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{en} Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion (1977) is a book by Ed Parish Sanders

Abstract

<Paul and Palestinian Judaism compares Judaism, understood on its own terms, with Paul, understood on his own terms. Sanders aims to: Consider methodologically how to compare two (or more) related but different religions destroy the view of Rabinic Judaism which is still prevalent in much, perhaps most, New Testament scholarship establish a different view of Rabbinic Judaism argue a case concerning Palestinian Judaism as a whole argue for a certain understanding of Paul carry out a comparison of Paul and Palestinian JudaismThis volume makes a contribution not only to the understanding of Paul and his relationship to Judaism, but also to the study of Judaism itself.>--Publisher description.

In this work Sanders seeks to compare, methodologically, two different systems of religion— namely Palestinian Judaism and Paul— on their own terms. His approach is to analyze the surviving literature for each respective religious system, draw conclusions based on a close reading of that literature, and then compare the two with one another. Throughout the comparative study, Sanders first debunks the predominant opinion of New Testament Scholars of his day that Judaism at the time of Jesus had degraded to a legalistic form of works-righteousness, and proposes instead, that Palestinian Judaism from 200 B.C.E. to 200 A.D. can be understand as “Covenantal Nomism.” After establishing this perspective, Sanders turns to Paul’s religious system and shows that, despite there being several points of convergence between Paul and Palestinian Judaism, since Paul denies the efficacy of the Jewish covenant for salvation he in essence rejects Covental Nomism. Thus Sanders concludes that Paul represents an entirely different form of religion that does not have a clear antecedent, but rather is a system that is focused on the meaning of the life and death of Jesus Christ. – Deborah Forger, University of Michigan

Editions

Published in Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press 1977; and London: SCM Press, 1977.

Translations

• Paulus und das palästinische Judentum (1985 Sanders), book (German ed.)

• Paolo e il giudaismo palestinese (1986 Sanders), book (Italian ed.)

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

• 1. Paul and Judaism in New Testament Scholarship
• 2. The holistic comparison of patterns of religion
• 3. Sources

Part One: Palestinian Judaism

I. Tannaitic Literature

• 1. The persistence of the view of Rabbinic religion as one of legalistic work-righteousness
• 2. The use of Rabbinic material
• 3. The nature of Tannaitic literature
• 4. The election and the covenant
• 5. Obedience and disobedience; reward and punishment
• 6. Reward and punishment in the world to come
• 7. Salvation by membership in the covenant and atonement
• 8. Proper religious behavior: zakah and tsadaq
• 9. The Gentiles
• 10. The nature of religious life and experience
• 11. Conclusion

II. The Dead Sea Scrolls

• 1. Introduction
• 2. The covenant and covenant people
• 3. Election and predestination
• 4. The commandments
• 5. Fulfillment and transgression; the nature of sin; reward and punishment
• 6. Atonement
• 7. The righteousness of God and the righteousness of man
• 8. The religious life
• 9. Conclusion

III. Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

• 1. Ben Sirach
• 2. I Enoch
• 3. Jubilees
• 4. The Psalms of Solomon
• 5. IV Ezra

IV. Palestinian Judaism 200b.c.e. – 200 c.e.: Conclusion

• Covenant and Law
• The common pattern of religion: covenantal nomism
• Apocalypticism and legalism
• Sects and Parties
• Judaism in the time of Jesus and Paul

Part Two: Paul

V. Paul

• 1. Introduction
• 2. The solution as preceding the problem
• 3. Pauline soteriology
• 4. The law, the human plight and the relationship of the solution to it
• 5. Covenantal nomism in Paul
• 6. Judgment by works and salvation by grace
• 7. Coherence, relevance and sources

Conclusion

• Paul and Palestinian Judaism
• Paul, Hellenism, and Hellenistic Judaism

Bibliography and System of Reference Indexes

External Links