Corpus-Paul

["rabbisaul" <tim AT rabbisaul.com>]

> PS-One more question. How is it deemed to be respectful of the other for
> someone who believes the Mosaic legislations is now obsolete, and thus the
> practice of Judaism, to use the word rabbi in their e-mail signature, when
> there are Jewish people practicing that religion still, silly them/us, for
> whom that title has specific meaning in designating the role of communal
> leaders? Is this not supersessionistic in its meanest form, based upon 
> what
> has been expressed by the one using that signature?

Mark, rather than assume the worst about where that name comes from:  it 
certainly doesn't refer to me, since my name is not, after all, Saul.  The 
name, of course, refers to Paul himself.  And no, I cannot see why I need 
apologize for considering him a rabbi.

More here on that point: http://www.rabbisaul.com/

Now let me add something further: believing what I believe regarding Paul, I 
nonetheless do *not* believe he "abandoned Judaism." He had a critique of 
many of his contemporaries, just as many of the prophets had. Coupled with 
that, he believed the Messiah had come, and came to recognize that that 
coming had consequences beyond what he had previously imagined. But he did 
not abandon either his people or the revelation of God which had been 
entrusted to that people. I remind you that you are responding one brief 
comment I made about one word. I am not going to reproduce my entire 
exegetical reading of Paul and the law in the context of this thread (and 
for that matter, neither are you, I am quite certain). Suffice to say that 
when I speak of Torah's goal being Christ, and that implying a termination 
of some sort, that termination does not imply obliteration, but a particular 
grand fulfillment.

Sincerely,

Tim Gallant
"not Rabbi Saul"

Pastor, Conrad Christian Reformed Church

http://www.timgallant.org
tim | gallant site group