Pauline Amnesia

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 11:12 pm by Ben Witherington

Pauline Amnesia 2015-03-13T23:12:14-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

(the following is a helpful post by Larry Hurtado)

Scholarly Amnesia on Paul

larryhurtado | September 21, 2011 at 12:02 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/pYZXr-cf

Unintentionally having created a controversy that (in the words of one blogger) went “viral”, with what I presumed was the modest contention that those seeking a PhD in NT/Christian Origins should be able to read the Greek NT, and should also be able to engage at least scholarship in English, German and French, I will also reiterate another contention: That scholars need to read old(er) books. Otherwise, “scholars” blithely may assume to have discovered something that was long ago known and published, may ascribe some “new” idea to a more recent publication (when the idea was actually out there much earlier), and in general may deprive themselves of the riches of earlier scholarly work.

One scholar who is curiously overlooked today, sometimes not even cited, is Johannes Munck. Two key works deserve notice by any Pauline scholar (and I shall not name those who curiously seem not to know Munck today, which include some widely-known figures in current Pauline studies).

Munck’s Paul and the Salvation of Mankind (ET, Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, 1959; German original, Paulus und die Heilsgeschichte, Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1954) remains hugely important. It’s a series of studies, rather than a consecutively-developed work, but the studies all inter-relate to make an important, thought-provoking, and valuable total contribution. E.g., in the first chapter, “The Call”, Munck clearly showed that Paul’s “Damascus Road” experience wasn’t a “conversion” but instead a powerful prophetic calling (an idea for which Krister Stendahl is now more commonly given credit, but Stendahl got it from Munck).

Munck also argued that Paul saw himself as a crucial figure in “salvation-history” (the divine plan for world-redemption), likely understanding himself in light of biblical texts, esp. from Isaiah. Munck contended that Paul’s mission to the Gentiles was intended to provoke the salvation of Israel (Paul having come to an eschatological vision the reverse of that held by the Jerusalem church). Munck emphasize that Paul wasn’t really a theologian in any modern sense of the word, but instead his theological thinking was the consequence of his mission, and his letters (including Romans) were all conditioned by that mission. There is a lot more I could cite from this work that justifies saying that everyone concerned with Paul should study it carefully.

Munck’s other insufficiently-known work is his careful exegeticial study, Christ and Israel: An Interpretation of Romans 9–11 (Phildelphia: Fortress Press, 1967; Danish original, 1956). As only one example of the curious neglect of Munck’s work, N.T. Wright’s exegetical study of these same chapters makes no reference to it (The Climax of the Covenant: Christ and the Law in Pauline Theology, pp. 231-57), although Munck’s reading of Romans is perhaps the most serious alternative to Wright’s. E.g., contra Wright, Munck contends that Romans 11:25-32 shows that Paul continued to affirm an eschatological salvation of “Israel”, and that by “Israel” Paul meant the Jewish people.

Munck deserves to be cited and engaged as a major contributor to the late 20th-century “discovery” of Paul’s very Jewish-ness, and should be factored into the debates about the putative “new perspective” on Paul. The flood of new/continuing publications serves the understandable purpose of getting scholars published (and so getting hired, tenured, promoted). But, frankly, a good deal of it is . . . well, less than necessary reading. But works like these by Munck definitely belong on the “must read” list, especially for Pauline scholars.

Scholarly amnesia on this or other topics doesn’t simply involve a failure to acknowledge and remember the contributions of earlier scholars. We deprive ourselves of insights and provocative observations that can fuel our own.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

October 10, 2011

The Jewishness of Jesus

Next Post

October 12, 2011 Attention Hobbit Wannabes----Here is Your Big Chance

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz