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  • From: "Mark D. Nanos" <nanosmd AT home.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: The Mystery of Romans: the theme of- restoration of Israel
  • Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2002 20:39:09 -0600


Moon,
I will comment below your reply to my reply to your last post.

> Mark,
> You said:
>> Israel will be restored, e.g., freed from the social (such as
>> religious and political) constraints of the present age (Roman govt. and
>> Hellenistic culture), as well as the power of sin (communal and personal)
>> that often restrains humans from expressing fully the image of God in what
>> they do and think.
>
> Very good. But I wonder. Was Paul misled? The fact of history tells us
> that Israel was destroyed by the Roman armies and was scattered all
> over the world since then, rather than being restored. Some people
> solve this problem by spiritualizing the restoration of Israel, that
> is, via the equation of Church = New Israel = True Israel. Some people
> think that the current Israel in Palestine is the beginning of the
> restoration of Israel, which was long interrupted. You would reject both
> postions.

Moon,
Yes, I do not believe those two options represent Paul's voice, although the
latter is an attractive alternative, apart (for me), that is, from any
notion that everyone is going to become Christians in the end (a reading
that seems to defy the logic of Paul's criticism of gentile arrogance in the
first place). And the evidence of historical reality appears to me, like you
note, not to support the idea that things turned out as he believed they
would in his lifetime; indeed, or since. Does that mean he was misled? or
just mistaken? or that elements he believed needed to take place for the
scenario he envisioned to develop failed to materialize, for whatever
reasons--the continuing constraints of the present age.

In other words, Paul was human and doing his best to deal with the anomalies
that arose between his expectations and the events taking place (as he
admits at the end of Rom. 11). But he was human, and so too were the other
players with whom he was involved in seeking to bring to successful
completion this grand scheme for all humankind. And he and all the rest of
humankind were caught up in a matrix of contingencies beyond any human's
ultimate control.

For example, perhaps that which he sought to prevent developing in Rome with
this letter nevertheless did unfold, and so his plans were thwarted.
Likewise, perhaps his plans for the western phase of his arc went
(partially? or largely? or completely?) unfulfilled (no evidence has
materialized, anyway). If so, then he could not complete that of which he
wrote in Romans, and so that scheme came undone.
>
[snip]
> SO, I should assme that all Israel was saved or restored at least in the
> first century, as Paul thought. But it appears that in contrast,
> Israel was destroyed by the Roman armies, and went to a long and tragic
> exile that was never heard of. Do you think mu question is misguided?

No. It is interesting to try to read Paul in his own context, before the
events of later times and interpreters have made it necessary to deal with
the paradoxes his ideas create in the face of empirical evidence to the
contrary. The problems seem to me no greater than others I could note that
arise from theological propositions that still abound among interpreters of
Paul. It is also interesting to consider the solutions of his interpreters
in their own contexts.

I gave a paper that touched on this matter at an SBL Seminar on Romans in
History and Interpretation in 1998 that is now available in Reading Israel
in Romans, eds C. Grenholm and D. Patte, Trinity Press Int., 2000. Perhaps
you can borrow a copy of this and consider further my own approach the the
problem of historical perspective that arises for the exegete of Romans.

I hope this is helpful. Let me know what you think, or of other questions
that might arise from these comments. Anyone else care to get involved?

Regards,
Mark
--
Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D.
313 NE Landings Dr.
Lee's Summit, MO 64064
USA
nanosmd AT home.com





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