The Triumph of God: The Essence of Paul's Thought / Edition 1

by J. Christiaan Beker

Overview

This book posits two pillars as the foundations of Paul's thought: 1) the interaction between coherence and contingency in Paul's interpretation of the gospel and 2) the apocalyptic character of his gospel. The author ventures to demonstrate how Paul's interpretation of the gospel as coherent is integral with Paul's communication of the gospel as situationally contingent. These ostensibly opposing perspectives actually combine to form a fluid Pauline hermeneutic. The centrality of Christological apocalyptic in Paul's interpretation is posited and involves a radical shift in traditional conceptions of Paul's theology. The author is "recasting Paul's theology as a theocentric theology of hope rather than as a Christocentric salvation-history (O. Cullmann) or as an existentialist theology of the cross (R. Bultmann). A theology of hope views the present as the dawn of the future and the future as the full actualization of the present." Examining the implications of this approachthe ultimacy of God's sovereignty and triumph beside the Christ-event, the formation of a "biblical-theology," a rethinking of traditional concepts of salvation and ethicsthe author intends to reveal a fresh and most enlightening view of Paul's theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800624385
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	06/01/1990
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

For thirty years, J. Christiaan Beker served as the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. Among his books are the critically acclaimed Paul the Apostle, The Triumph of God, and The New Testament: A Thematic Introduction.

Table of Contents

Preface

PART ONE: THE PAULINE LETTER

The Hermeneutical Problem

Three Solutions

Summary

Primary Themes in Pauline Thought

The Dialectic of Coherence and Contingency

Apocalyptic as the Basis of Paul's Gospel

PART TWO: THEOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES

The Contingency of the Gospel

Paul's Occasional Letters

Galatians and Romans

The Coherence of the Gospel

Objections to Apocalyptic

Apocalyptic and the Resurrection of Christ

The Cross of Christ and the Demonic Powers

Christian Life and the Church: The Appropriation and Practice of the Gospel in the Horizon of Hope

The Enigma of the Law and the Struggle between Sin and Death

The Law amid the Struggle between the Powers

The Dilemma of Sin and Death: Equal or Disparate Powers?

Summary

Appendix: Paul the Theologian: Major Motifs in PaulineTheology

Bibliography

Indexes