Monday, July 16, 2007

Brondos' Paul on the Cross

I am reading David A. Brondos' Paul on the Cross: Reconstructing the Apostle's Story of Redemption at the moment and finding it enjoyable. It's well-written, he's clearly well-read, and his logical arguments are pretty sound (few things causes me more mental anguish than poor logic). It's also all about the topics I enjoy studying - models of atonement, the life of Jesus, Paul's theology - so I'm particularly appreciating that.

I offer for viewer comment a rather controversial passage I've just encountered on page 78 of the book:
Futhermore, in accordance with Jewish belief, Paul consistently teaches that the final judgment will be according to one's works or deeds. [...] Nowhere does Paul affirm that the basis upon which people will be judged is whether they had faith or not. Nor is it Paul's teaching that the final judgment will be made on the basis of works merely because "works are indispensable as the demonstration of the true nature of faith."

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2 Comments:

Blogger metalepsis said...

I just finished Brondos and found it a good read too. One thing I did not like was that he did not really have a clear statement of his view of atonement. Rather, it seems like he puts together his view, by stating what are the misconceptions and deficiencies of the more popular views of atonement. Since you are more widely read on the subject, which I am sure would have helped me, did you find this to be true? Or did I just read too fast?

Cheers,

17/7/07  
Blogger Andrew said...

I agree. He seems to be better at attacking other views than defending his own. His policy seems to be to attempt to demolish opposing positions and then to simply state his own view without producing much or any evidence for it.

I'm only part way through the book, so I'm hoping he might correct this deficiency in the later part of the work. I'll post some reflections on his view once I've finished the book.

17/7/07  

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