A markedly contemporary study that navigates the New Testament
scholar past the perils of Pauline theology. Boyarin (Talmudic
Culture/Univ. of Calif., Berkeley; Carnal Israel, not reviewed)
attempts to "reclaim Paul as an important Jewish thinker." He goes
on to establish this primary apostle as a Hellenized Jew whose
Platonic sensibility calls for a universal sameness that negates
the divisions separating Jew from Gentile and man from woman. The
disembodied spirituality of Platonic dualism allows females
(especially virgins) to be equal to men under Christ, and allows an
uncircumcised Christian of any gender to "circumcise the foreskin
of her [sic] heart" with Hebrew Bible commandments universalized
and allegorized. Boyarin does not glibly valorize Paul as a
champion of feminism and an opponent of Jewish exclusivist
chauvinism. After crediting Paul for being a radical social critic,
the author makes clear how the apostle's pre-Marxist universalism
too easily slid into violent coercion in the later, blood-soaked
chapters of Christian history. Boyarin analyzes the work of many
Christian scholars in concluding that Lutheran misinterpretations
of Paul allow us to consider the apostle to be far more
antagonistic to Jews and Judaism than he really was. The benefit of
Boyarin's Jewish defense against hermeneutical Christian
anti-Semitism is tempered by his disdain for a Judaic "tendency
towards contemptuous neglect for human solidarity" and his
anti-Zionism ("modern Jewish statist nationalism has been...very
violent and exclusionary"). Sometimes he confuses Christian
"salvation" theology with Jewish belief, and he fails to find any
similarity between Pauline Platonism and the allegorical and
universal levels of Torah laws. The final chapter digresses to a
personal view of the "essentialist/social constructionist
dichotomy," but the book does end with ample notes and
bibliography. A rewarding read for students of Christian theology
willing to be challenged by today's multicultural,
poststructuralist, postfeminist scholarship. (Kirkus Reviews)
"A splendid piece of work: learned, witty, wide-ranging in its
understanding of religion as a cultural phenomenon, passionate in
its concern for the ethical implications of our reading of ancient
texts."--Richard B. Hays, author of "Echoes of Scripture in the
Letters of Paul
"Boyarin's bracing argument turns us into strangers to
ourselves, as the first century comes uncannily close to the
twenty-first century. The importance of this stimulating and
controversial book lies in promoting an awareness of the
possibilities of solidarity, justice, and liberation in the time of
the culture wars."--Homi K. Bhabha, author of "The Location of
Culture
"Brilliant, thought-provoking and outrageous (a compliment in my
lexicon). Demonstrates very clearly the merits of a Jewish look at
Paul (that is, a Jew looking at Paul in his Jewishness)."--Adele
Reinhartz, McMaster University
"Boyarin has mastered the literature of Paul in amazing detail
and devastating understanding. His analytic skills are honed to
perfection on the stone of critical theory. As a Jewish reader of a
foundational Christian text, he has explained to Christians the
power of Paul's thinking for Christians."--Burton L. Mack, author
of "Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins
"This book is a polemic for difference based on genealogical
memory as a creative force in the broadest human solidarity. In
that sense it is a moral or philosophical tractate, what Boyarin
calls cultural criticism, as well as an analysis of Paul's
position. I have been greatly informed by a reading of this
study."--Antoinette Wire, author of "The Corinthian Woman
Prophets
"Boyarin weighs in with his usual eclat . . . reading the
Epistles as if theywere contributions to contemporary debates over
the issues of feminism, multiculturalism, Zionism, identity
politics, and deconstruction, and reading these as if they were
germane to an understanding of the Epistles. The book is a tour de
force of PoMo criticism, and required reading for anyone interested
in the history of religion, Judaism, Christianity, Western culture,
'Orientalism, ' identity politics, feminism--and the list could go
on."--Hayden White, author of "Metahistory
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