Corpus-Paul

["John Brand" <jbrand AT gvsd.mb.ca>]

From:                   "rabbisaul" <tim AT rabbisaul.com>
To:                     "Corpus-Paul" <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject:                Re: [Corpus-Paul] Question on 'Paul and Judaism' by
Mark Nanos
Date sent:              Fri, 12 Nov 2004 22:04:24 -0700

Tim wrote:
> Not sure if John is asking me to clarify, or Mark.

John responds:
Thanks, Tim. My request for clarification was directed to both
yourself and Mark as my understanding of your positions means that
you would be in agreement with Sanders contra Dr. Nanos. Your
knowledge of the Reformed and Augustinian positions is a valuable
asset for considering what Dr. Nanos is proposing in terms of the
hurdles that need to be overcome if Paul is to be understood as
continuing to advocate the viability of the Abrahamic covenant for
Israel in the New Age.

Dr. Nanos, for example, in his essay 'Paul and Judaism':

"To my knowledge, what has gone unrecognized is the traditional
assumption that remains necessary to Sanders' turn of phrase [“this
is what Paul finds wrong in Judaism: it is not Christianity.”
(Sanders, "Paul and Palestinian Judaism," 552)]. It not only requires
the institutional development of Christianity to make sense, however
historically unlikely this remains, but it requires a Paul who finds
something wrong with Judaism, indeed, with the pillars of Jewish
identity and religious values, such as election, covenant, Torah, and
repentance-and who does so from outside Judaism rather than from on
the inside, since the problem lies in the prior fundamentals of
Judaism. The problem is not with some or other Judaisms, not with
some Jewish people or ideas or institutions or practices, not with
some or other Jewish Christians or groups, or their ways of
interpreting the meaning of Jesus Christ-but with Judaism, period.
Granted, this is not because Judaism was legalistic or based on
achieving righteousness by fulfilling commandments rather than by
grace, as those whom Sanders criticizes maintained, because he
recognized that these were not how Judaism operated."

(see: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/nanosmd/index.html and "Paul and
Judaism")

BTW Dr. Nanos: I am not sure what you mean when you say 'it ...
requires the institutional development of Christianity to make sense,
however historically unlikely this remains.'  I am, obviously, out of
the loop in terms of the discussion of the institutional development
of Christianity. Could you point me to an on-line discussion of this
discussion?