An Anomalous Jew: Paul Among Jews, Greeks, and Romans

belonging

• Paul was highly antagonistic toward Hellenistic religion yet engaged in radical redefinition of traditional Jewish categories, questioning the normativity of his ancestral customs.

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• Paul, even as apostle to the Gentiles, remained engaged in spasmodic evangelistic activities within the orbit of Jewish communities of the Diaspora.

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transformation

• The center of gravity in Paul's revelation was not repudiation of salvation history but inclusion of Gentiles within it by their inclusion in the Messiah.

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• Justification is the act whereby God creates a new people, with a new status, in a new covenant, as a foretaste of the new age.

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faith-and-doubt

• Continuity between Israel's sacred history and Paul's gospel is reinforced by Christ giving himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age.

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• Paul does not replace salvation history with apocalyptic eschatology; he rejects one particular account propounded by intruders that blocked inclusion of Gentiles.

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