Core to Paul's gospel is the relationship between Israel and the Nations in light of the coming of Christ. But historic Christianity, in claiming to be a new Israel, and in not recognising the purpose of God in Christ for Jews and the nations, has ignored its Jewish roots, the scriptures of Israel, and the Jewishness of Jesus and the apostles leaving a lacuna in its own identity, which Campbell argues, can only be overcome by a covenantal understanding of diversity in Christ. The denial of the covenant leads to a negation of God's revelation to Israel, and leaves Christianity with a deficient self-understanding. Although covenant language is not prominent in Paul's letters it remains the basis of his thought in differentiated ways concerning Israel and the nations. The covenant remains God's covenant with Israel. But through the covenant re-ratified in Christ, non-Jews although not included in the covenant, participate through Christ in the Abrahamic promises. Hence participation language is prevalent in Paul's letters since these address non-Jews in Christ as representatives of the nations. Rather than being 'indifferent to difference', Paul's gospel is not anti-ethnic, but is focused on the continuation of difference in Christ. God's purpose is designed to relate to differing peoples, not in their becoming one and the same, but in reciprocal blessing among those who remain different. The corollary of this respect for difference is the call for reconciliation as an essential part of following Christ, a fundamental element in Paul's gospel. God created a diverse world so that his people will find blessing in its rainbow diversity.
Show moreCore to Paul's gospel is the relationship between Israel and the Nations in light of the coming of Christ. But historic Christianity, in claiming to be a new Israel, and in not recognising the purpose of God in Christ for Jews and the nations, has ignored its Jewish roots, the scriptures of Israel, and the Jewishness of Jesus and the apostles leaving a lacuna in its own identity, which Campbell argues, can only be overcome by a covenantal understanding of diversity in Christ. The denial of the covenant leads to a negation of God's revelation to Israel, and leaves Christianity with a deficient self-understanding. Although covenant language is not prominent in Paul's letters it remains the basis of his thought in differentiated ways concerning Israel and the nations. The covenant remains God's covenant with Israel. But through the covenant re-ratified in Christ, non-Jews although not included in the covenant, participate through Christ in the Abrahamic promises. Hence participation language is prevalent in Paul's letters since these address non-Jews in Christ as representatives of the nations. Rather than being 'indifferent to difference', Paul's gospel is not anti-ethnic, but is focused on the continuation of difference in Christ. God's purpose is designed to relate to differing peoples, not in their becoming one and the same, but in reciprocal blessing among those who remain different. The corollary of this respect for difference is the call for reconciliation as an essential part of following Christ, a fundamental element in Paul's gospel. God created a diverse world so that his people will find blessing in its rainbow diversity.
Show more1. Re-Imagining the Period of Christian Origins
2. The Hermeneutics of Antithesis: The Reception of Paul in
Contrast to Judaism
3. Universality via Particularity
4. Association and Interaction with Judaism by Paul and His
Communities
5. Paul and the Recognition of Ethnic Distinctiveness
6. The Hermeneutics of Commonality and Comparison in 2 Corinthians
3
7. The Faithfulness of God, the Remnant, and the Ethnē
8. Ethnē in Christ and Their Relation to Israel
9. Participation in Christ and the Transformation of Identity
10. Covenantal Hermeneutics in Paul
William S. Campbell has taught biblical studies at Westhill College, Selly Oak, Birmingham, and the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David.
Campbell’s ambitious book critically engages Paul’s own texts, the
giants of twentieth-century Pauline scholarship, and the very
latest research on ethnicity, diversity, and community in Paul’s
world. At once passionately felt and deeply irenic, The Nations in
the Divine Economy champions both a nuanced historical portrait of
the apostle and a morally lucid theology of his letters, bridging
the religious studies/ divinity divide.
*Paula Fredriksen, author of Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle*
This is vintage Bill Campbell. He fine-tunes and develops his
long-held thesis of the positive place of Israel in Paul by
emphasizing three major contexts: the historical context of Paul’s
epistles, the context of the history of interpretation with its
inevitable impact on the interpretation of Paul, and our modern
context in which Campbell demonstrates post-Holocaust sensitivities
and resists anti-Judaism and supercessionism. He leaves few stones
unturned in his comprehensive refutations of potential objections
from other interpreters of Paul.
*Robert L. Brawley, McCormick Theological Seminary*
In this important and timely book, William S. Campbell, well-known
for his insightful work on Paul, combines historical, theological,
and socio-scientific approaches in a constructive way to shed new
light on Paul’s covenantal hermeneutics. A must read for all
scholars of the historical Paul and the Pauline literature, the
significance of the book is not limited to the scholarly world.
Reconstructing the Pauline message, The Nations in the Divine
Economy also speaks perceptively to issues of critical importance
to those seeking mutual respect and understanding between Jews and
Christians today. This is an eminently readable study engaging key
questions related to continuity in the Jewish and Christian
reality, written from a historically sound and theologically
inspiring perspective. Highly recommended!
*Anders Runesson, University of Oslo*
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