This book posits two pillars as the foundations of Paul's thought: 1) the interaction between coherence and contingency in Paul's interpretation of the gospel and 2) the apocalyptic character of his gospel. The author ventures to demonstrate how Paul's interpretation of the gospel as coherent is integral with Paul's communication of the gospel as situationally contingent. These ostensibly opposing perspectives actually combine to form a fluid Pauline hermeneutic. The centrality of Christological apocalyptic in Paul's interpretation is posited and involves a radical shift in traditional conceptions of Paul's theology. The author is "recasting Paul's theology as a theocentric theology of hope rather than as a Christocentric salvation-history (O. Cullmann) or as an existentialist theology of the cross (R. Bultmann). A theology of hope views the present as the dawn of the future and the future as the full actualization of the present." Examining the implications of this approachthe ultimacy of God's sovereignty and triumph beside the Christ-event, the formation of a "biblical-theology," a rethinking of traditional concepts of salvation and ethicsthe author intends to reveal a fresh and most enlightening view of Paul's theology.
J. Christiaan Beker was for thirty years the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary; he died in 1999. Among his books from Fortress Press are the critically acclaimed Paul the Apostle (1980), The Triumph of God (1990), and The New Testament: A Thematic Introduction (1994).
Preface PART ONE: THE PAULINE LETTER The Hermeneutical Problem Three Solutions Summary Primary Themes in Pauline Thought The Dialectic of Coherence and Contingency Apocalyptic as the Basis of Paul's Gospel PART TWO: THEOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES The Contingency of the Gospel Paul's Occasional Letters Galatians and Romans The Coherence of the Gospel Objections to Apocalyptic Apocalyptic and the Resurrection of Christ The Cross of Christ and the Demonic Powers Christian Life and the Church: The Appropriation and Practice of the Gospel in the Horizon of Hope The Enigma of the Law and the Struggle between Sin and Death The Law amid the Struggle between the Powers The Dilemma of Sin and Death: Equal or Disparate Powers? Summary Appendix: Paul the Theologian: Major Motifs in PaulineTheology Bibliography Indexes
