogation of it.In ch. 2, Boccaccini examines Paul’s conversion, arguing that his Damascus road experience should be understood not as a move away from Judaism but as a “move within Judaism,” a revelation resulting in his leaving Pharisaism and embracing the Jewish apocalyptic Jesus movement (p. 35). In ch. 3, he illustrates how Paul’s eschatological statements fit well within the apocalyptic framework of his day, a central concern of which was “the problem of liberating the cosmos from the power of evil caused by superhuman agents” (p. 44). This concern, as he meticulously illustrates, is consistent with the Enochic literature.In chs. 4 and 5, Boccaccini shifts his focus onto the concepts of the Messiah and of the forgiveness of sins, noting how these ideas were understood in 1 Enoch. After a helpful review of the ambiguous ways that a Messianic figure would have been understood in the first century, he argues that Paul saw Jesus as the Messiah in the Enochic sense, as a figure with “a superhuman, heavenly identity” (p. 66). In his discussion of forgiveness, he again appeals to 1 Enoch as a framework for understanding God’s judgment, noting that in 1 Enoch there are three groups at the last judgment: the righteous, sinners, and “others,” a third group made up of those who repent on the last day and receive mercy (p. 71). In Boccaccini’s view, Paul shares this framework, seeing Jesus’s earthly ministry as being for the “sinners,” not the “righteous” (who will be saved by works). Likewise, Boccaccini sees Christ’s return as being that of one who will ultimately judge all by their works and offer mercy to the third group of “others” who repent.In ch. 6, Boccaccini explores Paul’s Christology, arguing that Paul saw Jesus as divine, but did not see him as uncreated. As such, Boccaccini suggests that he understood Christ as belonging to the heavenly sphere but subordinate to God, not as having the title of θεός. He drives a wedge between Paul and John on this issue, claiming that “Jesus became God only when the Gospel of John ultimately made him uncreated” and that “Paul was as fully monotheistic as other Jews of his time” (pp. 100–101). Paul could infer Christ’s preexistence, but if Christ was uncreated, says Boccaccini, this belief would separate Paul from Judaism.Chapter 7 has a helpful overview of the interaction between faith and works in Paul, with Boccaccini arguing from texts such as Rom 2:9–11 that Paul never taught anything other than justification by works (that is, Jews following torah and Gentiles following conscience). As a result, Boccaccini suggests that Paul’s doctrine of justification “was not a universal concept but his answer to the specific problem of the inclusion of gentiles” (p. 106). He argues that Paul’s view of justification has been too affected by later Christian hamartiology and that Paul only had in the mind the Enochic group designated “sinners” and was thus not as concerned with individual sin or universal sinfulness as later Christians were. He labors in this chapter to disagree with scholars such as Sprinkle and Westerholm, who propose that salvation and justification are essentially the same. Instead, he contends that justification is “an unconditional gift of forgiveness offered to repentant sinners who have faith in Jesus. Salvation is the result of the final judgment in which all humans will be judged according to their own deeds” (p. 124). He continues this discussion in ch. 8, suggesting that Paul’s idea of justification “was not the divide between Christianity and Judaism but the theological rationale for affirming the equality between Jewish and non-Jewish sinners within the church” (p. 149).In the final chapter, he sums up the ways he sees justification as being misunderstood throughout history, and lays out his own paradigm. This new paradigm consolidates the previous chapters by proposing that Paul, following Enochic apocalypticism, actually taught three paths to salvation: Jews are righteous through law observance (thus, the torah remains efficacious), Gentile “sinners” may receive forgiveness in Christ and then may be justified by works at the final judgment by living as God-fearers, and the “others” who do not repent prior to the judgment will be offered repentance at the end.Boccaccini’s work is notable in that it is a helpful reminder that Paul should be interpreted in light of his Jewish context, and that apocalyptic elements in his thinking must not be overlooked. While he has succeeded in presenting a thought-provoking perspective, readers may find some of his arguments tenuous and unpersuasive. Occasionally, he seems to rely on proof-texting and question-begging, overlooking evidence that would undermine his ideas. For example, in the case of Jesus as God, he simply dismisses passages such as Rom 9:5 or 1 Cor 10:9 with little to no discussion. Similarly, he almost never references any disputed letters, mentioning Ephesians (which is not unequivocally suspect) only in passing, even though its content is relevant to his proposal. Therefore, while certainly worth considering, the Boccaccinian Paul (who was not converted, did not teach justification by faith, and relied on Enochic literature that he never referenced) seems to create more questions than robust answers.