The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

Scot McKnight is professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary. B. J. Oropeza is professor in the Department of Biblical and Religious Studies at Azusa Pacific University. Both authors are accomplished writers and, in the current volume, assume the mantle of co-editors.

Perspectives on Paul: Five Views is an engaging study of Paul's view(s) on justification and a touching tribute to one of the contributors, James D. G. Dunn. In many ways, Dunn's life and work form an inclusion around the current volume. It is Dunn's "New Perspective" and engagement with E. P. Sanders's Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977) that has shaped and inspired much of the Pauline landscape in the last thirty-five years. It is also concerning this issue that Dunn has penned his last scholarly essay before succumbing to his battle with cancer.

The five "perspectives" in the volume are by Brant Pitre, A. Andrew Das, James D. G. Dunn, Magnus Zetterholm, and John M. G. Barclay. Each perspective is followed by a response from each of the other contributors. Brant Pitre begins the volume with "The Roman Catholic Perspective on Paul." He shows the continuity between the conclusions of Sanders and patristic and medieval Catholic interpreters of Paul. A. Andrew Das presents "The Traditional Protestant Perspective on Paul." He articulates the view that obedience to the law is not salvific, since salvation, for Paul, is located solely in Christ. Next is Dunn's essay, "The New Perspective on Paul," in which he focuses on a proper understanding of Gal 2:11–16 and argues that the "new" perspective is actually quite old. Magnus Zetterholm writes "The Paul within Judaism Perspective." His contribution helps to highlight the historiographical aspect of Paul. John M. G. Barclay presents "The Gift Perspective on Paul." Barclay's scholarship has been especially influential of late because of his differentiation of the various aspects of grace as a gift. He argues herein that Paul understands grace as incongruous, which refers to "a gift which operates without regard to worth and in the absence of worth, that creates out of nothing or out of its opposite" (p. 221).

These chapters are prefaced by a lengthy introduction, which serves as an overview of Pauline scholarship over the past forty years since Sanders's Paul and Palestinian Judaism. The introduction is thorough in its inclusion of not only majority Pauline views but also minority positions. In many ways, the introduction is the most difficult essay to comprehend, not because of the writing but because of the voluminous scope of Pauline scholarship. How do you summarize all that is going on? The old perspective has given way to the new perspective, which has given way to the newest perspective. It is now commonplace that the newest Paul book will be close to eight hundred pages. Interestingly, scholarly interest in Paul's work on justification has shifted to biographies of Paul. The volume concludes with an afterword penned by Dennis Edwards, in which he considers the pastoral implications on differing perspectives on Paul.

Overall, I think the volume accomplishes what it sets out to do, serving as an entryway to one of the more complicated discussions in biblical studies. Each perspective is well represented, and the critiques are especially pointed. The footnotes in each essay will give direction for those wanting to dive deeper into a particular perspective, although there is some difference in the quality of the notes. As Dunn observes of his own work (in his [End Page 165] response to Zetterholm), his sources are more dated than the others. This confession is undoubtedly linked to the speed in which new material on Paul appears. On the other hand, Zetterholm relies on more recent sources since "Paul within Judaism" is the relative newcomer to the perspectives. The essays are well ordered and present clear and convincing arguments for their respective readings of Paul. The...