My review of Jesus is Lord—Caesar is Not

23 February 2015 by Steve Walton
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My review of a fascinating collection of essays, Jesus is Lord—Caesar is Not: Exploring Empire in New Testament Studies, is now available online on Reviews in Biblical and Early Christian Studies. I enjoyed reading this book which makes a valuable and accessible contribution to the debates over the impact of the Roman empire on what the New Testament authors say (especially about Christology) and how they say it. This is a helpful book, and worth reading. Thanks to Dan Batovici and his colleagues for the chance Continue reading →

Reading Tom Wright’s Paul and the Faithfulness of God (4)

14 August 2014 by Steve Walton
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Here the fourth of my series of posts as I read through Tom Wright’s Paul and the Faithfulness of God. The earlier posts are here, here, and here. This post focuses on chapter 4, ‘A Cock for Asclepius: “Religion” and “Culture” in Paul’s World’. The chapter title echoes Socrates’ final words to his friend Crito after Socrates had taken hemlock to commit suicide—he instructed Crito to offer a cock to the god of healing, Asclepius, probably as a thanksgiving for the ease of his death. Wright’s point Continue reading →

Reading Tom Wright’s Paul and the Faithfulness of God (3)

10 August 2014 by Steve Walton
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Here’s the third of my series of posts as I read through Tom Wright’s Paul and the Faithfulness of God (= PFG). The earlier posts are here and here. I am enjoying reading it, I must say: as always, Wright writes in an engaging and readable style which makes material accessible and clear. Chapter 3 is the second of four chapters looking at Paul’s context in the first century: chapter 2 looked at Judaism, this chapter focuses on Greek thought, and the next two focus (respectively) on religion Continue reading →

Reading Tom Wright’s Paul and the Faithfulness of God (2)

7 August 2014 by Steve Walton
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This is my second post as I’m reading through N. T. Wright’s Paul and the Faithfulness of God (= PFG). For introduction to the series, see here. After his preface and introductory chapter, where he engages with Philemon and lots of methodological stuff, Wright turns to a series of four chapters on the dominant worldviews of Paul’s day: Judaism, Greek thought, Graeco-Roman religion and culture, and the Roman imperial scene. Chapter 2, which this post focuses on, is about Judaism, especially Pharisaism. This is a very readable chapter Continue reading →