Читать книгу Paul Among the Gentiles: A "Radical" Reading of Romans - Jacob P. B. Mortensen - Страница 18

Pamela Eisenbaum presents herself as a Jewish New Testament scholar.1 She studied Theology at Harvard Divinity School and obtained her PhD from Columbia University. In her book, Paul was not a Christian (2009), she clearly declares her alignment with the radical new perspective, and she states her indebtedness to the work of John Gager, Lloyd Gaston, Krister Stendahl, and Stanley Stowers.2 In her book, she argues that Paul may be better understood from a Jewish perspective of covenant theology than from a later Christian perspective. By stating this, she extends and further develops the work of E.P. Sanders and other new perspective scholars. Eisenbaum claims that Paul was not a Christian, because he did not found a new religion in opposition to Judaism. She repudiates the Reformation perception of Paul (justification by faith for all believers) and instead proposes a ‘two way’ solution in Paul.3 Paul ‘lived and died a Jew’ (5), because he was ‘unambiguously Jewish – ethnically, culturally, religiously, morally, and theologically’ (9). Paul did not leave Judaism, but believed that Israel or the Jews are God’s people, and are justified beforehand by living within the covenant relation with God. Israel does not need Christ, because she is already justified by God. The God who justifies Israel called Paul to be apostle to the Gentiles. By being apostle to the Gentiles, Paul brings the Gentiles into the household or family of God, through Christ. Eisenbaum also emphasizes this point: Paul’s mission was limited exclusively to Gentiles. The Torah works for the Jews, and atonement works well within the system of Judaism. But because Gentiles are not part of God’s covenant with Israel and, therefore, do not have the Torah, they need Christ, who expiated their sins for them. She states, ‘To put it boldly, Jesus saves, but he only saves Gentiles’.4 And she further explains, ‘What the Torah does for Jews, Jesus does for Gentiles’.5