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Pamela Eisenbaum, an expert on early Christianity, reveals the true nature of the historical Paul in Paul Was Not a Christian. She explores the idea of Paul not as the founder of a new Christian religion, but as a devout Jew who believed Jesus was the Christ who would unite Jews and Gentiles and fulfill God’s universal plan for humanity. Eisenbaum’s work in Paul Was Not a Christian will have a profound impact on the way many Christians approach evangelism and how to better follow Jesus’s—and Paul’s—teachings on how to live faithfully today.
- Sales Rank: #579482 in Books
- Published on: 2010-09-07
- Released on: 2010-09-07
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x .84" w x 6.00" l, .81 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 336 pages
Review
Eisenbaum shows the implausibility of the common interpretation of Paul that pits a Christian essence against a superficial or rejected Jewish hull. The book’s great accomplishment is to show us a historically plausible picture of a fully Jewish Paul who was also fully committed to Christ. (Dr. Stanley Stowers, Chair of Religious Studies, Brown University, and author of A Rereading of Romans: Justice, Jews and Gentiles)
Eisenbaum’s is one of a few important voices drawing our attention . . . to the continuing tensions and contradictions in Christian readings of Paul . . . This book does more than challenge and inform: it changes the way we think about Paul [and] the origins of Christian faith. (Neil Elliott, Author of Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle)
Pamela Eisenbaum’s Paul Was Not a Christian is a clear and effective presentation and extension of the view. . . that Paul remained fully identified with Judaism and the Torah throughout his life. . . It will repay careful reading by interested layfolk and by scholars as well. (Dr. Daniel Boyarin, Jewish Theological Seminary, UC Berkeley)
“Paul was not a Christian is well worth careful reading. It is a serious and very clear exposition of what changed and what stayed the same in Paul’s religious life. This book is very highly recommended to both scholars and laypersons as all will gain from it.” (Alan F. Segal, Professor of Religion and Jewish Studies Barnard College, Columbia University, Author of Paul the Convert)
“In this provocative book, biblical scholar Eisenbaum points out that the traditional Christian portrait of Paul as a former Jew . . . is a misreading of Paul’s life and religious work . . . Eisenbaum’s lively prose and meticulous scholarship provides a compelling new portrait of the apostle. ” (Publishers Weekly)
“Professor Eisenbaum offers the general reader the most realistic first-century portrayal of the Apostle Paul ever written.” (Jewish Book World)
“According to traditional teachings, Paul rejected his Judaism for the new, improved version: Christianity. Bible scholar Pamela Eisenbaum says this interpretation of Paul is not only wrong, it’s dangerous.” (Interfaith Voices)
From the Back Cover
The True Identity of the Bible's Most Divisive Apostle
Paul is not the founder of Christianity or a zealous convert from Judaism, as is often claimed. Nor did he contend that Jesus superseded the Torah. Paul, Eisenbaum persuasively argues, remained a devout Jew who believed Jesus would unite Jews and Gentiles and fulfill God's universal plan for humanity. Meticulously researched and far-reaching in its implications, this is a much-needed corrective to misconceptions held by Christians and Jews, liberals and conservatives, alike.
About the Author
Pamela Eisenbaum is the associate professor of biblical studies and Christian origins at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. Eisenbaum is a national media expert on early Christianity and, as a practicing Jew teaching in a Christian seminary, has a unique perspective on the origins of Christianity.
Most helpful customer reviews
83 of 93 people found the following review helpful.
Paul Was Not A Christian
By Sherry M. Peyton
I'm deeply indebted to HarperOne, division of Harper Collins for providing this book, Paul Was Not a Christian: The Original Message of a Misunderstood Apostle, by Pamela Eisenbaum, for review.
Catchy title huh? It surely will cause most Christians to pause and pick it up. And pick it up they should. This is simply a new way (for most laypersons at least) of looking at Paul, apostle to the Gentiles, and commonly thought of as the major force in creating Christianity.
Pamela Eisenbaum, a practicing Jew, has all the credentials in the world, and teaches at a Iliff School of Theology in Denver. She is a biblical scholar with degrees from both Harvard Divinity and Columbia. She claims as mentor the acclaimed biblical expert Krister Stendahl.
Her premise here is a startling one for most Christians: Paul, far from renouncing his Jewish faith and "converting" as we are wont to believe on the road to Damascus, remained throughout his life a staunch Jew, follower of the Law. And, he preached the Lord Jesus Christ as savior. How can this be we ask?
Eisenbaum takes us through a long and detailed and clear explanation. Based on the work of what are known as the "new prospective" scholars and building upon that from the now "radical" new prospective scholars, Dr. Eisenbaum paints a convincing picture of Paul as a man thoroughly embedded in his Jewish heritage, and remaining in it to the end. Much of what has gone wrong in Pauline interpretation comes from reading him through a lens of "conversion," a conversion Eisenbaum claims never happened.
Most all scholars today would agree that Jesus certainly never set out to create a church. He if anything, wished to reform Judaism. Dr. Eisenbaum argues that essentially Paul did the same, and for somewhat the same reasons.
In making her case, reference is made to the authentic letters of Paul, those seven that all scholars agree were written by Paul--Romans, Corinthians I, II, Galatians, Philippians, I Thessalonians, and Philemon. The rest are almost universally or substantially agreed upon as not Pauline in authorship and thus not fruitful for this discussion. This is of course nothing new.
She then traces a history of Second Temple Judaism, the time that Paul was alive, and determines what assumptions would have been his based upon the current belief structure of Pharisees of his day. Contrary to public opinion, Pharisees were not so much sticklers for adherence to the Law as they interpreted it, but rather they often interpreted it in ways that were novel and supported present day problems. IN other words they were opportunists of a sort.
Eisenbaum indicates that independent records show that Jews of this period did not consider Gentiles "unclean" or people to be separated from. They were more tolerant that we might suppose. They believed that Gentiles could follow Torah and such people were known as proselytes.
Her argument is that Paul, steeped in Pharisaic belief of the apocalyptic end times, came to see in his Damascus experience, evidence that the end times were upon them. He viewed his experience as his call from God to take the message to the Gentiles, that Jesus by his faithfulness, had justified the Gentiles in the same way that Torah justified Jews in righteousness.
In other words, time was of the essence. Jews had imputed righteousness through the grace of God in giving them Torah, which, even if badly followed, gave them the way to atone for sins. The Gentiles, having no such covenant, and being outside the covenant, had no means of atonement for the sins that they had accumulated. Following Torah was not enough.
Jesus, by his faithful obedience to God, won for Gentiles (the nations of the world as it were), that righteousness, that Jews received by virtue of the covenant. This explains why Paul was so adamant that such things as circumcision and dietary laws need not apply to Gentiles.
What is of critical importance, is Eisenbaum's claim that Augustine, then Luther and so forth misread Paul, thinking he had condemned Torah as the way, and substituted Jesus as the only means of salvation. In this reading, then all Jews must one day convert to Christianity. This of course is the belief of many, (especially conservative) Christians today.
Eisenbaum makes clear that in order to read Paul correctly, one must keep in mind a number of things. First and foremost among them, is that at no time is Paul speaking to Jews. He is speaking only to Gentiles. Secondly Torah is for Jews, but sets a standard for all peoples.
Perhaps what will most alarm Christians is her claim that Paul did not see Jesus as God, but as God's son, the one sent. Moreover, she would claim that Paul did not call Gentiles to worship Jesus, but rather to have faithfulness as Jesus had faithfulness.
She bases this conclusion on a lengthy explanation of the phrase pistis iesou christou. Because Christians have so thoroughly seen Paul as "converting" they have almost always translated this as "faith in Jesus Christ" rather than what she contends is the accurate translation, "faith of Jesus Christ." Her claim is that Jesus expressed a faithfulness to God by his perfect obedience, and that Paul calls Gentiles to be "saved" by also following the lead of Jesus, and trying to imitate Jesus faithfulness.
Dr. Eisenbaum of course admits that even among radical new prospective scholars, there is still much argument. Her opinions and conclusions are not universally accepted. It is a new way of looking at Paul, and given Paul's general difficulties, there will be years of new exploration ahead.
But indeed, this work is a must reading for anyone who wishes to understand that there is much yet to do in unpacking Pauline theology. The test will be, does Eisenbaum's theory explain more satisfactorily than do previous paradigms. There have been, and perhaps always will be passages in Paul that are seemingly contradictory. This is in part the result that he no where sets out to put down his theology in any one place. We have letters, written over a fair stretch of time, often addressed to quite disparate problems. The theory that "solves" the most problems will be the one that finds most favor no doubt.
This is an important book in current biblical studies of Pauline theology. It is one that all, both scholars and laypersons can benefit from.
**As noted, this book was sent to me free of charge for purposes of review. No agreements as to contents of the review were discussed. The opinions here are strictly my own.
67 of 78 people found the following review helpful.
Great on Judaism, Wishful Thinking on Paul
By A Customer
This book offers a very accurate and extended portrait of Judaism in the first century-and one of the fullest to be found in a book about Paul. The book is valuable for that reason alone. It also presents a compelling portrait of Paul as a follower of Jesus who considered himself a Jew and who understood his mission to non-Jews as a vocation within his native Judaism, not a convert from one religion (Judaism) to another religion (Christianity). Clearly, Paul's essential theology and ethics are thoroughly Jewish, as is his interpretive approach to Jewish Scripture. For those who have never read a book on Paul before, it is important to know all this, even though it is not exactly breaking news.
When she discusses Jesus, however, Eisenbaum is way off the mark. On the one hand, Eisenbaum is certainly right that Paul's thought is theocentric, that Paul never calls Jesus "God," and that Pauline prayer language is addressed to God though Christ, with Jesus filling the role of mediator. One the other hand, Eisenbaum too facilely claims that Pauline veneration of Jesus in no way infringed on Jewish monotheism. It is very telling that when she discusses the "Christ hymn" in Philippians 2:6-11, she does not discuss verses 6-7, where Paul describes Christ as one who "was in the form of God" and "emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and being found in human form." These lines picture Jesus as the human embodiment of a divine being. One can only conclude that Eisenbaum quietly passes over these verses because they are inconvenient for her Jewish reclamation of Paul.
Even more problematic is Eisenbaum's understanding of what Paul says in his letters about Christ in relation to the Torah and non-Christian Judaism. She is certainly right in emphasizing that Paul wrote his letters to Gentile followers of Jesus, not Jews or Jewish followers of Jesus, and that Paul evidently had no problem with Jews who followed Jesus as messiah and Lord continuing to observe Torah. This is old hat by now but still worth emphasizing. But she is clearly wrong in arguing that Paul envisioned two paths to salvation: Jesus for Gentiles, Torah for Jews. Though claiming to offer a "new" framework for understanding Paul, she is rehashing a view that has been around for decades in the work of scholars like Lloyd Gaston and John Gager.
Eisenbaum has to avoid major chunks of Paul's letters to make her case. She buries in a footnote a reference to 2 Corinthians 3. She writes, "Readers who know Paul's letters may be wondering about a passage in 2 Corinthians in which Paul seemingly [!] compares the `new covenant' to a `written code.' This is the only passage in the undisputed letters in which Paul seems [sic!] to disparage Torah. [Not true]. . . An extended discussion of this text is beyond the scope of this discussion [sic!] . . . . In actuality Paul is contrasting two modes of interpretation" (p. 284, n. 25). In 2 Corinthians 3 Paul speaks of the "old covenant" and calls it "the ministry/service (diakonia) of death" and "the ministry of condemnation." He contrasts "we" with "the people of Israel," who have been "hardened." "Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil [that covered Moses' face "to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside"] is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside, but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed." Jews who do not recognize Jesus as the inaugurator of a new covenant (not a new mode of Torah interpretation!) need to turn to the Lord--that's Paul.
More tellingly, there is no discussion of Romans 9-11 -- in a book all about Paul's relation to Judaism! In a few sentences at the very end of her monograph, she says in effect, "Gee, reader, I've run out of space to discuss Romans 9-11. Darn! Only another book could do justice to those chapters. Bye for now." I kid you not. Here is what she writes of this extended section of Romans: "One of the reasons I did not treat it in this book is because there are several good discussions of it already. Another is that it would require another book. For the sake of manageability, I have tried to stick with more narrowly defined units of text" (p. 251).
The problem at issue in Romans 9-11 is that Paul and others who follow Jesus have not succeeded in getting most Jews to join them. Paul attributes this to God's temporary "hardening" of Israel. "Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained it, but Israel, which pursued righteousness with respect to the Law did not attain it. . . . Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened. For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God's righteousness. For Christ is the telos (end/goal) of the Law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who has faith. . . . . Israel failed to attain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened. . . . ." Etc.
Eisenbaum's work is a showcase example of the phenomenon known as wishful thinking. She is a Jewish New Testament scholar, and one of her implicit goals (perhaps her chief one) in this book is to make Paul palatable to Jews in our age of religious pluralism. (See the very last sentence of the book.) How I wish she were right about Paul! But it would be more honest to say "I think Paul was wrong" than to dodge every line in Paul letters which indicate that, for him, there is no membership in the covenant people of God, and no eschatological salvation for anyone, Jew or non-Jew, apart from Christ.
Daniel Harlow
91 of 109 people found the following review helpful.
Impressive and Slanted
By Raymond
This review is for Evangelical readers who want to learn more about the Jewish context of Jesus and of the first generation Church. Prof. Eisenbaum's book is well researched, tightly reasoned, well-written and in places thought-provoking. Her point that Paul did not stop being an observant Jew when he came to believe that Jesus is Messiah is well stated. She also calls to account interpretations of Paul that have led to antisemitism in the Church, and for that Christians should thank her. She dispels the misperception that Judaism is a faith of salvation by works but by the grace of God. I also admire her effort to find a Paul, whom she doesn't like at all points, but whom she can reconcile to as an observant Jew rather than the Paul who's the source of persecution of Jews throughout history.
However, here are just some examples of problems I have with the book:
1) She follows the typical contemporary pattern of choosing which books of the New Testament she allows to be "authentic", hurls around the "majority view" language, while ignoring that there are many fine scholars who would not lop off the Book of Acts and other Pauline epistles as authentic sources for Pauline studies. As has happened since the search for the historical Jesus started, people pick and choose from the canon and come up with a Jesus, and now a Paul, made in their own image rather than an historically convincing portrait.
2) Her impressive effort to deal with Paul's attitude toward Jesus the Lord just doesn't line up with important verses even in her canon within the canon. She says that Paul uses the term "Lord", simply to mean an exalted being rather than an equal with God. Yet, Philippians 2:6 refers to Jesus being in very nature God and equal to Him. She says that Paul is theocentric, but not Christo-centric, but again in Philippians Paul says that for him to live is Christ and that he has given up all to become like Christ. Her concern is to steer Paul away from the dangerous rocks of polytheism that the doctrine of the Trinity creates, but she created a Paul that doesn't line up with his writings. The Trinity continues to be a mysterious doctrine for Christians and an offensive one for Jews and Muslims.
3) She slaughters the true Reformed view of the faith vs. works issue. She says that, according to the Reformers, moral behavior is at least extraneous and even detrimental to salvation. The Reformers taught the entire counsel of Scripture, which clearly teaches repentance from sin as an expression of sincerity and gratitude for the salvation that is theirs through faith in the work of Christ on their behalf. One wonders how she can misread or misrepresent the Reformers so much on this point.
4) She makes a big point that Paul writes to Gentiles and thus all his anti-Torah talk is for them because they were never meant to observe Torah. According to Prof. Eisenbaum, Paul teaches that Jews continue to look to faithfulness to Torah for grace and Gentiles look to Jesus. This is perhaps the weakest point of the book. For example, Paul obviously addresses both communities when he says, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power for God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." (Romans 1:16, NIV) That's hardly a picture of Torah for Jews and Jesus for Gentiles. In the midst of this effort, she tries to strip Paul of the message of salvation from the wrath of God, and so tips her hand that she is driven by the modern ideology of universalism. Like it or not, that universalism is foreign to Paul, and she shouldn't try to use Paul to advocate her modern ideology.
5) I was disappointed that she didn't describe in more detail just what Paul's continued Jewish observances were. She spends her time dissecting Paul's doctrine expressed in seven of his letters so the book is very heavy in theological examination. That's certainly valuable, but I would vey much like to have heard more about what she thinks Paul's ongoing practice of Judaism entailed.
6) Finally, her final sentence makes it clear what her ultimate agenda is: religious pluralism. Unfortunately, her historical research seems to be a tool to advance her ideology rather than to present a truly accurate portrait of Paul.
All that being said, if you are interested in the Hebrew roots of the first generation of Christians, I encourage you to read this book. Prof. Eisenbaum's book is a valuable contribution to the effort to recover the Jewishness of the first century Christians. She reminds us of information that we should already have firmly in mind and she challenges us to think about some other issues. That process is valuable, and, while in the end her portrait of Paul is unconvincing, nevertheless I'm a better student of the New Testament for it. Thanks, Prof. Eisenbaum, for a provocative read.
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