Story of My Books #17: An Anomalous Jew

Book # 17 was a series of essays on the apostle Paul entitled, An Anomalous Jew: Paul among Jews, Greeks, and Romans (Eerdmans, 2016).

Though Paul is often lauded as the first great Christian theologian and a champion for Gentile inclusion in the church, in his own time he was universally regarded as a strange and controversial person. In this book, I try to explain why. An Anomalous Jew presents the figure of Paul in all his complexity with his blend of common and controversial Jewish beliefs and a faith in Christ that brought him into conflict with the socio-religious scene around him. I endeavour to explain how the apostle Paul was variously perceived — as a religious deviant by Jews, as a divisive figure by Jewish Christians, as a purveyor of dubious philosophy by Greeks, and as a dangerous troublemaker by the Romans.

Here’s the outline:

• Introduction: Paul the Jew . . . of Sorts

• “Salvation” in Paul’s Judaism

• Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles and Jews?

• An Invasive Story: An Apocalyptic and Salvation-Historical Rereading of Galatians

• The Incident at Antioch (Gal 2:11-14): The Beginnings of Paulinism

• The Apostle Paul and the Roman Empire

Here’s an interview I did with Eerdmans about the book: