Among advocates of a new view of the teaching of the apostle Paul, James D. G. Dunn is a figure of considerable prominence. Though Dunn, as we shall see, is not fully satisfied with E. P. Sanders’ treatment of the apostle Paul, he acknowledges his indebtedness to Sanders’ insights and writes as an articulate spokesman […]

Any evaluation of the new perspective on Paul faces a number of daunting challenges. Since a considerable part of the argument for a new approach to the teaching of the apostle Paul rests upon E. P. Sanders’ historical reconstruction of the pattern of religion known as “second temple Judaism,” some evaluation of this reconstruction is […]

Part 2 WHAT IS MEANT BY THE “WORKS OF THE LAW”? Within the richness and complexity of Paul’s use of the language of the law, the most pressing question raised by the new perspective is: what is the meaning in Paul’s epistles of the expression, “the works of law,” and of a more general, but […]

‘Works of the Law’, Human Inability and Boasting In my previous articles, I noted that, in order to evaluate the claims of the new perspective regarding the interpretation of the apostle Paul, we need to begin by considering three distinct, though related, questions: First, what does the apostle Paul mean by the language of “works […]

People are zealous about many things in their lives: sports teams, business, politics, family, hobbies, and a whole host of other things. We live in a culture that would have us hide our Christianity, or at least put it on the back burner until Sunday, and in church only. This is not what the Lord […]