David W. Pao - Thanksgiving: An Investigation of a Pauline Theme

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New Studies in Biblical Theology is a series of monographs that address key issues in the discipline of biblical theology. Contributions to the series focus on one or more of three areas: 1. the nature and status of biblical theology, including its relations with other disciplines (e.g. historical theology, exegesis, systematic theology, historical criticism, narrative theology); 2. the articulation and exposition of the structure of thought of a particular biblical writer or corpus; and 3. the delineation of a biblical theme across all or part of the biblical corpora.

Above all, these monographs are creative attempts to help thinking Christians understand their Bibles better. The series aims simultaneously to instruct and to edify, to interact with the current literature, and to point the way ahead. In Gods universe, mind and heart should not be divorced: in this series we will try not to separate what God has joined together. While the notes interact with the best of the scholarly literature, the text is uncluttered with untransliterated Greek and Hebrew, and tries to avoid too much technical jargon. The volumes are written within the framework of confessional evangelicalism, but there is always an attempt at thoughtful engagement with the sweep of the relevant literature.

In a day with more than its share of whining, self-pity, lawsuits and dissatisfaction, this volume by my colleague Dr David Pao has a prophetic element to it. Numerous studies have treated Pauls thanksgiving sections exploring parallels in first-century literature, noting their ties to broader themes in the corpus of Pauls writings, and teasing out their rhetorical devices. But very few treatments of this theme in Paul comprehensively reflect on the theology of thanksgiving, and how such theology is deeply embedded in Pauls thought and in the gospel itself. Dr Pao supplies the lack, and does so in a way that is both informed and edifying. His study is not only the stuff of biblical theology and grist for many sermons, but will prove to be the occasion for self-examination, repentance and a new resolve to be thankful.