The defining element in the majority of Pauline studies in the twentieth century has been an attempt to answer the question, “What is the apostle’s relationship to Judaism?” The answer given to this question reveals not only one’s perspective on Paul in general but also the approach he or she takes to seminal theological issues such as the nature of justification and the relevance of the Mosaic law for the Christian church. Magnus Zetterholm, Associate Professor of New Testament Studies at Lund University in Sweden, understands the importance of this question and has written an introductory guide that outlines the various answers scholars have given. In eight chapters, he surveys Paul’s life, plots the rise of the standard view of Paul, traces elements that led to a new perspective on the apostle’s writings, and then demonstrates how scholars have built upon, reacted to, and have even gone beyond the new perspective to advocate more radical approaches to Paul.

In chapter one, Zetterholm introduces us to his aim for the book: “to attempt to explain how Paul’s relation to Judaism can be understood in two very different ways and to explore which approach is likely to produce the most historically plausible picture of Paul and the development of the early Jesus movement” (p. 10). To acquaint the reader with the basics of Paul’s life, he gives a brief outline drawn from the book of Acts and key biographical references in the epistles, namely Gal 1 and Phil 3. Zetterholm does not regard all of the letters attributed to Paul as authentic. To err on the side of scholarly caution, he accepts only 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans, Philippians, and Philemon (p. 30).

Chapter two focuses on the rise of the paradigm for understanding Paul that influenced NT scholarship until the middle of the twentieth century. The essence of this paradigm is belief in a sharp line of demarcation between Christianity and Judaism. Zetterholm begins by noting the role played by Hegelian dialectics and the Tübingen School, but the roots of this paradigm are ancient. In Zetterholm’s opinion, the early non-Jewish followers of Jesus relied upon the Jews for their protected status as monotheists. Later, however, due to the rise of anti-Semitism and through the church’s reinterpretation of the OT, Christianity distanced itself from the religion it had depended upon earlier. Zetterholm then shifts the focus to Martin Luther, who interpreted Judaism in light of what he saw in the Roman Catholic Church. This strengthened the belief that Judaism was a legalistic religion and gave rise to the theological model that has prevailed since the Reformation.

Zetterholm devotes chapter three to the study of Rudolf Bultmann’s prominent role in developing “the traditional view of Paul that was firmly established in the middle of the twentieth century” (p. 69). Bultmann’s students, Ernst Käsemann and Günther Bornkamm, also receive attention as they helped to promulgate the standard view of Paul’s relationship to Judaism, a view that rested on the two cornerstones of an anti-Semitic attitude in the church and Luther’s sharp distinctions between the law and the gospel (p. 89). Zetterholm concludes, however, by noting that, though the prevailing attitudes in biblical scholarship favored the standard view of Paul, dissenting voices argued for a different appraisal of Judaism. Among these were Claude Montefiore, Salomon Schechter, and George Foot Moore.

A willingness to reexamine the nature of ancient Judaism and the horror of the Nazi atrocities of World War II set the scholarly and social stage for a different approach, a new perspective on Paul. This is the subject of chapter four. Zetterholm attributes the necessary exegetical reorientation to Krister Stendahl, but what was needed most was a reevaluation of Judaism. This was the work of E. P. Sanders, who saw Palestinian Judaism not as a religion of legalism but one of covenantal nomism. Building on his new view of Judaism, Sanders began to reinterpret Paul. Others, such as James D. G. Dunn and N. T. Wright, followed suit and became the leaders in the new perspective.

Not content with the new perspective on Paul, some scholars have pushed the envelope further. In chapter five, Zetterholm discusses the views of Lloyd Gaston, Peter J. Tomson, Stanley Stowers, Mark D. Nanos, and Caroline Johnson Hodge, which he labels “the radical new perspective” (p. 161). Unlike traditional and new perspective proponents, “these scholars work from the general assumption that Paul belonged to first-century Judaism—not that he left it” (p. 161).

Not all students of the NT, however, have been convinced to embrace the “new” or “radical new” perspective on Paul. Chapter six surveys the work of four scholars who believe that the basics of the traditional Protestant view of Paul are correct. These include Frank S. Thielman, A. Andrew Das, Simon J. Gathercole, and Stephen Westerholm. Zetterholm notes that the “most striking common denominator” among these writers is “the relationship between exegesis and normative Protestant theology” (p. 192). He goes on to point out “that much of the critique of Sanders from the traditional perspective is worth taking seriously” (p. 193).

Chapter seven, entitled “Braking Boundaries,” looks at the work of various hermeneutical approaches to Paul that are not concerned primarily with solving the problem of his relationship to Judaism. Here we find readings of Paul that rely primarily upon philosophical, postcolonial, or feminist perspectives. The concluding chapter summarizes the book and then looks at the hermeneutical issues involved in arriving at an understanding of Paul. Ultimately Zetterholm opts for a hermeneutic of uncertainty (p. 237). He assumes, however, that the truth about Paul may lie somewhere in the “radical new perspective” school of thought (p. 239).

While Zetterholm ably accomplishes his purpose of introducing students to recent trends in Pauline scholarship, evangelicals will find his denial of the authenticity of a number of Pauline letters disconcerting. Furthermore, Zetterholm bases a number of points in his reconstruction of Paul’s relationship to Judaism on assumptions and possibilities (see, for example, pp. 7, 25, 27, 48, 51–54) rather than exegetical data. One of the most disturbing views of Zetterholm is that there is a direct link between the traditional view of Paul and Hitler’s murder of six million Jews. “The Christian church that almost twenty centuries had defined itself in contrast to a distorted picture of Judaism no doubt shared the responsibility for the worst crime against humanity in history” (p. 95). Strong anti-Semitic views have and, sadly, continue to exist, and some may falsely claim a Christian basis for these views. Perversions of theology are to be blamed for many sins, but to lay the atrocities of the Holocaust at the feet of Christian theology is irresponsible and unbecoming of anyone who attempts to speak as a scholar.

If you are looking for a survey of twentieth century Pauline scholarship, Zetterholm will prove helpful. But if you want a survey that offers more depth, balance, and exegetical probings into the text, a better choice would be Stephen Westerholm’s Perspectives Old and New on Paul. Westerholm offers an overview and critique of the same authors as Zetterholm but with more detail and a closer look at Scripture itself.

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