Corpus-Paul

["Andrew T. Dolan, M.A., ABD" <dolan AT lasalle.edu>]

Robert Leonzio wrote:
I am a graduate student with a question concerning Paul's' use of "works of
the law" in Galatians.  Could someone give me an insight as to what he is
referring to here.  I am reading this as Jewish pious practices in the
absence of faith.

I think your take is fairly common in Christian rhetoric if not in current
Paul scholarship.  I agree with Jim that the works-without-faith legalism
reading of Paul doesn't seem to have any Jewish evidence in its support.
You might check out the intriguing take of Lloyd Gaston on "work of the
law," available in his Paul and the Torah.  To put the interpretations into
a broad historical context, you might check out the essays in Wayne Meeks's
The Writings of St. Paul, especially the excerpts from Augustine and Luther.
I'm curious about what some of the senior scholars on this list understand
by "the works of law" (Rom 2:15; 3:20, 27, 28; Gal 2:16, Gal 3:2, 5, 10).
Do you make a difference between "the law" (=Torah?) and "works of the law"?
Recommended reading on this topic?

Andy


Andrew T. Dolan, Ph.D. Cand. (Temple University, Philadelphia)
Core Adjunct Professor of Religion and Classics
McShain Hall 211
LaSalle University - 129
1900 W. Olney Avenue
Philadelphia, PA  19141-1199
(215) 951-1327
dolan AT lasalle.edu
http://www.lasalle.edu/~dolan/home.htm