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  • From: Jeff Peterson <peterson AT mail.ics.edu>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: SBL Pauline Theology Group
  • Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 13:17:38 -0700


At 8:50 PM -0400 5/13/99, Jerry Sumney wrote:
>. . . the Pauline Theology Group of the SBL . . . produced what I think
>is >the most important work on Paul over the past decade. Dunn, though a
>part of >that group did not use its methods in his theology and rather
>relied on older >(and now less credible IMHO) approaches to Paul.
>Particularly, using Romans as >the guide to Paul's theology seems not to
>give sufficient weight to that >letter's particularity and so the
>contextual nature of the exposition of Paul's >teaching given there.

Thanks to Jerry for the mention of this important series, which prompts a
question. Your criticism of Dunn's use of Romans seems to me to encapsulate
the fundamental insight of the SBL group's project, viz., that responsible
theological interpretation of the letters begins with recognition of the
occasional character of each letter, rather than with the collection of
theologoumena for arrangement under loci, harmonization, synthesis, etc.;
and this insight of course calls into question many magisterial accounts of
Pauline theology.

The series of course also affords numerous exegetical insights into
particular letters, as well as some interesting synthetic essays. But none
of these latter seems to supply a secure basis for moving towards a new
comprehensive synthesis in Pauline theology, and so I am wondering whether
you (or other listers familiar with the series) would see the project as
making other major methodological contributions that I may have missed.

Jeff

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Jeffrey Peterson
Institute for Christian Studies
Austin, Texas, USA
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