Paul and the Resurrection of Israel
Jews, Former Gentiles, Israelites

Promotes an exciting new idea: Paul's gospel of Gentile inclusion is intrinsic to Israel's salvation promised in the Hebrew Bible.

Jason A. Staples (Author)

9781009376761, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 November 2023

456 pages
23.6 x 16.1 x 2.9 cm, 0.78 kg

'This is absolutely my favorite book this year, but also my favorite book that I've read for a long time. Staples provides greater coherence to Paul's theology and answers numerous questions.' Spencer Robinson, SpoiledMilks

The gospel promoted by Paul has for many generations stirred passionate debate. That gospel proclaimed equal salvific access to Jews and gentiles alike. But on what basis? In making sense of such a remarkable step forward in religious history, Jason Staples reexamines texts that have proven thoroughly resistant to easy comprehension. He traces Paul's inclusive theology to a hidden strand of thinking in the earlier story of Israel. Postexilic southern Judah, he argues, did not simply appropriate the identity of the fallen northern kingdom of Israel. Instead, Judah maintained a notion of 'Israel' as referring both to the north and the ongoing reality of a broad, pan-Israelite sensibility to which the descendants of both ancient kingdoms belonged. Paul's concomitant belief was that northern Israel's exile meant assimilation among the nations – effectively a people's death – and that its restoration paradoxically required gentile inclusion to resurrect a greater 'Israel' from the dead.

Introduction: Jews, former Gentiles, Israelites
1. The God of Jews only?
2. Paul and the Israel problem
3. The Israel problem and the Gentiles
4. Salvation through justification: Jews and Gentiles alike
5. 'Not My People': Israel's infidelity and God's fidelity
6. God's justice and the end of the Torah
7. The mystery of Israel's salvation
8. The end of the matter.

Subject Areas: Biblical studies & exegesis [HRCG]