Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion by E. P. Sanders ISBN: 0-8006-1899-8 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: December, 1983 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: A helpful book on Paul
Comment: Sanders has written a big book with lots of details. Obviously, there is still a lot of research and discussion to be done to come up with an accurate description of the patterns of religion exhibited by each form of Judaism. But at a general level, I though his case was more-or-less convincing.
Evangelicals who pick this up to read for the first time will be amazed at how little is said about Martin Luther or about traditional Protestant dogma. Sanders is aiming for specific historians of rabbinical thought. These men were not from the reformation but from liberal Protestantism, as far as I can tell from Sanders footnotes. The impression gathered from his book indicates that these people would have no real commitment to the "particularity" of the Christian religion--specifically the claim that Jesus' death and resurrection really happened in space/time history and that they even constituted the liberation of the world from sin, guilt, and death. Instead, Christianity was reduced to an abstract confidence in the benevolence of God and his willingness to forgive. To explain the divide between Christianity and Judaism, then, required that the latter be understood as an abstract need to earn God's favor by being good enough.
According to Sanders the Rabbis were massively misunderstood, even to the point of claiming that they had a doctrine of "a treasury of merits" by which people could be forgiven because of past works of superogation done by the fathers. Obviously the most superstitious forms of Medieval Roman Catholic theology were being imposed on these people.
Of course, this hardly means that the Rabbis were good Protestants in how Sanders claims they formulated their doctrine. The essentials of Protestant soteriology are, frankly, a lot more specific than a "pattern of religion" that begins with grace. (This lack of clarity is seen in the idea, expressed by some, that "The Rabbis were not pelagians." Fine. But there is still the issue of whether they understood being justified as being made righteous personally, rather than being declared righteous judicially. These issues would be of importance to conservative Evangelicals but are simply not on Sanders radar.)
Sanders discussion of Paul is a mixed bag.
First off, readers who have caught wind of the controversy might be shocked to find out that Sanders denies that Paul's soteriology fitted into the pattern of "covenantal nomism." Rather, mystical union with Christ--"participationist eschatology"--is the pattern of his religion. As has been pointed out, his analysis substantially resembles Richard Gaffin's _Resurrection & Redemption_.
Second, Sanders denies Pauline authorship to a number of the canonical books ascribed to him. This skews his entire discussion, in my opinion.
Third, Sanders claims that Saul the Pharisee had no real crisis of conscience due to some problem he perceived with the Law or with himself in regard to the Law. Rather, when he learned that God had raised up Jesus, he deduced from Jesus being sent as savior that there must have been something deficient in the law. While this is somewhat problematic, it is also a salutary response to the sort of Christless liberal Christianity that mutates it into a general principle of grace. Sanders is claiming that the particularity of Jesus dying and rising from the dead was all-important to Paul.
As part of this issue, Sanders analyzes Paul's appeal to "faith," not as a real principle that he gained from the Scriptures, but rather as an ad hoc alternative to "Law." His main argument is that Romans 3.21-31 defines faith as receiving the gratuity of salvation, whereas Romans 4.1ff and the example of Abraham show faith as an active trust in God's future promises. This is fascinating because Sanders is using traditional exegesis of a specific passage (Romans 3.21-31) to undermine traditional theology, which sees Paul as making a substantial point from Scripture with forceful argumentation. N. T. Wright has defended traditional theology by pointing out that Sanders problem is that he is being too traditional in his exegesis. The phrase translated as "faith in Jesus Christ" is actually referring to "the faith of Jesus Christ." Romans 3.21-31 is not speaking of the faith of the believer but rather about the faith of Jesus. Thus, there is no conflicting definition of the believer's faith in the two passages.
Is this a worthwhile book for an Evangelical to read? I'm not sure. I only read it because of all of the cries of alarm that have been sounding forth. If I had been allowed peace I would have stuck with N. T. Wright, who is much better than Sanders, in my opinion, in any number of ways. Right now, I think that the "discussion" (to use a flattering term) among Evangelicals is so polarized that no one has a right to make any statements about Sanders unless he has read him for himself.
Sanders does show that the historical claims of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century liberals were unfounded. He does not, in my estimation, prove that the Rabbis were orthodox Protestants in their soteriology. Nor, for that matter, does he absolutely prove that there was no merit legalism in first-century Judaism, because it is impossible to prove a universal negative. He does show that the case has not yet been made.
Many are now claiming that anyone who adopts Sanders basic position is allowing non-inspired documents to determine the meaning of Scripture. But that is not true. Even if Sanders is not convincing to some, the fact remains that there is no evidence in the New Testament that Jesus or the Apostles thought the Pharisees taught that one must earn one's salvation. If there were merit legalists in first-century Palestine, they were not important enough to elicit a response in the canonical Scriptures. In my opinion, Sanders book is helpful in confirming what we ought to already know.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent Pauline scholarship
Comment: EP Sanders delivers a memorable and convincing book on the subject of traditional Palestinian Judaism and Pauline theology. The major thrust of this book revolves around the idea that Judaism was not a works-righteousness legalistic religion which many 20th century scholars have attempted to prove; Instead, Sanders argues that traditional Judaism is a covenant religion where one maintains his status within the elect group through his piety and obedience.
To bolster and support his argument Sanders relies on textual support from Rabbinical sources, Qumran literature, and several apocryphal texts. Sanders argues that Jews believed their obedience did not earn their salvation but maintained their status within the covenant group. In other words, obedience was the condition and not the cause of salvation. This covenantal nomism as Sanders dubs it makes for an interesting argument and deconstructs the idea that Judaism is a works-righteousness religion.
Although Sanders' treatment of Paul leaves something to be desired, he does devote some serious time to reworking and understanding Paul's beliefs. Sanders sees many similarities between Paul and traditional Judaism, but also many huge differences that separate the two camps. According to Sanders, Paul believes that the only righteousness that matters comes from Jesus. Paul doesn't believe that the law cannot produce righteousness, but that the righteousness it produces isn't adequate. Paul's soteriology is extremely Christocentric and because of this the law has become irrelavant.
Also striking is Sanders' belief that Paul argued for a participatory function in Christ's death and resurrection. Sanders sees more than just an expiatory or forensic meaning in Paul's theological language. Unlike traditional Judaism which believed that righteousness was forensic and legal based on the law, Paul sees the Christians role as one of suffering and participating in Christ's life. The believer is mystically joined with Christ and through this union the believer dies and and will eventually rise with Christ. As Sanders notes the idea of being a member of corporate Israel and being a member of Christ are two starkly different concepts.
Although this books is a bit lengthy and does devote more time and study to Judaism in comparison to Paul, it is still a welcome addition to any library. This book is valuable simply for it's deep study of the Jewish faith and what the Rabbis and early 1st century Jews really believed.
Rating: 5
Summary: This is compulsory and compulsive reading.
Comment: In his thorough, Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977), E. P. Sanders attacked two of the most sacred views of Pauline scholarship. The first was the view that Rabbinic Judaism as a legalistic religion based on works righteousness. Second, was the idea that St. Paul's thinking is Jewish. The power of this book has not diminished after nearly thirty years. It is without doubt the greatest and most important work on the theology of Paul in the latter half of the 20th century. This is compulsory and compulsive reading.
 |
Title: Jesus and Judaism by E. P. Sanders ISBN: 0800620615 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: May, 1987 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
 |
Title: Paul the Law and the Jewish People by E. P. Sander, E. P. Sanders ISBN: 0800618785 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: June, 1985 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
 |
Title: The Theology of Paul the Apostle by James D. G. Dunn ISBN: 0802838448 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: November, 1997 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
 |
Title: The Historical Figure of Jesus by E. P. Sanders ISBN: 0140144994 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: January, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, 3) by N. T. Wright ISBN: 0800626796 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
