Paul and the Hermeneutics of Faith - (T&t Clark Cornerstones) 2nd Edition by Francis Watson (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

In recent years, scholars from both Christian and Jewish backgrounds have tried to rethink the relationship between earliest Christianity and its Jewish milieu; and Paul has emerged as a central figure in this debate. Francis Watson contributes to this scholarly discussion by seeing Paul and his Jewish contemporaries as, above all, readers of scripture. However different the conclusions they draw, they all endeavour to make sense of the same normative scriptural texts - in the belief that, as they interpret the scriptural texts, the texts will themselves interpret and illuminate the world of contemporary experience.

In that sense, Paul and his contemporaries are standing on common ground. Far from relativizing their differences, however, it is this common ground that makes such differences possible. In this new edition Watson provides a comprehensive new introduction entitled 'A Response to My Critics' in which he directly engages with the critics of the previous edition. There is a substantial new Preface and two new Appendices, and the text has been fully revised throughout.

Review Quotes

"This book is a splendid piece of theological scholarship. It is completely up to date on the most important critical scholarship in the many fields it covers, displaying a sure and wholly independent judgement and an amazing technical expertise in places. It is innovative and perspicacious, but also well-balanced and catholic in its way of adjudicating well-known scholarly conundra." --Troels Engberg-Pedersen, Scottish Journal of Theology

"Francis Watson has produced a magisterial work that significantly challenges existing readings of Paul on all sides and will influence subsequent interpretations for decades to come. Henceforth, responsible readers of Paul will need to wrestle with Watson's provocative and nuanced arguments regarding Paul's own responsible interpretation of Scripture... The detail of his textual analysis is breathtaking, and the consequent discussion is fascinating and instructive on many levels. We are all in his debt." --Susan Eastman, Journal of Biblical Literature

"One of the most creative and innovative books ever written about Paul and scripture... Reviewers are too ready with the phrase 'ground-breaking', but Watson's book richly deserves it." --N.T. Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God

"To commend Watson as a careful and sensitive reader of these ancient texts is to name only one of the book's many excellences. In Paul and the Hermeneutics of Faith we encounter a rare combination of range and depth of analysis. Watson gives us detailed readings of an impressive range of Jewish interpreters of Torah, from Wisdom of Solomon to 4 Ezra, with loving attention to their literary shape and wholeness. Throughout, he keeps the focus firmly on primary texts, not secondary debates. Furthermore, Watson's way of handling the texts demonstr4ates in practice a union of historical, literary, and theological interpretation... In sum, Watson is teaching us all how we should do business as interpreters of Scripture. I will put this book into the hands of graduate students and tell them, 'See, this is how Biblical scholarship should be done; you should aspire to write like this.'" --Richard B. Hays, Pro Ecclesia

"Francis Watson has written a stunning book, bringing to us a remarkable confluence of wissenschaftlich control and interpretive imagination, a combination vigorously to be applauded. There are stretches of genuine exegesis in which ancient texts are read patiently and faithfully, whether drawn from Genesis or Ben Sira or 2 Corinthians. These carefully crafted exegetical probes are accompanied by theological analysis in which Watson listens with an imaginative ear, exploring, for example, the relations between scriptural interpretation and issues of divine and human agency... I have learned an uncommon amount from this book." --J. Louis Martyn, Scottish Journal of Theology

"A quick glance at Paul and the Hermeneutics of Faith tells anyone that Francis Watson is both learned and thorough. More reading goes on to reveal a witty stylist and masterful exegete. But I would suggest that a deeper engagement with the book's argument discloses an utterly brilliant conception in tactical terms. As such Paul is an absolute tour de force - one of those special books that makes works in a given academic field so rewarding and exciting..." --Douglas Campbell, Journal for the Study of the New Testament

"Watson's interpretation is impressive; indeed he is one of the first New Testament scholars who deals seriously with the canonical shaping of the whole Scriptures as the context for Paul's reading rather than assuming the need for a prior historical critical reconstruction as its context..." --Brevard Childs, The Church's Guide for Reading Paul

"Watson is clearly a superb reader of texts. and his thinking is always creative even when it fails to command assent. One has to admire a scholar who has both the imagination and the temerity to propose an entirely new approach to the long-standing problem of the origins and meaning of Paul's central theological concepts." --Christopher Stanley, Journal for the Study of the New Testament

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