Perspectives Old and New on Paul: The "Lutheran" Paul and His Critics

Rating:
Summary: Paul was more "Lutheran" than you think
Review: If there is ONE book that a student of Paul must have in order to understand the whole law vs. gospel controversy then this book should be it. Westerholm leaves no stone unturned and has magnificantly provided us with a resource that Christians will always refer to in the years to come.

The book is basically divided into two main sections: 1) an overview of interpretations on Paul's view of the law and justification since Augustine; and 2) Westerholm's own assessment of Paul's statements regarding the law and justification.

The first section will provide students of Paul with a rich resource for those who want summaries of leading Pauline scholars on the subject - whether from the "New Perspective" point of view (e.g., Sanders, Dunn, Wright, etc.) or from the more "traditionalist" perspective (e.g., Cranfield, Schreiner, Thielman, etc.). In the second section, Westerholm gives reasons why Martin Luther, John Calvin, etc. were not far off from the mark when they interpreted Paul. Essentially, Westerholm opts for the more "old reading" than the "new reading." He does this by examining three major themes and what they mean in Paul's writings: 1) righteousness; 2) the law; and 3) justification.

If one is expecting a exact duplication of Luther's commentaries on Romans and Galatians, then one will be slightly disappointed. Though Westerholm does side more with Luther on this issue, he is more balanced and points out that some arguments made by New Perspective scholars have validity. Still, he goes on to argue that Paul worked within a "problem to solution" paradigm (i.e., that Jews and Gentiles are sinners in need of God's grace in Christ Jesus) rather than an "exclusivism to inclusivism" paradigm (i.e., that Gentiles need not become Jews in order to be included in the Abrahamic promise) when he wrote about the negative aspects of the law.

Overall, this book is a valuable resource on Paul. Considering that that there are many pastors out there who hypocritically and deceivingly call themselves evangelical, Protestant, and Reformed this book should also be used as a wake-up call to show how the New Perspective understanding of Paul is inconsistent with historic Protestant Christianity. Of course, these pastors can always call Rome their home, but they do not decide to, and thus, continue to poison the minds and souls of their listeners who are sitting in their pews. May God use this book to recover the true Gospel that has been lost in recent decades by those who wish to transform the evangelical church into another part of Rome.





Rating:
Summary: A classic becomes a magnum opus
Review: What can I say? Westerholm's "Israel's Law and the Church's Faith" was a classic introduction to recent Pauline debates. "Perspectives Old and New on Paul" began as a revision, and turned into an opus double the size.

Beginning with overviews of historical figures who taught the so-called "Lutheran" Paul (Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Wesley), which place justification within the context of their broader theologies, this work is a welcome, clear-headed contribution to the discussion of justification in Paul. Westerholm offers some insightful consideration of numerous Pauline texts, as well as helpful correctives on numerous points regarding the NPP.

As with others, Westerholm leaves gaping holes and large questions, however. Although he is relatively evenhanded, one might suppose from reading Westerholm that certain NPP advocates were in fact a great deal more radical revisionists than is actually the case. Furthermore, Westerholm does not attempt to integrate entire classes of texts into his view of Paul, and his handling of righteousness (or in his words, "dikaiosness") comes across as rather too simplistic. On the former point, for example, Westerholm claims that Paul's problem with the law is that is makes demands to "do," but does not seriously attempt to relate this position to Pauline texts which (like Leviticus 18.5, which Paul juxtaposes to his own gospel) correlate the promise of "life" and "doing" in the Christian life (e.g. Galatians 6.8-9). With regard to the latter, Westerholm attempts to boil everything down to "ordinary" righteousness (with regard to which all without exception have failed) and "extraordinary" righteousness (i.e. the unique righteousness given as a gift to faith, based upon the work of Jesus Christ). The difficulty with this is that it sets Paul at odds against the Old Testament (which has three kinds of righteousness, including that which refers to general faithfulness apart from perfection) and against himself (Paul seems to assume this third category himself in numerous contexts).

But what can we expect, after all? We have yet to see a book that integrates all of these matters in a wholly satisfactory fashion. This remains an important, and indeed indispensable, contribution to the debates in Pauline studies.