Pauline Studies

A collection of essays presented during the Consultation on Paul’s Letter to the Romans at four annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022), this volume features contributions from top evangelical Pauline scholars, addresses contested theological matters in the letter to the Romans, and can serve as a textbook. Each of the four editors has written a recent major commentary on Romans (Moo, NICNT; Schnabel, HTA; Schreiner, BECNT; Thielman, ZECNT). Contributors include the editors, along with Robert Yarbrough, Mark Seifrid, Robert Gagnon, Patrick Schreiner, Christopher Bruno, Brian Rosner, Kevin McFadden, Benjamin Gladd, Charles Quarles, Ben Dunson, Kyle Wells, Michael Bird, Joshua Greever, Benjamin Merkle, Ardel Caneday, Sigurd Grindheim, A. Andrew Das, Jeffrey Weima, Mateus de Campos, and M. Sydney Park.

The Dictionary of Paul and His Letters is a one-of-a-kind reference work. No other resource presents as much information focused exclusively on Pauline theology, literature, background, and scholarship. This second edition is a thoroughly revised and updated version of the acclaimed 1993 publication. Since that groundbreaking volume was published, developments in Pauline studies have continued at a rapid pace, with diverse new scholars entering the conversation, new ideas and methods gaining attention, and fresh expressions of old topics shaping the present discussion. Those who enjoyed and benefited from the wealth in the first edition will find this new edition an equally indispensable and freshly up-to-date companion to study and research.

The field of Pauline studies has benefited greatly from E. P. Sanders’s idea of “covenantal nomism,” James Dunn’s interpretation of “works of the Law” as cultural boundary markers between Jews and Gentiles, and N. T. Wright’s discussion of Second Temple Judaism’s ethnic privilege (“national righteousness”) that regarded Gentiles as inherently inferior. Debates over the validity of newer readings of Paul over against traditional ones have abounded in recent decades, with proponents of either side often missing each other in the heat of the struggle to properly contextualize what Paul meant when he declared salvation to be by “grace through faith” as opposed to “works of the Law.”

In this magisterial volume, John M. G. Barclay proffers a fresh reading of “grace” in Paul’s theology which, since its publication in 2015, has revolutionized the field. Establishing six “perfections” of grace, Barclay cogently demonstrates that Paul’s emphasis on grace dethroning Torah observance as the basis of salvation centered on the incongruity of God’s gift to humanity in Christ. That is, the gift of salvation in Christ was given without regard to its recipients’ worth, whether measured by ethnicity, status, knowledge, gender, or virtue. This contribution transcends the debate over New and Old Perspectives on Paul, presenting—in Barclay’s words—“a new interpretation of Paul’s theology of grace, drawing out its social significance as the basis for creative communities which live at odds with pre-constituted and prevailing norms.”

Paul and the Gift transformed the landscape of Pauline studies upon its publication in 2015. In it, John Barclay led readers through a recontextualized analysis of grace and interrogated Paul’s original meaning in declaring it a “free gift” from God, revealing grace as a multifaceted concept that is socially radical and unconditioned—even if not unconditional. 

Paul and the Power of Grace offers all of the most significant contributions from Paul and the Gift in a package several hundred pages shorter and more accessible. Additionally, Barclay adds further analysis of the theme of gift and grace in Paul’s other letters—besides just Romans and Galatians—and explores contemporary implications for this new view of grace.