Novenson - Paul and Judaism at the End of History

Episode: At a live event at Wycliffe Hall, Erin once again sat down with Matthew Novenson to discuss his latest monograph: Paul and Judaism at the End of History (Cambridge University Press, 2024). Matt and Erin discuss Paul's particular brand of eschatological Judaism, which is manifested in Paul's peculiar ethnic map, his view of the Torah, and his understanding of the resurrection, among other things! We also let Chat GPT come up with a Paul-themed speed round. Thanks to all who came to hear this conversation live.

Guest: Matthew Novenson is the Helen H.P. Manson Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary and an honorary fellow of the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. In addition to his latest offering, Dr. Novenson has authored several other influential monographs including Christ among the Messiahs (Oxford University Press, 2012), The Grammar of Messianism (Oxford University Press, 2017), Paul, Then and Now (Eerdmans, 2022). This is Matt's third time on the podcast, and you can check out his other Onscript episodes on The Grammar of Messianism and Paul, Then and Now.

Book (from the publisher's website): The apostle Paul was a Jew. He was born, lived, undertook his apostolic work, and died within the milieu of ancient Judaism. And yet, many readers have found, and continue to find, Paul's thought so radical, so Christian, even so anti-Jewish – despite the fact that it, too, is Jewish through and through. This paradox, and the question how we are to explain it, are the foci of Matthew Novenson's groundbreaking book. The solution, says the author, lies in Paul's particular understanding of time. This too is altogether Jewish, with the twist that Paul sees the end of history as present, not future. In the wake of Christ's resurrection, Jews are perfected in righteousness and – like the angels – enabled to live forever, in fulfilment of God's ancient promises to the patriarchs. What is more, gentiles are included in the same pneumatic existence promised to the Jews. This peculiar combination of ethnicity and eschatology yields something that looks not quite like Judaism or Christianity as we are used to thinking of them.

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