Years ago a man who was my mentor in ministry, explained one of his idiosyncrasies that had served him well over many years. When he went on holiday in the Highlands or the West Coast of Scotland, even in an already overloaded family car, he stuffed in the latest big book to have a good browse while he was away and had time and space to enjoy it.
The book which prompted that conversation was the newly issued New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, published in 1974, the year I became a student pastor in Cornton, Stirling, where the Rev Jim Taylor was the senior minister in the mother church in Stirling. I took his advice and have done the same on self-catering holidays in Scotland in whatever cottage and wherever. A post on previous big books taken on holidays is for another time.
The new Dictionary of Paul and His Letters is undoubtedly a book worth giving time to browse and become familiar with the contents. This final review post is a broad survey of what I've found while exploring the surrounding landscape and landmarks of recent Pauline studies.
Let's start near the middle with the overall subject of interpretation. In 1993 Grant Osborne wrote 'Hermeneutics / Interpretation of Paul', (9 pages) a wide-ranging article which tried to do too much even then. It's still worth reading if only as a snapshot taken just as new approaches in New Testament Studies gathered momentum. The 2023 revision has 50 pages on Interpretation that represents distinctive interpretive approaches to Paul: there are separate articles on Asian and Asian American; Augustine; Calvin; Jewish; Luther; Medieval; Modern European; New Perspective; Patristic; Postcolonial; Latinamente. This provides a much more rounded, representative sampling of approaches to Paul, both key historical figures and specific cultural and ethnic contexts.
The list isn't comprehensive but widely representative, and the Editors have had to make hard choices about what is included. I wondered about post-holocaust studies, or liberationist interpretations of Paul - though some comment on these can be found using the subject index. I did, however, note an omission that surprised me. There is no article on Feminist Interpretations of Paul - The Oxford Handbook of Pauline Studies has an entire article on Paul and feminism, acknowledging the gains from the probing questions and diverse perspectives of the feminist contributions to Pauline studies. There are some brief references traceable in the index, and a number of articles on women and their role in Paul's work. I know choices are difficult, and it is hard to be comprehensive, but I regret the absence of a summary article on how women scholars have critiqued Paul.
The article 'Old Testament in Paul' is completely rewritten by Roy Ciampa and fully reflects the developments in recent decades, particularly relating to intertextuality. The essay on the phrase 'In Christ' reflects recent emphases on participation and union with Christ, and is written by Michael Gorman who has been a persuasive voice in the theological recovery of a more fully participationist understanding of Paul's 'cruciform and resurrectional' gospel. Indeed the theme is part of an overlapping conversation with systematic theology and the renewed interest in theological interpretation that has been going on for some time now, as for example, in Grant Macaskill's work on Union with Christ in the New Testament,1 and its more accessible Living in Union with Christ: Paul's Gospel and Christian Moral Identity.
'Grace' is a concept that is core and centre of Paul's gospel, and in recent years our understanding of what Paul meant and implied by the term 'grace' has been significantly redefined by John Barclay, who by a happy providence is the author of the article on 'Grace'! This is a good example of the value of reference books like this - Barclay's magisterial study is distilled into exegetical concentrate, presented in three steps - the unconditioned gift of Christ - Grace and response - Grace and generosity. This is a joy to read.
Scot McKnight was a good choice for 'James and Paul' - "The issue of which 'lexicon' James and Paul were using matters immensely." It certainly does! And Mcknight is a deep reader of both James and Paul and a sure guide through the intricacies of works of law, boundary markers, nuances of justification language and theological tensions created by confused semantics. His final sentence reads and sounds like an apostolic sigh of relief: "Where James finishes is consistent with the apostle's own framework of a grace that transforms the unworthy person into an agent of good works."
A final quick scan of highlights - 'Apocalyptic Paul' is by Jamie Davies, one of the best interpreters of this increasingly significant approach to Paul; a completely new article on 'Empire' updates recent research on Paul's stance on Rome and the question of anti-imperial undertones in his letters; 'Preaching from Paul Today' is an excellent update of the previous treatment - 30 years is a long time, and there are new and urgent questions to be asked and answered; various articles deal with the theology and ethics of human sexuality, and these are entirely updated to reflect significant shifts in how the church seeks to engage with changes in cultural and social ethics, and how these relate to Pauline theological ethics; two articles, 'Ministry' and 'Mission' account for 20 packed pages of analysis and explanation of what Paul thought he was about during those driven years of apostolic joy and sorrow, labour and love, hope and disappointment, and all because of that day he was knocked off his horse, or at least his feet, by the One he came to know as the Crucified-Risen One.
This and the two previous posts should be enough to show how much I value and am enjoying this new Dictionary. It now sits in arm's reach along with the revised Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. As to price, the new Paul dictionary can be bought for less then the price of 3 or 4 Tyndale commentaries. It is packed with up to date scholarship, is uniformly well written in my reading so far, some articles are superb in summarising the subject, others gather material hard to find elsewhere, it is solid and well produced, lies open on the desk, and will last for years.
The Editors, authors and publishers have done an excellent job on a huge task, and those of us looking to seriously engage with Paul and his letters are in their debt - and then some!
1. Some years ago, on holiday at Crieff Hydro, sitting in the sun lounge, with a pot of Earl Grey Tea and a slice of coconut cake, I spent a while reading some of this book. The evidence is in the photo!
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