Paul and the Stories of Israel: Grand Thematic Narratives in Galatians by A. Andrew Das


Paul and the Stories of Israel: Grand Thematic Narratives in Galatians
Title : Paul and the Stories of Israel: Grand Thematic Narratives in Galatians
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1506413781
ISBN-10 : 9781506413785
Language : English
Format Type : Kindle Edition
Number of Pages : 316
Publication : Published June 1, 2016

Much recent scholarship on Paul has searched for implicit narratives behind Paul’s scriptural allusions, especially in the wake of Richard B. Hays’s groundbreaking work on the apostle’s appropriation of Scripture. A. Andrew Das reviews six proposals for “grand thematic narratives” behind the logic of Galatians—potentially, six explanations for the fabric of Paul’s the covenant (N. T. Wright); the influx of nations to Zion (Terence Donaldson); Isaac’s near sacrifice (Scott Hahn, Alan Segal); the Spirit as cloud in the wilderness (William Wilder); the Exodus (James Scott, Sylvia Keesmaat); and the imperial cult (Bruce Winter et al.). Das weighs each of these proposals exegetically and finds them wanting—more examples of what Samuel Sandmel famously labeled “parallelomania” than of sound exegetical method. He turns at last to reflect on the risks of (admittedly alluring) totalizing methods and lifts up a seventh proposal with greater claim to evidence in the text of Paul’s allusions to Isaiah’s servant passages.

Paul and the Stories of Israel: Grand Thematic Narratives in Galatians Reviews

  • Matt Pitts

    Das has taken upon himself the unenviable task of walking into a party in full swing and shouting, "Quiet! We need to talk." While the rest of us may be flushed with excitement over the latest proposal for an exodus, or wilderness, or imperial background to some text in Paul, Das is looking at the cold hard facts and asking uncomfortable questions like, "Can you demonstrate that claim with evidence?"

    Das begins and ends this book with chapters addressing methodology where he interacts with the work of Richard Hays, G.K. Beale, Stanley Porter, and Matt Harmon. In between he critiques (and in at least one case destroys) several proposals for a "grand thematic narrative" (hence the subtitle) behind some portion of Galatians. His work is mainly critical and deliberately so. As I approached the end of the book I wondered when he was going to give us something positive to build on. He did, but barely. He put forward the methodology of Matt Harmon in She Must and Shall Go Free as a good place to start, but he spent so much time critiquing it that it hardly felt like a recommendation.

    That said, Das has served us well as a skeptic of potential parallels between OT and NT texts. Imagine trying to make your case to Das after reading this book and you are likely to be more careful, conservative, and diligent in proposing connections between the testaments. Though that may cause us to forfeit some insights that are legitimate but difficult to prove, it will also help us keep from undermining the whole project through a sloppy application of a legitimate methodology.

    I think Das was right to interrupt the party. I just wish he would have given us more to celebrate in the end.

  • Jared Saltz

    Das' volume seeks to trace major thematic narrative readings in Paul's letter to the Galatians, including the gentiles coming to Israel, the idea of the covenant, the binding of Isaac, the exodus, and the imperial cult. He does each of these quite well, and at a high level, although some of the narratives are a bit less certain than others (no one seems to know what to do with the Aqedah, for example). Perhaps the strongest section of the volume, however, was his introduction where he lays out a short and succinct methodology for tracing themes, echoes, and other intertexts in the NT.

  • Thomas

    Excellent corrective to recent trends in New Testament studies to discern grand narratives underlying Paul's thought. He challenges such common and treasured interpretative themes as covenant and new exodus and as such any serious NT student will need to give serious attention to Das's work here, if it is uncomfortable.