Is Paul as inconsistent in this thinking as Heikki Raisanen demonstrates? With the help of several hermeneutical techniques, T.E. can Spanje shows that the contrary is the case.

Everything you never knew about the men behind the controversy. Put James and Paul next to each other and some tough-to-answer questions come up. Paul says we're saved by faith alone, not works--and James seems to say the opposite. Sure, you know what you're supposed to say, "James didn't mean this... he really meant that" but somehow it doesn't really feel satisfying at the end of the day. Become an expert with biblical scholar and professor Chris Bruno. You'll explore the lives and contexts of Paul and James, discovering important details most people don't know about their biographies. Then you'll study their shared mission and message, and learn how to understand the relevant passages. Whether you're a pastor, small group leader, or a curious Christian, Paul vs. James will bring familiar passages to life in new ways, and give you confidence to answer even the toughest of questions.

This updated edition by one of the world's leading apologists presents a systematic, positive case for Christianity that reflects the latest work in the contemporary hard sciences and humanities. Brilliant and accessible.

In this “compulsively readable exploration of the tangled world of Christian origins” (Publishers Weekly), religious historian James Tabor illuminates the earliest years of Jesus’ teachings before Paul shaped them into the religion we know today. This fascinating examination of the earliest years of Christianity reveals how the man we call St. Paul shaped Christianity as we know it today. Historians know almost nothing about the two decades following the crucifixion of Jesus, when his followers regrouped and began to spread his message. During this time Paul joined the movement and began to preach to the gentiles. Using the oldest Christian documents that we have—the letters of Paul—as well as other early Chris­tian sources, historian and scholar James Tabor reconstructs the origins of Christianity. Tabor shows how Paul separated himself from Peter and James to introduce his own version of Christianity, which would continue to develop independently of the message that Jesus, James, and Peter preached. Paul and Jesus illuminates the fascinating period of history when Christianity was born out of Judaism.

"A basic resource for serious teachers, pastors, scholars, or lay people interested in learning about the theology of the New Testament"--Provided by publisher.

Kevin W. McFadden shows that Paul wrote the letter to remind Roman Christians of his gospel because of his vocation as apostle to the Gentiles. The letter simultaneously demonstrates the guilt of the world and calls Paul's audience to live out the implications of the gospel. The theme of judgment thus appears in two distinct ways. Paul opposes justification by works of law, but simultaneously affirms––as did most of the early Christian movement, McFadden argues––a final judgment according to works. These are not contradictory observations but belong together in a cohesive understanding of Paul's theology and of his purpose in the letter.

Reading Heikki Räisänen’s hermeneutics in context, Timo Eskola explores the development of Western New Testament interpretation. Reclaiming a Wredean approach to the Scriptures, Räisänen focuses on tradition and interpretation. He builds on Weberian sociology, adopted through Peter Berger’s theories, and substitutes sacralized culturalism for biblical theology. After examining fourteenth century Quran-criticism and its impact on Reimarus, Eskola discusses the genesis of the revised history-of-religion theory that Räisänen developed when investigating the Quran’s relationship to the Bible. Sociology then becomes a link between standard historicism and poststructuralism as Räisänen reinterprets Berger’s sociology of knowledge. Räisänen’s sacralized culturalism finally becomes the theory from which his magnum opus The Rise of Christian Beliefs has been written.

All historical work on Paul presupposes a story concerning the composition of his letters -- which ones he actually wrote, how many pieces they might originally have consisted of, when he wrote them, where from, and why. But the answers given to these questions are often derived in dubious ways. In Framing Paul Douglas Campbell reappraises all these issues in rigorous fashion, appealing only to Paul s own epistolary data in order to derive a basic frame for the letters on which all subsequent interpretation can be built. Though figuring out the authorship and order of Paul s letters has been thought to be impossible, Campbell s Framing Paul presents a cogent solution to the puzzle.

The tensions and self-contradictions in Paul's statements on the Torah are analysed in this book in detail, which also critically discusses a vast body of scholarly literature on the subject. The contradictions in Paul cannot be explained away, neither by dialectical interpretive devices nor by way of development theories. Rather, they must be taken seriously as real contradictions and as pointers to Paul's unsolved theological problems. Different statements owe their origin largely to different needs, mostly polemical ones, arising in changing situations. "Anyone who has studied Paul knows that probably the most complex problem he develops is his view of the law and its purpose. The beauty of Räisänen's work is that he recognizes and respects this complexity without himself becoming too dense to understand. R. finds that Paul's radicalized, negative criticism of the law is peculiar to him, unparalleled in the NT and without precedent in Jewish thought. With careful, patient examination of various contexts, R. leads his readers to see that Paul has an oscillating, even inconsistent view of the law. [...] This book is well-written in clear, readable English. It is an important book, recommended to any serious student of Paul. Its strength is in R.'s willingness to abandon preconceptions of what Paul's view on the law should be according to some consistent plan and in allowing Paul to speak for himself." Mary Ann Getty in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 47 (1985).