Pondering Paul

I’m currently/still reading a book on Paul by N.T. Wright. In this book, Wright argues that Paul’s three-fold social location (Jew, Roman, and Greek) play a huge part in how Paul interprets things. But Wright also takes another step and argues from the perspective of how Judaism plays into Paul’s interpretation. If we should look at Paul’s interpretation through the eyes of Judaism, particularly through the themes of creation and covenant, then we (a) must rethink some of the ways we have already interpreted Paul and (b) consider that some phrases in Paul’s letters may be allusions to stories from the Hebrew Scriptures and therefore carry more meaning than what we previously thought.

All of this has caused me to think more about how we interpret scripture and what that means for our understanding of the Bible. I have to admit there are allusions and echoes of the Hebrew Scriptures in the New Testament. Some are incredibly obvious (like quite a few in Revelation). But there are some that might or might not be there. An incredible number of Biblical Scholars have spent an incredible amount of time and space arguing which possible allusions or echoes are in fact allusions or echoes. They have also spent an incredible amount of time and space setting up a system (or systems) for evaluating if a particular text is an allusion or an echo. But I guess all my thinking leads me to wondering... how are we supposed to know? Even with all of the time and space devoted to understanding what is or isn’t an allusion or echo, can we trust what the scholars have come up with? I know that we will never absolutely know if any of it is an allusion which is also a large cause of tensions between people. We claim to know how things should be interpreted, what God really desires for us. But I also wonder if part of the reconciliation process is to understand that we might be wrong about our interpretation. However, if we cannot fully trust our interpretation, then what can we trust? Or perhaps that is what faith is... believing in something that is not certain or finite. Yup, I think that might be it.

I should also admit here that I do think we should at least consider how much Judaism was a part of Paul and that his understanding of God as the God of creation and covenant would indeed play a large role in how he interpreted the Christ event. I also find the concept and application of allusions from the Hebrew Scriptures to be intriguing and I even wrote my Revelation paper using the concept. I think I like it because it takes something that we have meaning for and adds another level of meaning giving us a fuller picture. Plus, it allows me to work in both of the testaments which is good since I can’t decide which I like better (Old or New).

So there it is for you... some broad ponderings. I’m still reading and considering how this applies to Paul. I’m also still considering how much we should read into a particular text (if you are exegeting, supposedly nothing.... but we also know that we don’t do exegesis in a vacuum). Anyway, still pondering... not sure if any of this makes any sense to anybody except me. So that’s it for now.

Kate