The apostle Paul has long been championed, or criticized, as a Christian thinker, as a brilliant theological genius, or an enthusiastic convert who spun arguments to justify his new allegiances. In these essays, Neil Elliott engages some of the most provocative currents in contemporary scholarship, including Paul and the nature of violence; the presumptions of religious, cultural, or national innocence in particular interpretations of the apostle; the recent enthusiasm for Paul in some streams of Marxist thought; competing construals of economic realities in Paul's day (and our own); and questions surrounding Paul's legacy today.

This work traces the development of the term and category of the goy from the Bible to rabbinic literature.

This book connects the Biblical Paul’s work as an educator with the revival of interest in Paul’s impact on contemporary social and cultural experience, sometimes referred to as ‘Paul’s new moment’. It presents Paul's letters as being the testament of an educator who brought a radical emancipatory approach to the communities with whom he lived and worked. The book draws on history, philosophy, New Testament studies, and social theory to present the case for Paul as the initiator of a pedagogy of the event. This book explores the concept of a pedagogy of the event, and provides a case study of success in its implementation.

In recent years, Paul has become the subject of renewed interest among political philosophers. These philosophers deploy Paul as a means to deconstruct late modern political issues such as liberalism, biopolitics, and sovereignty. However, these philosophers ultimately truncate Paul's message to fit nontheistic, materialist ends. Such an approach polarizes interpreters, often leading either to a full endorsement or full rejection. In this work, Spaulding adds a needed voice in this conversation. By neither fully endorsing or fully rejecting the new approach to Paul, Spaulding argues that Paul's message is both materialist and faithful to the Christian tradition. Spaulding critically utilizes both the new approach and recent studies in apocalyptic interpretations of Paul in order to articulate a Pauline political theology for our time. Pauline apocalyptic emphasizes the already disruptive nature of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth that wrests humanity from under the sovereignty of the fallen powers and places them under the Lordship of Christ. Apocalyptic is nourished by the promise of the eschatological hope of the not-yet-finished work of Christ. The church that follows the Lordship of Christ is called forth into being in the tension of the present Lordship of Christ and the not-yet transformation of the cosmos. Such a tension begets practices that form the political commitment of what philosopher Iris Murdoch calls the just and loving gaze, namely the central conviction that, in order to live good (political) lives, one must be taught to see.

Enactment, Politics, and Truth explores the interpretations of Saint Paul by Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou, and Martin Heidegger. These interpretations are characterized by substantial thematic overlap that can be traced back to a key subject: the articulation of Pauline faith (pistis). Although each thinker approaches the issue from a different angle, they all interpret Pauline pistis by focusing on how it is enacted, articulated, and expressed in Saint Paul's concrete situation. Antonio Cimino sheds light on why Agamben, Badiou, and Heidegger address Pauline pistis and what kind of philosophical motives underlie their readings.

This book is the first of two volumes arguing that kingdom ethics is the core substance of the message of the historical Jesus. Paul and Matthew were influential voices in formative Christianity. Some prominent exegetes have tended to contrast Jesus and Paul, as well as Paul and Matthew. This volume demonstrates that Jesus’ kingdom ethics—based on divine wisdom, mercy and justice—originated in Stoic philosophy, and that it became a popular ethos of the first-century Graeco-Roman world. This common transformative ethos of crossing conventional boundaries regarding patriarchy, gender injustice and bigotry based on class and sexuality was articulated differently by Jesus, Paul and Matthew. The book will appeal to specialists in the fields of New Testament scholarship and ancient Graeco-Roman and Hellenistic-Semitic literature.

The T&T Clark Handbook of Political Theology is a comprehensive reference resource informed by serious theological scholarship in the three Abrahamic traditions. The engaging and original contributions within this collection represent the epitome of contemporary scholarship in theology, religion, philosophy, history, law, and political science, from leading scholars in their area of specialization. Comprised of five sections that illuminate the rise and relevance of political theology, this handbook begins with the birth of contemporary “political theology,” and is followed by discussions of historical resources and past examples of interaction between theology and politics from all three Abrahamic traditions. The third section surveys the leading figures and movements that have had an impact on the discipline of political theology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; and the contributors then build on previously discussed historical resources and methods to engage with contemporary issues and challenges, emphasizing interreligious dialogue, even while addressing concerns of relevance to a particular faith tradition. The volume concludes with three essays that look at the future of political theology from the perspective of each Abrahamic religion. Complete with select bibliographies for each topic, this companion features the most current overview of political theology that will reach a broader, global audience of students and scholars

The first of a two-volume project delving into the doctrine of justification. Michael Horton seeks not simply to recover a clear message of its role in modern Reformed theology, but also to bring a fresh discovery of the gospel in a time when contemporary debates around justification have reignited. The doctrine of justification stands at the center of our systematic reflection on the meaning of salvation and grace as well as our piety, mission, and life together. And yet, within mainline Protestant and evangelical theology, it's often taken for granted or left to gather dust in favor of modern concerns and self-renewal. Volume 1 is an exercise in historical theology, exploring the doctrine of justification from the patristic era to the Reformation. This book: Provides a map for contemporary discussions of justification, identifying and engaging principal sources: Origen, Chrysostom, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, Gabriel Biel, and the magisterial reformers. Studies the transformations of the doctrine through Aquinas, Scotus and the nominalists leading up to the era of the Reformation and the Council of Trent. Concludes by examining the hermeneutical and theological significance of the Reformers' understanding of the law and the gospel and the resultant covenantal scheme that became formative in Reformed theology. Engaging and thorough, Justification will not only reenergize the reader—whether Protestant or Catholic—with a passion for understanding this essential and long-running doctrinal conversation, but also challenge anyone to engage critically with the history of the Church and the heart of the gospel.

In Faithful Doubt Guy Collins explores the role of doubt within theology and philosophy. Focusing on three philosophers--Giorgio Agamben, Jacques Derrida, and Slavoj Žižek--Faithful Doubt argues that atheism can be redeeming. Far from being inhospitable to faith, doubt is increasingly necessary for theology. As well as introducing the thought of contemporary philosophers, Faithful Doubt examines the significance of popular entertainment and narrative. Novels of Ursula Le Guin, Neal Stephenson, China Mieville, and others are read alongside Star Wars, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica. Fiction highlights the fluid nature of the sacred and the secular. On the question of evil, Faithful Doubt suggests that wisdom lies in acknowledging uncertainty. Weaving the story of Job together with St. Augustine, Donald MacKinnon, and Eleonore Stump, evil exemplifies the necessity for doubt within theology. Faithful Doubt brings a new perspective to debates about the relationship between faith and reason. Concluding with a discussion of Soren Kierkegaard, Collins presents a compelling case for harnessing atheism and doubt in service to Christian faith. In order to "doubt wisely" we need to heed the "faith of the faithless."

Resignation and Ecstasy challenges critical sociology and social philosophy to theorize neoliberalism from the standpoint of a moral economy of sacred forces that both frustrates and facilitates conceptual unifications in the quest for collective solidarity.