Garwood P. Anderson - Paul’s New Perspective: Charting a Soteriological Journey

O ften one hears authors refer to the writing of a book on the analogy of giving birth. I have no idea about that. Ive had kidney stones. My experience is akin to a different parental metaphor. This project feels rather more like sending off a five-year-old to second grade, having skipped kindergarten and first grade. Your friends tell you he will manage, but you worry that he might be embarrassed when he cant open a milk carton for himself or when he is caught counting on his fingers rather than having memorized his math facts.

I am not a Pauline specialist, but perhaps like Luke, the amateur historiographer, I can say with just a touch of hyperbole that I have followed all things from the top (Lk 1:3) and suppose (doke, presume?) to add my narrative to the others. If I were granted but one desideratum of Pauline scholarship it would be that they all take a decade of Jubilee, cease publication, and let me catch up. But there is no catching up, and even with the help of very astute readers, I know that I am still not caught up. A seasoned and prolific NT scholar once advised me to write books quickly, since there will always be yet another thing to reckon with while youre trying to complete your project! From contract to completion this project has survived the publication of Wrights Paul and the Faithfulness of God and Paul and His Recent Interpreters; Sanderss Paul: The Apostles Life, Letters, and Thought; Dunns Neither Jew nor Greek; Campbells Reframing Paul (while still forever digesting The Deliverance of God); and Barclays Paul and the Gift, to name only the physically largest contributions to the field (and I write this perusing proofs of Peter Leitharts Delivered from the Elements of the World and not in time to make use of Richard Longeneckers new Romans commentary in the NIGTC series). It will be another decade until I will have reckoned with all of these, but new books continue apace.

My debts are many, beginning with these and many other scholars from whom I have learned so much about Paul, whom I thank with every footnote. I was aided immensely especially by three readers. Wes Hill and Mike Gorman exposed shortcomings with my argument in the kindest and most encouraging ways, and with keen analysis pointed me in more satisfactory directions. They are not responsible for my stubbornness. And Dan Reids expert and encouraging guidance was especially helpful, both as my editor, but also as a Pauline scholar himself.

Multiple acknowledgments are in order. I am grateful to the Nashotah House Board of Directors for the granting of a sabbatical for the 20132014 academic year, during which time this project was launched and took its shape. It is a singular and rare pleasure that I enjoy teaching in a community saturated in Scripture and worship and among colleagues whose company I so enjoy. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to teach several courses directly and indirectly relevant. I was especially pleased to teach a seminar on the new perspective on Paul at Nashotah House and also to a class of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship staff at their National Institute of Staff Education and Training. Some of my keener seminary studentsI recall especially John Milliken, Shane Gormley, Tyler Blanski, Ben Jefferies and Lars Skoglundhumored me by listening to early versions of the argument and, even when their grade did not depend on it, gave the impression that they found it interesting. The last two think they are responsible for the title; they might be.

My brother, Cameron, a mentor to his little brother for a half-century, was a special encouragement, sharing writing retreats with me in various cabins in Michigans Upper Peninsula, our familys roots. And in an especially sweet coincidence, his book, The Faithful Artist (also with IVP), comes off the press almost simultaneously with this one.

Above all, I am most indebted to Dawn, my wife of thirty-two years, who thinks I should write more, and who stands behind that urging with a keen eye for grammar and sense for style, having read the whole manuscript at least twice, loving red pen in hand, leaving marks of affection behind on every page.

Pentecost 2016