“Michael Gorman has given us an extraordinary gift. He has written an eminently readable introduction to Paul’s message that neither diminishes the apostle’s practical wisdom nor domesticates it. He communicates the profound depth of Paul’s thought in ways that are as inviting as they are challenging. Reading Paul is that rare book that deserves the widest possible readership.” —Joel B. Green, Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Fuller Theological Seminary “Michael Gorman, already established as a perceptive and creative interpreter of Paul’s letters, now offers us a user-friendly introduction to Paul the person. Gorman’s book aptly fulfills the Companions series goal. He makes Paul our contemporary ‘companion’ by introducing major themes from Paul’s letters in such a personal way. I warmly recommend this book to pastors, seminarians, and anyone interested in getting to know Paul better!” —Fr. Ronald D. Witherup, SS, Provincial Superior of the U.S. Province of Sulpicians “Reading Paul well means reading Paul specifically as Christian Scripture, ‘the voice of God speaking to us,’ to use Michael Gorman’s phrase. In this book, Gorman not only reads Paul well, he exemplifies a passion for helping others in the Church to do so. He elegantly weaves historical, social, and political aspects of Paul’s context into a powerful theological reading of the apostle’s letters that reverberates with contemporary implications for the church in North America. His lucid exposition of justification as grace- enabled co-crucifixion and co-resurrection with Christ demonstrates keen exegetical and theological acumen and is worth the price of the book. Its clarity and engaging style make it easy to recommend for local church groups and classes where Paul is the focus.” —Andy Johnson, Professor of New Testament, Nazarene Theological Seminary “An already established expert on Paul, Gorman now offers the eager but uninitiated reader an accessible and illuminating overview of the apostle’s writings, theology and spirituality. Here is a ‘big picture’ perspective which invites and enables the reader to envisage, enter into, and enjoy Scripture speaking to us and for God.” —S. A. Cummins, Director, MA in Biblical Studies, Trinity Western University Cascade Companions The Christian theological tradition provides an embarrassment of riches: from scripture to modern scholarship, we are blessed with a vast and complex theological inheritance. And yet this feast of traditional riches is too frequently inaccessible to the general reader. The Cascade Companions series addresses the challenge by publishing books that combine academic rigor with broad appeal and readability. They aim to introduce nonspecialist readers to that vital storehouse of authors, documents, themes, histories, arguments, and movements that comprise this heritage with brief yet compelling volumes. titles in this series: Reading Augustine by Jason Byassee Conflict, Community, and Honor by John H. Elliott An Introduction to the Desert Fathers by Jason Byassee forthcoming titles: Theology and Culture: A Guide to the Discussion by D. Stephen Long iPod, YouTube, Wii Play: Theological Engagements with Entertainment by Brent Laytham Creationism and Evolution by Tatha Wiley Theological Interpretation of Scripture by Stephen Fowl Reading Paul o Michael J. Gorman READING PAUL Cascade Companions Copyright © 2008 Michael J. Gorman. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf & Stock, 199 W. 8th Ave., Eugene, OR 97401. Cascade Books A Division of Wipf and Stock Publishers 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3 Eugene, OR 97401 isbn13: 978-1-55635-195-2 New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Cataloging-in-Publication data: Gorman, Michael J., 1955– Reading Paul / Michael J. Gorman. x + p.; cm. 196 20 Cascade Companions isbn13: 978-1-55635-195-2 1. Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul—Theology. 2. Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 3. Paul, The Apostle, Saint. I. Title II. Series. bs2651 g64 2008 Manufactured in the U.S.A. Acknowledgments o I am grateful to Jon Stock of Wipf and Stock Publishers for the invitation to contribute this volume to the Cascade Companions series. Special thanks go to those who read and commented on the manuscript, in whole or in part, before its publication. Among these were two New Testament colleagues and fellow Pauline scholars, Andy Johnson and Ron Witherup. I cannot adequately express my gratitude to Andy Johnson in particular; without his careful comments on every chapter, this book would be much poorer. My graduate students and research assistants, Lenore Turner and Bob Anderson, suggested improvements to the manuscript. Lenore also meticulously checked the Scripture references. In addition, the book was “road-tested” with representatives of the intended audiences: motivated lay people and beginning students of Paul. These include my wife Nancy; several fellow-members of Community United Methodist Church and my adult-education class there: Mike Cantley, John Gurney, Adam Nucci, and Nelson Outten; two dear friends, Marilyn and Joe Murchison, with whom I have read Scripture and prayed for nearly two decades; plus one of my children, Brian, a college student, and his Kenyan friend Gordon Odira, a recent college graduate. All of their comments were invaluable, but I am especially grateful for the insights of Mike, a budding pastoral theologian and peacemaker; Adam, a very careful reader; and Joe, a superb writer and editor. My debt to other interpreters of the apostle is too large to acknowledge in full here, but I will mention two names whose strong influence will be evident: Richard B. Hays of Duke Divinity School and N. T. (Tom) Wright, Bishop of Durham in the Church of England. It is a great privilege to count them both also as friends, though of course I hold neither of them, nor anyone else, responsible for any mistakes I have made in the interpretation of our mutual friend, Paul. Unless otherwise indicated, all biblical quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). I wrote some of these words while on a visit to the ecumenical Christian community in Taizé France, which is dedicated to unity, reconciliation, and peace through Christ. Taizé music helps many, myself included, to implement the Pauline exhortation to pray without ceasing. In addition, Taizé is a peaceable community and movement of which Paul would be proud and, I think, part. October 3, 2007 1 Why Paul? o Of the making of books on the apostle Paul there is no end. I have scores of them on my bookshelves, and there are hundreds more in my seminary’s library. I have written two such books myself, plus a Ph.D. dissertation—a total of nearly 2,000 pages. Most of my professional colleagues in biblical studies have written, or are writing, at least one book on Paul. So why yet another, especially one for serious lay readers, beginning students, and those who are not immediately attracted to Paul? Before answering that question, we should pause to consider the context in which we read and write about Paul. If the first decade is any indication, the twenty-first century will be an era characterized by new forms of both imperialism and tribalism, each marked by violence and, often, motivated by religious commitments. In fact, some influential voices suggest that religion is the problem.1 And of course Paul is a religious figure. So is Paul part of the problem? While the global situation is marked by quests for domination and by bitter divisions, the situation in many Christian churches seems to be a microcosm of the larger world, minus (usually) the violence. Since the name of Paul is often invoked on both sides of a debate or rift, we wonder again, Is Paul part of the problem? Not in my view. I think that we can, and must, read Paul as our contemporary, and as Scripture. Reading Paul’s Letters as Scripture The answer to “Why another book on Paul?” lies in my conviction that too many books, even the best ones, treat him only as an ancient figure, not as our companion and contemporary, much less a conduit of divine revelation. The extreme version of this view is implied in the following quotation from the perspective of the social sciences: Modern Christianity in all its forms has little to do with its ancestral expressions in the Jesus groups of Paul’s day, as we hope our commentary will demonstrate.2 The authors of this sentence are rightly trying to help their readers enter the world of the first century and not impose their own situations on first-century documents. But they do so at great expense, losing Paul as a spiritual guide. They abandon the very reason Paul interests people in the first place: what he said to “Jesus groups” then he says also to Christians today. Paul’s writings, after all, are Christian Scripture. They are part of the Christian Bible, which is recognized by Christians as the primary authority for our knowledge of God and the primary instrument of God’s ongoing address to the Christian community.3 Thus I want to read Paul, and help others read Paul, as Scripture, as—to be blunt—the voice of God speaking to us. This approach is obviously quite different from that of the social sciences. It is even different from some allegedly theological readings that stress the fact that Paul writes about God but say nothing of how Paul brings the word of God to us. My approach assumes, as Joel Green has eloquently argued, that we are part of the same community to which Paul’s first recipients belonged—the church universal.4 Green says: The first question, then [in the interpretation of the Bible as Scripture], is not what separates us (language, diet, worldview, politics, social graces, and so forth) from the biblical authors, but whether we are ready to embrace the God to whom and the theological vision to which these writers bear witness.5 He continues: [I]n the same way that to refer to the Bible as Scripture is a theological statement, to speak of the church, theologically, is to speak of its oneness across time and space. There is only one people of God. That is, historical judgments about the audience of a biblical text stand in tension with the theological affirmation of the oneness of the church that receives this biblical text as Scripture. Historical criticism assumes what Christians can never assume—namely, that there is more than one people of God.6 That is, the writers and readers of Scripture constitute one community of faith. To be sure, there is merit in remembering that Paul and his letter-recipients lived in a culture different from our own. We need to acknowledge the distance between now and then, and we need to employ tools to understand “then.”7 But the perspective that stresses difference should not be the governing view we bring to the reading of Paul. If it is, we betray the apostle’s own purpose in writing and forget the very meaning of the word “Scripture.” It is especially ironic that so many professional scholars of Paul continue to distance him from us when even people outside the church and outside the guild of biblical scholars—for instance, European political philosophers—find Paul of great contemporary value.8 This is not to disparage historical study but to place it in a broader interpretive framework. This book assumes that we read Paul best when we read him speaking to us and for God. We need to read him as an apostle and prophet—as most people inside the Christian church have traditionally done. If readers seek other approaches, there are many good books to satisfy them,