New Perspective Review (By Request) DLB Oct 4
Greg: I have blogged on this earlier. Here is how I stated it then. Two extracts follow:
From August, 2006: dlb – New Perspective (NP)
Greg: I have blogged on this earlier. Here is how I stated it then. Two extracts follow:
From August, 2006: dlb – New Perspective (NP)
The New Perspective (NP) goes back to work by E. P. Sanders in the late 1970’s. The key idea is called covenantal nomism. This says that Judaism is not a religion of legalism but of grace because Jews believed they got into salvation by the grace of election through the covenant (covenantal), by stayed in through the keeping of the law (nomism). The strength of the new discussion is to go back to ancient Jewish texts to discuss what Judaism was in the first century and to let those texts speak.
NP has its strengths and weaknesses. The strengths are its desire to allow Judaism to speak directly for itself through its own texts. There are many Jewish texts that do express an appreciation for God’s grace and that seek to motivate people out of a call to be responsive to a gracious God. It also reminds us that means for obtaining forgiveness through the sacrificial system did allow Judaism to deal with the issue of sin. The problems are that in stressing the covenantal side as the key to grace, certain things are missed. If the key to staying in is the necessity of keeping the Law in one’s own strength, then the charge of legalism still applies. There also is the problem of portraying all Judaism as if it held to this view, something that is questionable from the texts. The key, in my view to this, is that the discussion over justification has missed a key point, something even those who defend the older view often miss. The key for Paul is that justification not only declares us righteous before God (which is the stress of the reformation), it clears the way for the Spirit to enable us to respond to God and do His will. In other words, it is the idea that grace is at work in the new era of Jesus through and through in a way that Judaism never claimed or taught. Thus, Paul’s charge of legalism could stand.
There is a nice little booklet of 28 pages pages put out by Grove Books Ltd. and Michael B. Thompson that is a nice overview of all of this. The title is The New Perspective on Paul.
I hope this quick overview is helpful.
DLB
From August, 2006:
I just made a series of comments on the New Perspective on Paul because of queries in the recent comments window. Check it out. Here I will note some bibliography. The key work that launched the NP is by E. P. Sanders, called Paul and Palestinian Judaism. The bibliography tied to support and responses is huge. Key supporters include work by James Dunn, Tom Wright, and Don Garlington. Key critics include Tom Schreiner, Mark Seifrid, and Seyoon Kim. Commentaries written from this perspective include Dunn on Romans, while those by Moo and Schreiner challenge this view. 2 Volumes edited by Carson and Siefrid entitled Justification and Variegated Nomism look at the key Jewish texts and the exegesis of key texts respectively. Once you get started with these works, you will know where to go.
DLB
One Comment
Greg Baxter
NP
Dr. bock,
Thanks for the quick overview and timely response.
Pastor Greg