Accomplished Pauline scholar Seyoon Kim garners from his various Pauline studies a sustained critique of the "New Perspective," especially interacting with James D. G. Dunn, perhaps the foremost proponent of that school of Pauline interpretation. The central point of contention between Dunn and Kim hinges around Paul's Damascus road experience, with particular emphasis on Paul's overarching theology. For Dunn, Kim notes, the Damascus Christophany (i.e., a supernatural revelation of the ascended Christ) is exclusively viewed as Paul's call to the Gentiles and all subsequent theological formulations develop later in Paul's ministry. Kim, while generally agreeing with Dunn on this point, adds that this event as call is inseparably bound to the event as revelation of the gospel of Jesus, the image of God. Thus for Kim, the development of Pauline soteriology is not merely a later, subsidiary development in Paul; it is fundamentally rooted in this christophanic event. Kim develops his thesis in further chapters in which he argues, for instance, that the absence of forensic language in 1 Thessalonians does not entail the absence of the doctrine, and he provides a fascinating discussion of Paul's application of Isaiah 42 to himself as Christ's duly appointed representative. Kim provides a fresh voice in the burgeoning literature on the "New Perspective." His work is carefully argued and identifies many problems requiring further consideration and clarification. - Jeff Waddington - Westminster Bookstore Staff
Publisher Review: Understanding Paul and his conversion to Christianity is imperative for a thorough knowledge of the New Testament. In Paul and the New Perspective Seyoon Kim develops his argument that the origin of Paul's gospel lies in two places—his radical conversion at Damascus and his usage of the Jesus tradition in light of Damascus. This new way of looking at Paul further explains how Paul made strong distinctions between the Spirit and the flesh/law, with further implications for his doctrine of justification. A departure from the New Perspective School represented by James D. G. Dunn, Kim's Paul and the New Perspective offers a thorough and extensive argument for the foundation off the gospel that Paul spread in the first century. |
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