Book Review: Reading Philippians after Supersessionism: Jews, Gentiles, and Covenant Identity
Reading Philippians after Supersessionism: Jews, Gentiles, and Covenant Identity by Christopher Zoccali
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The problem I’ve had in both books, Romans and now Philippians, is the seeming conflation of Judaic identity with the old covenant. So doing means that salvation of Jews through faith in Jesus Christ would leave Jews unchanged in terms of the old covenant, and, therefore, still under the law. This is contrary to Paul in places like Romans 6 & 7 and elsewhere. The problem comes in with seeing the old covenant as establishing fundamental Jewish identity. The truth is as Paul puts it in Romans 4, the fundamental Jewish identity is further back in Abraham, prior to the old covenant and prior to circumcision. The old covenant then supplied later, temporal identity markers. Those are no longer valid in the new covenant and the fundamental identity as the special nation of Abraham is what is retained.
Overall it was a good read. The author’s effusive use of the Latin conjunction, qua, was just good fun.
Book Review: Reading Romans after Supersessionism: The Continuation of Jewish Covenantal Identity
Reading Romans after Supersessionism: The Continuation of Jewish Covenantal Identity by J Brian Tucker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Tucker focuses on Romans 9-11 and interacts with both the text and scholarship on different sides of this discussion. By the end of the book, he did a good job of bringing out the plural nature of the promises to the fathers, so fulfillment necessarily includes aspects of descendants of Abraham (Israel), land, and Gentiles inclusion.
I’m not entirely convinced by his arguments in Romans 14. He is influenced by the “spheres of influence” view of the continuing relevance of Torah. I personally need to do more work in this area, but it seems that view falls short in its assessment of the old covenant relationship to the new covenant and the extent of old covenant fulfillment. Further, it seems to divide the old covenant law into divisions nowhere made in scripture and doesn’t account for the all-or-nothing view in epistles such as Galatians or James, not to mention the book of Hebrews and the covenants discussion there. However, the continuing relevance of Torah is not entirely germane to his argument for non-supersessionist readings.
I appreciate the book and recommend it for study.
Book Review: Why I Love the Apostle Paul: 30 Reasons
Why I Love the Apostle Paul: 30 Reasons by John Piper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Book Review: Reading Romans in Context: Paul and Second Temple Judaism
Posted by Jeff Short on March 7, 2021 · Leave a Comment
Reading Romans in Context: Paul and Second Temple Judaism by Ben C. Blackwell
This book compiles articles from several scholars going chapter by chapter through Paul’s letter to the Romans in light of the literature and historical context of second temple Judaism. The authors compare and contrast the letter with writings from the Qumran community and the Apocryphal books, etc. to see what influence they may have had on Paul’s thinking.My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Overall it was a good read. The book is insightful at times and also conjecturing and speculative at others. I don’t agree with the views of some that we have to read Paul through this particular lens in order to rightly understand him. However, this setting was a part of his milieu and does inform our understanding of the socio-historical setting of the New Testament.
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Filed under Reviews, Short Booklog · Tagged with Commentary, New Testament, Paul, Reviews, Romans