Apologetics
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 60, No. 2 – Spring 2018
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
By John M.G. Barclay. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011. Reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016. 454 pages. Softcover, $48.00.
Pauline Churches and Diaspora Jews is a reprint of an earlier work by Barclay under the same title by Mohr Siebeck in 2011. Other than the occasional correction of typographical errors or updating secondary citation, this work remains unchanged from its original edition (xii–xiii). This volume is a collection of essays by John Barclay centered on the theme of the social setting of Paul. In the first chapter, Barclay says that in this collection of essays, he seeks “to unearth how the ‘assemblies’ (churches) of ‘believers’ within Paul’s orbit constructed their identity ‘in Christ,’ using as the chief point of comparison the communities of Jews/Judeans in the Diaspora” (3). He further says that he is attempting to answer four main questions in this book: first, how do Pauline groups compare to Jewish groups in the diaspora; second, how similar are the expressions of identity between Pauline groups and Jewish groups; third, how do Pauline groups maintain their identity despite the low level of outward identity markers; and fourth, how did Jews and Christians interact with Roman power and religion (8).
Part one consists of seven articles under the theme “Pauline Churches and Diaspora Jews” (35). In chapters 2–4, Barclay discusses Paul’s use of the law and Jewish social distinctives, and in chapters 3 and 4, he compares them to Paul’s near contemporaries, Philo and Josephus. In observance of the law, Paul allows believers latitude in their holding to dietary restrictions and Sabbath requirements but does not allow those ideas to infringe upon the meaning of righteousness, thereby differentiating Christianity from Judaism. In Paul’s hermeneutic, Barclay finds Paul at odds with Philo. Philo allows for allegorical interpretation; Paul’s interpretation is eschatological (78). Barclay, further, finds Paul different from Josephus in Paul’s ideal of the community. Josephus holds the Jewish people to the ancient traditions, whereas Paul places his people “paradoxically both within their own cultural traditions and beyond them” (106). In chapter 5, Barclay argues that in terms of money and their meetings, both Jews and early Christians can and should be viewed as associations. In the next two chapters, Barclay discusses apostasy. He makes the case that different groups had different standards for apostasy, and that simply because an individual was seen by one group (or even the theoretical ideal) as an apostate, this does not necessarily mean that every group saw that same individual as such. In the final chapter of this section, Barclay suggests that there were two distinct hostile views of the Jews—one Egyptian and the other Hellenistic.
Part two consists of five chapters under the heading “The Invention of Christian Identity in the Pauline Tradition” (179). In chapter 9, Thessalonica and Corinth are taken as test cases to show that different Pauline groups could, and did, diverge considerably in their identity. He suggests that a main factor in this divergence in the case of Thessalonica and Corinth is the hostility they faced from outsiders. Chapter 10 describes how language shapes identity by taking the term πνευματικός as a test case. Important here is the note: “Language can do more than just ‘express’ beliefs: it can play a critical role in shaping ideas and identities” (206). Next, a peculiar aspect of early Christian identity is discussed—their (attempted) lack of mourning for the dead. Chapter twelve discusses the household codes in Colossians and shows that they are Christianized by giving a new rationale for following them—devotion to God. The last chapter in this section discusses the Christian ideology of age and shows that, with two exceptions, Christian ideology is in line with the surrounding culture.
The last six chapters are under the heading “Josephus, Paul and Rome” (275). Chapters 14–17 offer postcolonial readings of Josephus. In these, Barclay shows how Josephus, with great rhetorical skill and subtlety, both upholds Roman ideals and undermines them, defending his ancestral, Jewish customs. The last two chapters discuss Paul’s interaction with the Imperial cult. It has been fashionable as of late to argue that the Imperial cult was the target for much of Paul’s polemic. In dealing with this issue, Barclay critically engages with N.T. Wright’s arguments that Paul’s theology is set in opposition to Caesar (Barclay engages mainly with Wright’s arguments in N.T. Wright, “Paul’s Gospel and Caesar’s Empire,” in Paul and Politics, 160–83, ed. Richard A. Horsley [Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2000]; idem, Paul: Fresh Perspectives [London: SPCK, 2005]. However, for full citations, see notes 17–74 on pages 368–87.). Through his investigation, Barclay finds that Paul does not engage with the cult specifically.
When reading the essays in this volume, the reader is immersed in the world of Paul and Josephus, as much as a twenty-first century reader can be. Barclay masterfully works well both within the world of the text and that of the archaeologist and social scientist. This gives the work a similar character to Wayne Meeks’s seminal work, The First Urban Christians (New Haven: Yale University, 1983). Because of Barclay’s erudition, Pauline Churches and Diaspora Jews should become a standard in the study of Pauline backgrounds and socio-historical interpretation of the New Testament. This new edition is welcome in that it makes this important work more accessible to students of the New Testament.
