Apocalyptic Paul: Cosmos and Anthropos in Romans 5-8

208 Pages·2013·1.6 MB·English

by  Beverly Roberts Gaventa

Apocalyptic Paul
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Apocalyptic Paul
Cosmos and Anthropos in Romans 5–8
Beverly Roberts Gaventa
Editor
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY PRESS
© 2013 by Baylor University Press
Waco, Texas 76798
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Cover design by Cynthia Dunne, Blue Farm Graphics
Cover image: Eighth-century mosaic of St. Paul the Apostle; a feature of the
papal Lateran Palace, now on display in the Vatican Museum, Rome.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Apocalyptic Paul : cosmos and anthropos in Romans 5–8 / Beverly Roberts
Gaventa, editor.
207 pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60258-969-8 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Bible. Romans V–VIII—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Gaventa, Beverly
Roberts, editor of compilation.
BS2665.52.A66 2013
227’.106--dc23
2013012373
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper with a minimum
of 30% post-consumer waste recycled content.
Contents
2
Preface vii
Beverly Roberts Gaventa
1 Paul’s Mythologizing Program in Romans 5–8 1
Martinus C. de Boer
2 Righteousness, Cosmic and Microcosmic 21
Stephen Westerholm
3 A Tale of Two Gardens: Augustine’s Narrative
Interpretation of Romans 5 39
Benjamin Myers
4 Under Grace: The Christ-Gift and the Construction of a
Christian Habitus 59
John M. G. Barclay
5 The Shape of the “I”: The Psalter, the Gospel, and the
Speaker in Romans 7 77
Beverly Roberts Gaventa
6 Double Participation and the Responsible Self
in Romans 5–8 93
Susan Eastman
7 The Love of God Is a Sovereign Thing: The Witness of
Romans 8:31-39 and the Royal Office of Jesus Christ 111
Philip G. Ziegler
8 Creation, Cosmos, and Conflict in Romans 8–9 131
Neil Elliott
v
vi Contents
Afterword: The Human Moral Drama 157
J. Louis Martyn
Works Cited 167
List of Contributors 181
Index of Ancient Sources 183
Index of Authors 191
Subject Index 194
Preface
2
No syllable in Paul’s letter to the Romans could be termed “neglected,”
but recent decades have witnessed something of a shift in scholarly
interest away from chapters 5–8. Chapters 1–4 have generated debate
regarding Paul’s use of the diatribe and speech-in-character, not to
mention heated discussion of the “faith of Christ” and the place of jus-
tification in Paul’s thought. The long history of treating chapters 9–11
as an afterthought or an illustration has given way to intense industry
in an effort to account more adequately both for the content of Paul’s
argument and for its place in the letter as a whole. Chapters 12–16
have come to the foreground as well, particularly as scholars labor to
catch a glimpse of the composition of the Roman congregations and
the character of Paul’s mission.
This volume invites readers of Paul to consider again the large
questions raised by Romans 5–8, questions of the gospel’s implications
both cosmological and anthropological. The approaches and conclu-
sions are by no means monochrome, but they converge around the
effort to understand the relationship between divine activity and its
human reception in a cosmos that remains contested territory.
Martinus C. de Boer opens the volume exploring Paul’s argu-
ment about the Law in relationship to the mythologizing language
of chapters 5–8. In “Righteousness, Cosmic and Microcosmic,” Ste-
phen Westerholm takes up 5:1 as evidence of the ethical and 5:19
as evidence of cosmic interpretations of righteousness. Questions
about the individual come to the fore also in Benjamin Myers’ study of
Romans 5 in Augustine’s interpretation of the self’s existence within
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viii Preface
the intersecting narratives of Christ and Adam. John M. G. Barclay
explores the relationship between grace and obedience, focusing par-
ticularly on Romans 6 and in conversation with Pierre Bourdieu’s
notion of the habitus.
Drawing on linguistic theory about the peculiarities of personal
pronouns, Beverly Gaventa considers how the “I” of Romans 7 both
reflects and distorts important features of the “I” of the lament psalms.
Susan Eastman also looks at the singular “I” in Romans 7, here with a
view to undermining the conventional scholarly dichotomy between
the individual and corporate identities.
The liberating role of Jesus Christ is brought to bear also in Philip
G. Ziegler’s exploration of Romans 8 and the royal office of Jesus
Christ in “The Love of God Is a Sovereign Thing.” And Neil Elliott,
in “Creation, Cosmos, and Conflict in Romans 8–9,” resists any sug-
gestion that what Paul has to say about creation in Romans 8 can be
understood apart from what is said about Israel in Romans 9–11. He
finds in the larger argument of Romans important claims contrary to
Roman imperial ideology.
In the afterword, J. Louis Martyn takes Raphael’s painting of Paul
preaching at Athens as a starting point for reflection on the human
moral drama in conversation with other contributions to the volume.
His image of the circle of discussion aptly draws the volume to a close,
but it also rightly anticipates further conversation about anthropology
and cosmology in Paul’s apocalyptic interpretation of the gospel.
Initial versions of these chapters were given as plenary papers at
a conference held at Princeton Theological Seminary in May 2012
as part of the seminary’s bicentennial celebration. I am indebted to
then-President Iain Torrance for the invitation to host that confer-
ence, where participants included a lively international array of syste-
maticians, biblical scholars, pastors, and students. I am also indebted
to Professors Shane Berg, Jacqueline E. Lapsley, Katharine Doob
Sakenfeld, and J. Ross Wagner for their advice, suggestions, and sup-
port throughout the planning of the conference. Able administrators
Mary Marcus and Amy Ehlin not only thought of a thousand details
but dispatched each and every one with grace.
From a conference—even a highly successful conference—to a
book, the journey is arduous. Taking valuable time and attention away
from her own dissertation, Mary K. Schmitt worked meticulously to
bring the essays into stylistic conformity, and I deeply appreciate her
Preface ix
careful labor. Last and far from least, I am grateful to Dr. Carey C.
Newman for his enthusiastic acceptance of this book and his patient
(well, nearly patient) endurance even to the end.
Benjamin Myers observes that Augustine began a commentary on
Romans but worked only as far as 1:7 before giving it up, “discouraged
by the vastness and difficulty of the project” (see chapter 3). All of us
who work to understand Paul’s Romans know that discouragement,
but we also know the joy of discovery and the rich rewards of the con-
versation. My hope is that readers of this volume will find much here
that stimulates their own conversation with and about the letter.
Beverly Roberts Gaventa