Unity and Diversity in Christ: Interpreting Paul in Context - Collected Essays - Softcover

Campbell has led the challenge to traditional approaches on a number of topics arising in Romans and throughout the Pauline corpus. Anyone interested in Paul's Jewish roots, diversity within the Christ movement, and the formation of identity in the Pauline communities will be richly rewarded for making Campbell a conversation partner. His style is clear and readable, informed by the most recent research, and always thought-provoking. Mark D. Nanos, University of Kansas With particular attention to Paul's letter to the Romans, Campbell's work is deeply informed by modern theorists and is methodologically sophisticated. His explorations of the relationship between theology and context often lead to original insights. This is one of the best works available today on the nature of Paul's theology. Margaret Y. MacDonald, St Francis Xavier University Rigorously insistent on reading Paul's letters in their historical and rhetorical contexts, yet ever aware of the consequences for us as we deal with issues of identity and diversity today, these are important essays. No reader of Paul can afford to miss them. Neil Elliott, author of The Arrogance of Nations

The legacy of Pauline scholarship, from ancient to modern, is characterised by a surfeit of unsettled, conflicting conclusions that often fail to interpret Paul in relation to his Jewish roots. William S. Campbell takes a stand against this paradigm, emphasising continuity between Judaism and the Christ-movement in Paul's letters. Campbell focusses on important themes, such as diversity, identity and reconciliation, as the basic components of transformation in Christ. The stance from which Paul theologises is one that recognises and underpins social and cultural diversity and includes the correlating demand that because difference is integral to the Christ-movement, the enmity associated with difference cannot be tolerated. Thus, reconciliation emerges as a fundamental value in the Christ-movement. Reconciliation, in this sense, respects and does not negate the particularities of the identity of Jews and those from the nations. In this paradigm, transformation implies the re-evaluation of all things in Christ, whether of Jewish or gentile origin.