NT330 April 20, 2011 The Road From Damascus, A Review

Longenecker, Richard N. ed. The Road from Damascus: The Impact of Paul's Conversion on His Life, Thought, and Ministry. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997.

This book is a collection of eleven essays, originally delivered as lectures, by top-notch Pauline studies scholars. The aim of this book is to make modern research concerning the impact of Pauls conversion on his life, thought, and ministry accessible to lay people students and ministers.1 Pauls conversion has been a hot topic in recent scholarly work and this book does an admirable job of introducing many aspects of that discussion to people unaware or only marginally aware. Since each essay stands alone, each one will be summarized and assessed individually and then some final thoughts about the volume as a whole will be offered. The first essay, by Bruce Corley, canvasses the history of the interpretation of Pauls conversion from the early church fathers to the present. The essay begins by examining modern thought about the psychology of conversion and how it is often divided into two types: gradual and sudden. gradual refers to the person who is psychologically troubled and then finds relief, whereas sudden refers to the person who is psychologically untroubled and then converted without previous preparation. Corley shows that there have been a variety of interpretations of whether the conversion was gradual or sudden depending upon how interpreters have perceived Pauls preceding psychological state. For instance, contrary to the new perspective claim that Luther read his own gradual conversion into Pauls experience, Corley notes that Luther was almost silent on Pauls conversion and when he did speak of it he drew no analogy between himself and Paul. In fact, Corley finds that the new perspective has more similarities to the Puritans who believed that preparation must precede conversion. Richard Longenecker provides the second essay where he contends that the starting point of Pauls theology was functional Christology, i.e., that Jesus was Israels Messiah, a conviction that grew out of reflection upon his own conversion. Longenecker shows how this affected Pauls choice of words when evangelizing Gentiles (e.g., Christ practically became a proper name for Jesus rather than a title, etc.) and even the form of Pauls gospel proclamation to Gentiles. He also believes that Pauls own distinctive and developed christological proclamation is summarized in Romans 5:1-8:39 and that its placement there is Pauls gift (Rom. 1:11) to the Romans so that they might understand his message to the Gentiles. Longenecker also shows in what ways Pauls conversion was and was not presented as paradigmatic in the Pauline Epistles and Acts. The influence of Pauls conversion on his eschatology and whether or not his beliefs about that subject developed over time are the themes of the third essay, by I. Howard Marshall. Marshalls conclusion to the first issue is that Pauls views did develop, but not in the sense that they were transformed but that there was a change in emphasis. (51) Concerning the influence of Pauls conversion on his eschatological beliefs, he concludes that Paul absorbed some of his views from his pre-Christian Jewish beliefs (e.g., a belief in This Age and The Age to Come, p. 45) and others from the early Christians after his Damascus road experience (e.g., that This Age and The Age to Come were not simply two discrete ages but overlapped, pp. 52-53). Marshall also
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p. xiv.

helpfully addresses how Pauls post-conversion views about the gift of the Spirit, the Gentile mission, and Jesus Messianic status and resurrection affected his eschatological beliefs. In the next essay Terence Donaldson considers the origin of Pauls mission to the Gentiles and what role his Damascus road experience played in forming that view. Donaldson evaluates various firstcentury Jewish attitudes toward Gentile inclusion in Judaism. He settles on the view that the preChristian Paul proselytized Gentiles with circumcision as the basis of inclusion and that after the Damascus road experience Christ replaced the Torah (circumcision requirements, etc.) as the means of inclusion. He also points out that Paul did not therefore lose his focus on the centrality of ethnic Israel, for instance he held that Gentiles thus became part of the family of Abraham. Donaldsons main conclusions concerning Pauls Damascus road experience flow from this, namely, that Christ gave new content and energy to Pauls theology but that it flowed along channels of belief and activity that were already present.2 Donaldsons contributions concerning Pauls pre-Christian attitude to Gentile inclusion in Judaism should prove energizing to further study.3 James D. G. Dunns essay addresses how Pauls conversion affected his teaching on justification by faith. His main proposition is that Pauls view of righteousness was not controverted (from righteousness by merit to righteousness by faith) at the Damascus road experience but that it was expanded (from righteousness is only for the Jews to righteousness is for all, Jews and Gentiles). He also defines righteousness as meeting obligations within a relationship.4 Dunn affirms the centrality of justification by faith, but finds that it is primarily about overcoming exclusive ethnic boundaries (thus including Jews and Gentiles, against the traditional view (his term), namely, that it has to do with whether one is accepted by God based on their own merit. Dunns work is quite helpful due to its detailed interaction with multiple important texts. For instance, he shows how Gal. 1:13-16 reveals an oft-overlooked ethnic element to Pauls Damascus road experience. Dunn also generously cites and quotes inter-testamental literature that gives helpful background information about Pauls contemporary Jews and their ethnic selfunderstanding. Perhaps the only weakness of this essay that Dunn assumes that covenantal nomism was Pauls own pre-Christian point of view (more on this below). The sixth contribution is from Seyoon Kim on the origin of Pauls reconciliation language. The two main NT passages that deal with reconciliation are Rom. 5:1-11and 2 Cor. 5:11-21. Kim focuses on the latter of the two passages in this essay. One key point he makes is that God is always the author of reconciliation in the NT and that it is people who need to be reconciled to God, not the other way around. Kim concludes that the origins of Pauls use of reconciliation reflect some Hellenistic background although are most significantly influenced by Pauls own Damascus road experience (where he, the enemy, was reconciled to God) and substantiated by his reflection upon Isaiah 52-53 and the early Jesus tradition. Bruce Longeneckers essay seeks to understand the impact of the theme of Gods covenant on Pauls theology and how that was revised by his conversion. He concludes that Jesus was elevated

2 3

p. 82. See his comments relating to Gal. 5:11 on p. 81. 4 p. 88, Dunn offers this definition in opposition to the understanding of righteousness as an ideal against which the individual and individual action can be measured. Ibid. In this sense, righteousness is not about moral right or wrong as measured against Gods standards a significant distinction from the traditional view.

to a central position within Pauls covenantal framework and that there were significant changes in his understanding of ethnic identity within the covenant. Stephen Westerholm offers a very insightful essay on how Pauls view of the Mosaic Law changed due to his conversion. He shows that Pauls both continuity and discontinuity between Pauls preand post-conversion views. The strength of this essay is that it offers a theological analysis of righteousness in Paul that is divergent from most of the rest of this volume. Pauls theology and experience of the Spirit in relation to his conversion are the topic of Gordon Fees essay. Fee situates the origin of Pauls theology of the Spirit in his own conversion experience and shows how Paul relates this to the experience of his addresses as well. Fees essay is instructive in reminding the reader of this important but oft-overlooked element in Pauls writings. Judith Gundry-Volf focuses on the tension within Pauls view on women and gender, how it related to the views of his contemporaries, and what impact his conversion may have had on it. She summarizes that Paul affirmed both egalitarian and subordination views on women. Her comparison of Paul with some contemporaries leads her to conclude that Paul shared some patriarchal assumptions of the day but that the gospel also controverted some of those beliefs. In the final essay G. Walter Hansen considers how Pauls conversion affected his view of ethics via his understanding of the Christians relation to the law. He argues that Paul viewed the believer in Christ as having been freed from the slavery of the law in order to express love as it was displayed by Christ on the cross. This essay will be helpfully compared with Westerholms reflections on the law above. As in any collection of essays, not all the entries are equal, here some are more readable and accessible to non-experts (the stated audience) than others. Marshall and Dunns essays are laudable on this account. Another one of the strengths of this book is the coherence of the essays and the way that the essays affirm each others conclusions from various angles. For instance, Corley and R. Longenecker both suggest that Paul should not be understood as having a troubled mind before his conversion.5 R. Longenecker and Marshall both conclude that Pauls use of Christ may sometimes be a title (the Messiah) but frequently is used as a name for Jesus.6 More examples could be given, but these suffice. Certain important issues in Pauline studies surface repeatedly. For instance, whether Pauls Damascus Road experience should be understood as a conversion, a calling, or both is addressed in most of the essays with varying assumptions and conclusions. The meaning of pistis Christou is also dealt with multiple times. Being able to consider these issues from multiple perspectives is helpful for allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions, as well as introducing the uninitiated reader to modern Pauline studies. If one minor weakness may be mentioned it is that perhaps some of the scholars have too quickly assumed E. P. Sanders conclusion that Paul was a covenantal nomist7 a view that has received
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pp. 13, 22. pp. 33ff, 53. 7 e.g., R. Longenecker, p. 23; Donaldson, p. 82; Dunn, pp. 89-90.

challenge since the publication of this volume.8 If the divergent opinion is correct and covenantal nomism was not the dominant view of Second Temple Judaism, then a number of the conclusions reached in this book may need to be reconsidered. Certainly, for the average lay member of the church to meet with such a unified front concerning this issue may be a bit confusing at first, particularly since the reader simply has to accept the claim on the authority of these scholars; however, moving from the pew to the academy often involves some disillusionment before one begins to profit. On the whole, however, this book is a helpful, accessible introduction to modern Pauline studies.

See, for instance, Carson, D. A., Peter T. O'Brien, and Mark A. Seifrid eds. Justification and Variegated Nomism, 2 vols., Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001.