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BOOK REVIEW: READING ROMANS IN CONTEXT: PAUL AND SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM

Blackwell, Ben C., John K. Goodrich, and Jason Maston, ed. Reading Romans in Context: Paul and Second Temple Judaism. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015.

Reading Romans in Context is one of the desirable texts exploring Paul’s work as outlined within the book of Romans. The book is composed of 20 essays, each providing the reader with an opportunity to contrast a specific part within the Roman text with a precise present-day Jewish writing. The authors focus their effort in rectifying a seeming lack of nontechnical works exposing the reader to Paul with the Jewish writing printed at the time. Nevertheless, since the book was intended to offer details going beyond a simple introduction, nuanced select passages are identified which specifically assists a non-specialized reader in appreciating the works of Paul as relayed within the Book of Romans. This work presents a book review on Reading Romans in Context: Paul and Second Temple Judaism. The principle aspects addressed in the review include a complete biblical entry, fundamental information about the editors, a summary of the basic themes of the book as well as its evaluation. The book’s introduction serves as the thesis of the editors providing an explanation of why an introductory work about the comparison of Paul’s text with the Jewish texts lacked in the past. This is effectively relayed in Blackwell, Goodrich and Maston’s statement that the book serves to “… investigate Paul’s relationship with Second Temple Judaism by bringing together a series of accessible essays that compare and contrast the perspectives and hermeneutical practices of Paul and his various kinsmen.”^[1]

Editors’ Information

The book is composed of 4 editors, each a University of Durham graduate with a PhD in theology. Ben Blackwell is currently an early Christian associate professor at Houston Baptist University. The editor has written several articles and essays on various elements of the New Testament and Historical theology. Over the years, Blackwell has edited other texts and volumes such as Reading Mark in Context: Jesus and Second Temple Judaism. John Goodrich is the second copyreader of the book. He is currently Moody Bible Institute’s assistant Bible professor. Goodrich is also the author of Paul as an Administrator of God in 1 Corinthians. Jason Maston is the book’s third editor. Currently, Maston is the New Testament Highland Theological College UHI (UK) lecturer. Jason has also authored some books such as the Divine and Human Agency in Second Temple Judaism and Paul: A Comparative Approach. Francis Watson is the book’s fourth editor. Watson is not only a New Testament scholar, but also a theologian who started his occupation at King’s College based in London prior to his appointment to the University of Aberdeen to be a part of the Kirby Laing Chair. The editors are effectively educated and well versed when it comes to Pauline corpus and developing a contextual analysis of Paul’s work.

The book begins with a forward information generated by Francis Watson, a former professor. Watson provides information that the Second Temple Jewish texts were highly preserved within the Christian community in comparison to that of the people of Hebrews. This depicts that the works were significant to Christian theologians during the historical times. Watson maintains a position that the theology of Paul  cannot be fully appreciated beyond the comparisons carried out in the comparison of texts.^[2] The editors have relied on Watson’s foundation to introduce the purpose of their work.

Major Theme Summary

            The primary theme relayed in the book is that Paul is an idiosyncratic thinker in association to his Jewish equals. Evidently, today, Paul’s readers are increasingly becoming aware of the benefits of understanding the epistle’s letter within Jewish setting. Within the book, a group of Pauline scholars have gone beyond offering a simple introduction to Romans, and instead offer theological themes, historical events, and explore the works under the guidance of the Jewish literature. The thesis is effectively developed in multiple editors’ work. Evidently, within the non-technical collection of short essays, the readers are granted with an opportunity of understanding the factors which place Paul within a point of being considered an idiosyncratic thinker in association with his Jewish equals. After the Roman’s narrative development, each part in the book links with a significant aspect of the epistle’s work with one or numerous Jewish texts interrelated thematically. Moreover, each chapter provides a theological exploration of the comparative writings, and further provides an indication of how the obtained ideas enhance the reader’s understanding of Romans.

            Under each section of the book, a main argument about Paul’s desirable thinking capabilities is presented for the Romans portion before generating a comparison and contrast to the Jewish text. The editors have also written individual articles in the book besides taking part in the comparison of Romans to the Jewish works. The fact that each editor has individual works makes it possible to establish if the fundamental purpose of each one of them is achieved. In the text, consistency is seen in the primary arguments provided with that of the individual composition of the authors.^[3] Therefore, it is accurate to derive that through the multiplicity of the authors, the individual editors’ purpose has been achieved in the book.

            As each of the Romans section is successfully and sufficiently associated with the contemporary text, a context is provided for the work of Paul as relayed in the book of Romans. Despite this, it is evident that the comparison only highlights what is regarded as the surprising deviation in thoughts which Paul’s deviation has undertaken. Watson provides an indication that “Their [Paul’s writings] Christian radicalism comes to light only if we allow them to converse with related texts that share some of their core concerns but understand them differently”.^[4]

Evaluation of the Text

            Through a review of the book, it is evident that the primary arguments relayed in each chapter will be of great assistance to theological students focused on understanding Paul’s work under the Romans text. Notably, beginning and intermediate learners will be offered with an opportunity of visualizing the firsthand information about the elements that make Paul a distinctive thinker in comparison to his Jewish equals. Evidently, Reading Romans in Context offers an effective reflection of the truth as presented in the Jewish works in association with the Romans script during Paul’s time. However, I believe that the comparisons on the cultural and historical context of Roman, as presented in the book, is not sufficient in promoting an understanding of Paul’s theology. Nevertheless, the text is an effective addition to the Pauline works, and thus highly recommended to the learners who seek to understand the works of Paul’s theology.