L. L. Welborn

Currents in the Interpretation of Paul

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Neil Elliott’s collection of essays and lectures, composed over the past thirty years, consistently confronts readers with startling and provocative questions, exposing the ideological assumptions that constrain contemporary interpretations of Paul’s epistles. Based upon deep knowledge of the socioeconomic realities of the Greco-Roman world, Elliott deploys Postcolonial and Marxist strategies of reading to disclose previously occluded dimensions of Paul’s thought.”

Jesus, Paul, Luke-Acts, and 1 Clement

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“David Balch’s new collection of essays is an impressive achievement, documenting the career of one of the most generative scholars of early Christianity in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Eleven chapters, originally published between 1991 and 2022, illuminate passages in Luke-Acts, the Pauline Epistles, and the so-called First Epistle of Clement. Balch draws upon his encyclopedic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world, assembling evidence from diverse sources—political histories, philosophical treatises, wall paintings, honorific inscriptions, public monuments, etc.”

Paul against the Nations

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Neil Elliott’s collection of essays summons readers to a ‘day of judgment’ upon a history of interpretation which grounds the doctrine of supersessionism in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. Elliott offers a sustained political reading of Paul’s letter, informed by broad knowledge of Roman imperial propaganda and keen insight into Paul’s argumentative strategy. Elliott challenges us to take responsibility for injurious readings and lights the spark of hope for a liberating hermeneutic.”

Paul and the Conflict of Cultures

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Edwin Judge’s Paul and the Conflict of Cultures faces without flinching the forces that define our present moment in the history of the West: technological change, mass migration, class conflict, and loss of identity. Judge diagnoses the cause of the crisis we are now experiencing: a profound conflict between two different views of the world—the one emanating from Athens, the other from Jerusalem. . . . It is doubtful whether any other historian alive today could have produced such a work, with such penetrating, mature, and breathtaking insights into the complexities of our cultural traditions, animated by a sincere concern for the danger that hangs over the present.”

Reading 1 Corinthians

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“J. Brian Tucker’s Reading 1 Corinthians offers students, pastors, and general readers a sustained commentary on Paul’s most practical epistle through the generative lens of social identity theory. American readers will value Tucker’s lucid summary of the theories of Henri Tajfel and John Turner on the construction of social identity. The application of social identity theory to 1 Corinthians is especially appropriate, since the multiplicity of issues dealt with in 1 Corinthians reflects the diverse social and ethnic makeup of the Christ groups at Corinth, and reveals the presence and influence of a group of strong-minded persons whose views on a variety of subjects diverged sharply from Paul’s own. At every point, Tucker succeeds in communicating the relevance of Paul’s project in constructing and transforming social identity in Christ for the complex ethical decisions facing readers today.”