Paul or Jesus?

2d year Greek student echo the title, but
it's after two years of Pauline Exegesis.

If you were given a choice, would you have dinner with Jesus or Paul? I’m willing to bet we would all choose Jesus. Let’s face it, everybody likes Jesus better than Paul. Jesus bucked the religious and political authorities; Paul is accused of perpetuating slavery. Little children wanted to sit with Jesus; Paul reminded the church that women shouldn’t speak during the meeting. Jesus actually turned water into wine; Paul probably began the tradition of serving grape juice at the Lord’s Supper. Jesus went around telling stories; Paul went around telling people how to live their lives. In the world in which we live, stories are valuable cultural currency, but putting forward some type of ethical standard comes across as judgmental.

J. R. Daniel Kirk’s book, Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? A Narrative Approach to the Problem of Pauline Christianity (Grand Rapids, Baker: 2011), addresses the growing divide in our culture between Jesus and Paul, which appears to have begun as early as Peter, who had trouble understanding Paul. Kirk makes the case that in reality Jesus and Paul really aren’t that far a part. If we read Jesus carefully, we’ll actually see that he puts forward a standard for those who wish to follow him. And Paul, just like Jesus, believes that God is saving the world through those who are marginalized through society. When we set the two in conflict, we are most likely not reading them accurately.

For me, two aspects of the book stand out. 

First, in the subtitle, Kirk notes that he comes to Paul through narrative. By this, Kirk means that you have to understand the worldview that is behind Paul’s thinking to actually understand Paul. Once that’s clear, then Paul’s writing will begin to make sense. And the divide between Jesus and Paul won’t look so great. Worldview is narrative, or a story about how the world functions. One way to define the Christian life or maturity, is by seeking to conform our own worldview to the worldview of the Bible. I’ve written about this in brief here.

Many biblical theologians will say that theologizing with Gospel literature is more implicit than the didactic literature we get from Paul, and therefore more difficult. This assumes that Paul writes in a straightforward manner. In truth a narrative runs behind Paul’s own theology, and if you don’t understand Paul’s backstory of God’s work through Israel, Jesus, and the church, you'll misunderstand Paul himself. The tragedy is that many who assume that they understand Paul really don’t, because they don’t share the values of the apostle, or understand God’s story they way that he does.

This is becoming somewhat of a popular approach to Pauline theology. Timothy Gombis has written a book about understand the narrative behind Ephesians. A few years ago, Ben Witherington wrote a similar book on approaching Paul through narrative.

Second, Kirk looks at a number of current issues and addresses them through his understanding of the Christian narrative. This is a marked difference in recent work in biblical theology. In the past, biblical theology has been descriptive of the text. The second part of Kirk’s book investigates current issues from women in ministry to homosexuality. Readers will not agree with Kirk on all of these issues, but his critique that Christians have engaged the discussion in a markedly unchristian manner is right on.

For me, good biblical theology should be descriptive, but it should also call us to respond. The Christian story ought to challenge us and our approach to the world. This is a step in the right direction.

What problems have you had with Paul? If you had a chance, how would you steer the conversation at dinner?

Gratitude, a Thanksgiving Reflection

Irony for today? An ad for gratitude.

Presumption permeates our current culture. We all feel like we are entitled to iPhones, cable TV, anything else that black Friday marketers highlight. Just below the surface of this is the feeling that we deserve it. The inverse, then, is that if we don’t get these things, then we feel wronged or betrayed. We didn't get what belonged to us. I’ve actually felt sorry for people that pull out their early 2000’s flip phone; this probably propels this sentiment in a negative way. Life begins to look like it isn’t fair.

The Christian story cuts against this idea. Paul tells the Philippians that he considers all that he has as something to thrown away. Paul is warning the Philippians against relying on anything other than Christ for salvation. You'll never hear a theological argument for the soteriological value of consumerism on Sunday morning. But it seems that more than not we place our lives in the hands of these things. And when they don’t come through we are either disappointed or angry. We definitely don’t feel Christian joy.

The opposite of this is gratitude.

Twelve steppers say that if you want to be successful in recovery, then you have to have an “attitude of gratitude.” This might sound like some type of platitude, but it summarizes the heart  any twelve step recovery program. It indicates that all that we have comes from someone or something bigger than ourselves, and that all we have is in spite of our best efforts. Gratitude is that emotion that results from the realization that despite ourselves we have received something wonderful. Whenever I begin to feel an entitlement-induced-depression, I make a list of the top five things for which I’m thankful.

It is one thing to realize that there is something bigger than ourselves, it's another to actually insert ourselves in the wider world. Giving back to those in need, true need, provides some significant insight. It puts our own life in perspective. When you help someone who doesn't know from where they will receive their next meal, it puts the delayed release date of iPhone 5 in perspective. It reminds us that God’s concern isn’t for my own accumulation of stuff, but for those who are in need.

When we begin to develop this attitude within our lives we’ll see that all good gifts come from the Father above. Similarly, the things in which we once boasted really get in the way of the gifts that God wants to give to us. Life really isn’t that fair; neither is grace.

How do you show gratitude? Even though it might not change your life circumstances, how does it alter your perspective?

ETS/SBL Book Round Up

How can you tell if you are at ETS or SBL? To quote NT Wright (who described two professors from oxford): “they are wearing tweed, and you overhear one of them saying ‘ninthly.’” They also pack an extra suitcase with them to lug their books back home. Below are some of the gems that I picked up.

So I'll tip my hand--below is the list of books that I picked up at ETS. I did not bring an extra suitcase.

I first grabbed the 28th edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek text that just came out. There are just a few changes to the text in the General Epistles, and none to the Gospels, Acts, or Paulines. The editors have updated the list of manuscripts that form the basis of the text. They have updated the cross references in the text and have made it a much more reader friendly edition. I'm happy with the purchase. Interestingly enough because of the new edition there was a fire sale on the 27th edition. Crossway had a nice diglot edition with the ESV, but it was a little bulky. There will be a few more editions that come out later in the year or early next year that have various English translations. This will probably cause the biggest stir among first year Greek students who bought a NA-27.

Second, I picked up a slim volume by DA Carson: Jesus The Son of God. Carson discusses the Christological title in about 100 pages. He focuses on the use of the title, particularly John 5 and Hebrews 1. The last chapter focuses the discussion on the use of the title in a Muslim context. DA Carson is a sharp scholar. I'm looking forward to see how he deals with the text. I'm becoming more convinced that good theology has to be both exegetically sound, but also relevant to the society around us. Carson is exegetically sound, and I'm aware of his theological work. I'm not aware of his contextualization of Christianity within a muslim context. I'm interested to see how he lands.

Third, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, looks very interesting. This topic is crucial to those coming into biblical studies. The difficult, however, of removing a blindspot is that you aren't aware of it. As readers, and teachers of the Bible, we have to continue to sensitize ourselves to the cultural norms that we have wholesale adopted that impact how we read the text. Some of the more fruitful discussions about the text have come when my distance from the text has been highlighted and in some degree addressed. The Bible challenges culture, the ancient as well as the modern. To appreciate this critique, you have to appreciate the message of the Bible as well as the culture. The ability to do this will regularly give insight to the Bible.

Fourth, Pennington's Reading the Gospels Wisely, addresses specific Gospel issues. Developing theology from narrative is particularly difficult. There are layers of issues that range from history to literary. How were the Gospels written? Why were they written? What was their purpose? How do we make out their theology since much of the message is implied through description of the stories.

Fifth, G. K. Beale's work, We Become what We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry, looks interesting. Here Beale investigates idolatry throughout the Bible and how it applies to the Christian life. The concept of imitation pervades the Bible. This is particularly illuminating in regards to the New Testament's command for us to conform ourselves to Jesus.

I'm beginning to see more monographs that address particular theological themes that run through the Bible. One series that I'm interested in is the New Studies in Biblical Theology.

Sixth, Kingdom Through Covenant, is a biblical theology that is seeking to engender a discussion within evangelicalism between dispensational and reformed theologians. Understanding the covenantal system in the Old Testament and how it is applied to the New Testament is critical. The discussion over at the Gospel Coalition sparked my interested here. Darrell Bock, Douglas Moo, and Michael Horton each reviewed the book from their various theological spectrum. The authors respond here.

Last, but certainly not least, I picked up the first volume of Craig Keener's commentary on Acts. This heavyweight comes in just over 1,000 pages and covers the first two chapters of the book. The introduction to the book is over 600 pages and the rest is the exposition. Keener is capable with the background material. This should prove itself to be a great resource for the background of the book. The book of Acts is key to understanding how the early church developed from the resurrection on. This is a projected four volume series. Volume two should be out soon.

I almost picked up Eckhard Schnabel's commentary on Acts, but felt that it might be redundant compared to Keener.

Surviving a Paper: Crafting a Strong Thesis

Writing is hard. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. People will try to encourage you. You might see others with an ability to miraculously multiply words on paper. But don’t let them fool you--writing is hard. No matter how you frame it, you have to sit down and write. Oftentimes, writing actually means re-writing, and revising, and re-writing again.  

With a few tools you can make it manageable. The outline is important, but probably more crucial and more basic is the thesis statement. If the outline is the map of your paper, the thesis is the compass. The needle is always pointing north. Getting a bead on this bearing is the most critical part of writing a solid paper. Giving due diligence to the sentence early in the project can make the entire project unfold faster and hold together tighter. This in turn will make the reader (most likely your professor or grader) happy. When people are generally happy, they will assess work in a more positive light. In sum, writing a strong thesis first and tweaking it along the way will help you score a better grade. It takes a little more mental work up front, but its cheaper than a bribe, or hoping that your prof’s favorite sports team is winning when he happens to be reading your paper.

A good thesis will have a subject and a predicate. The subject generally identifies the topic of your paper. The predicate will generally identify what you think about the subject, or what you plan to argue throughout your paper. For example: “First century Jewish tax collectors were considered sinners.” “Tax collectors” is the subject; they fact that they “were considered sinners” is the predicate. The rest of the work is just displaying the evidence that supports your thesis, or showing why evidence that doesn’t support is weak, misinterpreted, or on closer inspection really does help your case.

Here are some things to consider:

1. Ask the research questions. When you don’t have a thesis, raise the question about the subject. Generally, in seminary, your professor will give you a list of topics. Choose one and begin asking questions about that area: Why is it important? Is it important? What’s related to it? Sifting through these answers can help you come up with a good thesis statement.

2. Use a good action verb. The most vital member of the thesis statement is the verb. It controls the action. The verb of my thesis statement is “consider.” This is fine. It gets into first century thinking, but a better verb might be: “criticized,” “avoided,” “ridiculed.” Try this: “First century Jewish tax collectors were ridiculed as sinners,” or “...avoided as sinners.” This tells me more about the life of a tax collector than “consider,” and definitely how they were treated in light of what others thought about them.

3. Use the active voice. The active voice forces the writer to show who is doing the acting. Our example thesis statement is passive; we don’t know who considered first century Jewish tax collectors as sinners. Do the Romans? Jesus? A better thesis would be: “Pharisees avoided Jewish tax collectors as sinners.” If Jesus is the subject, then the phrase changes to “Jesus reached out to tax collectors as sinners.” Including the actor will help your thesis sentence out a lot. I find that students use the passive voice more. Left to my own devices, I would use the passive voice. Pinpointing the actor is difficult, and I’m lazy.

When you have a good thesis print it out and tape it on your computer monitor. Think about it when you write your outline. Work it over when you are waiting in line at Starbucks. When you have a strong thesis statement it will help you land your paper.

Book Review: Allison and Le Donne

I just wrapped up two historical Jesus books this fall. Dale Allison, who notes that this will probably be his last work, and Anthony Le Donne, who is relatively new to the field. Both draw from the latest memory theories. Memory theory is significant for historical Jesus studies, since everyone in the field believes that the Gospel records rest on the earliest memories of the disciples. Earlier work in this field focuses on the frailty and unreliability of memory. Allison and Le Donne temper this view a bit.

Allison’s work, Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History, is an update and great articulation of his normal historiographical method (See for example: Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet). Allison argues that the normal historical critical method of sorting out which saying or tradition is authentic or else a part of the early church ought to be put in the past. Rather, if the bulk of the traditions suggest a particular feature of the historical Jesus, then we should consider it authentic. This suggests that there is more continuity between the historical Jesus and the early church theology. 

If you’re aware of Allison’s work, there are few surprises. Jesus’ eschatology is apocalyptic. He viewed himself as the eschatological agent of an impinging apocalyptic event. He does this by noting the thrust of the traditions, rather than analyzing authentic traditions. Allison makes the case that even though a tradition may not be authentic, if it is a part of the larger thrust of the tradition, then it most likely represents a characterization of Jesus that is remembered by his earliest disciples.

This work reflects the long, judicious, sustained thinking about the historical Jesus. There is much to be gleaned from Allison’s approach and work on the subject.

Le Donne’s work, The Historiographical Jesus: Memory, Typology, and the Son of David, raises a challenge to the normal historical Jesus assumption that if a tradition involves a type, then it is most likely the work of the early church. Le Donne shows that social memory theorists suggest that the earliest memories would have been narrated through typology. 

Le Donne's assumption that memories are refracted in a specific way seems a little simplistic. But his thesis regarding typology however is persuasive and important. Le Donne introduces social memory theory to historical Jesus studies, which is proving to be an important study.

The second part of his book focuses on the Son of David typology as it is applied to Jesus in the Gospels. He shows that the typology was used to recapitulate Jesus’ healing ministry. Even though Le Donne focuses on the Son of David as a “work bench” for his historiographical thesis, this is one of the more interesting parts of the book. Few works on the Gospels focus on the Son of David in favor of the more popular “son of man” or “son of God.”

Both works take historical Jesus studies address memory theory issues, which are critical to Jesus studies.