Southwestern Journal of Theology
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 62, No. 1 – Fall 2019
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
By N.T. Wright. New York: Harper Collins, 2018. 432 Pages. Hardcover, $29.99
N.T. Wright is the chair of New Testament and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity, University of St. Andrews. He has taught New Testament studies for more than twenty years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities. He has authored several works on Paul including Paul and the Faithfulness of God (Fortress Press, 2013), Pauline Perspectives (Fortress Press, 2013) and Paul and His Recent Interpreters (Fortress Press, 2015).
Wright, as a biographer and historian, seeks to answer questions about Paul that lie behind the biblical texts: Who was Paul? What was his work and why did he undertake this work? What was the nature of Paul’s transformation on the road to Damascus?
Wright traces Paul’s journey from his beginnings as Saul of Tarsus, who strictly adhered to his ancient Jewish traditions (cf. Gal 1:14) and urged radical obedience to them to the point of violence, to Paul, the Apostle. Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus marks the transition from one to the other. Wright views this experience, not as a conversion, but Paul’s recognition that Jesus of Nazareth is Israel’s Messiah, the fulfillment of prophecy. Paul’s devotion to the One God changes from Torah and Temple to Jesus the Messiah. Wright argues that Paul reorients his entire life once Paul acknowledged that heaven and earth came together in Jesus.
Wright also addresses recurring themes of Paul’s writings and seeks to understand them within Paul’s cultural, historical, and personal experience. For instance, Wright addresses what many regard as Paul’s fundamental doctrine: justification. Wright argues that the theological framework is a construct from the Middle Ages. The sixteenth century Reformers may provide important new angles to the first-century perspective, but Wright reasons that Paul’s concern is not saving souls to go to heaven, but the coming together of heaven and earth in a great act of cosmic renewal. This heaven-to-earth reality comes in Jesus’ birth activated by the Spirit. Paul realizes that God acted “when the fullness of time came” (Gal 4:4 NASB).
Wright also addresses the important theme of resurrection. He sees the resurrection as the underlying connection or glue that holds together Paul’s theology and is foundational to everything Paul believes. The resurrection is the reason for Paul being an Apostle. In Jesus victory has already been won over sin, dark powers, and death, but this victory will be completed in the new creation. For Paul learning to be a follower of Jesus the Messiah culminates in the heart and mind being transformed to live in this already/not-yet world (1 Cor 15:25; Ps 110:1). This is a messianic eschatology, the ultimate fulfillment of Israel’s hope in the Messiah and resurrection. Wright argues that Paul understood the expected covenant between God and his people does not come through the Torah but through the Messiah.
Wright shows how Paul operates within a worldview different from the view of sin and salvation that Western Christians have normally assumed. He argues that Paul’s humanity is the best context for understanding Paul and how God used him to bring a new paradigm for understanding Jesus. His reflection and commentary on the chronological reading of the Pauline epistles and Acts enlightens the development and maturity in Pauline theology. His work provides insight into Paul, the man, and how his theological reflection comes to light through his cultural and historical context.
