Description
Book SynopsisDavid G. Horrell is Professor of New Testament at the University of Exeter UK, and author of
Becoming Christian (T&T Clark 2013).
Trade ReviewOne of the most creative and innovative books about Paul I have ever read. * N. T. Wright, Paul and His Recent Interpreters, 2015 *
In a global, pluralist, fractured world, may Christians hope to find a healing and hopeful word in - of all places - the letters of Paul, themselves centers of controversy and division from the beginning? Horrell answers with a resounding "Yes", After a penetrating analysis and critique of the polarized conversation among ethicists in recent decades, he proposes a new, "third way" to find a model in Paul for communities that embrace the other without losing their identity. * Wayne A. Meeks, Yale University, USA *
This is a bold and highly stimulating intellectual experiment...Through close study of key texts and carefully reasoned debates across multiple disciplines, Horrell reconfigures the Pauline ethic and opens it up to dialogue with public morality as never before. Both New Testament scholars and ethicists will welcome this ground-breaking work. * John Barclay, Durham University, UK *
There is much exegetical and moral wisdom in this lucidly written book, a wisdom which avoids simplifications and the peril of modernizing Paul. The Paul we encounter in this book is no eccentric, but a serious moral thinker of Early Christian wrestling with problems which are not out of date, but which recur again and again in this life. * Gerd Theissen, University of Heidelberg, Germany *
David Horrell's nuanced study significantly advances the conversation about Pauline ethics...Horrell's reading of Paul offers a mediating voice that suggests a way beyond certain impasses in contemporary ethical debate...Anyone who reads Horrell's richly synthetic work, therefore, will be challenged to think more precisely about matters of central importance. * Richard B. Hays, Duke Divinity School, USA *
Table of ContentsPreface Abbreviations Introduction 1.Approaches to Pauline Ethics: from Bultmann to Boyarin 2.Liberals and Communitarians: Contrasting Approaches in Contemporary Ethical Theory 3.Reading Paul: Myth, Ritual, Identity, and Ethics 4.The Construction of Community: Corporate Solidarity in Christ 5.Purity, Boundaries and Identity: the Rhetoric of Distinction 6.Solidarity, Difference, and Other-Regard: the Strong and the Weak (1 Cor 8-10, Rom 14-15) 7.Other-Regard and Christ as Moral Paradigm 8. Universal knowledge 9.Solidarity and Difference: Paul Among Liberals and Communitarians Bibliography Index of ancient references Index of modern authors
