Professor John Barclay john.barclay@durham.ac.uk
Emeritus
Paul's theology of grace has been “perfected” (drawn to an end-of-the-line extreme) in many different ways during its history of reception, as super-abundant gift, prior gift, gift to the unworthy, gift without return, etc., often with the consequence that Judaism is figured as a grace-less religion. If we distinguish and disaggregate the many possible meanings of “grace,” we find in Second Temple Judaism not a single or simple concept, but a variety of distinct voices, and even debate, concerning the construal of divine beneficence. Paul does not stand apart from Judaism, but in the midst of this debate. The hallmark of his theology is the interpretation of the Christ-event as an incongruous divine gift (given without regard for worth) – a notion developed in and for his mission to the Gentiles. Judging from experience that the Torah is not how God evaluates worth, Paul locates the believers' symbolic capital only in Christ, with socially radical consequences from which we could still take inspiration today.
Barclay, J. (2014). Pure Grace? Paul's Distinctive Jewish Theology of Gift. Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology, 68(1), 4-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/0039338x.2014.906064
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Online Publication Date | Mar 31, 2014 |
Publication Date | Mar 31, 2014 |
Deposit Date | Jun 9, 2014 |
Publicly Available Date | Jun 16, 2014 |
Journal | Studia Theologica |
Print ISSN | 0039-338X |
Electronic ISSN | 1502-7791 |
Publisher | Taylor and Francis Group |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 68 |
Issue | 1 |
Pages | 4-20 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1080/0039338x.2014.906064 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1459201 |
Accepted Journal Article
(245 Kb)
PDF
Copyright Statement
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Studia Theologica on 31/03/2014, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/0039338X.2014.906064.
Rich Poverty: 2 Corinthians 8.1–15 and the Social Meaning of Poverty and Wealth
(2023)
Journal Article
Does the Gospel Require Self-Sacrifice? Paul and the Reconfiguration of the Self
(2022)
Journal Article
The New Testament in Comparison
(2020)
Book
Household Networks and Early Christian Economics: A Fresh Study of 1 Timothy 5.3–16
(2020)
Journal Article
Paul and Grace in Theological Perspective: A Grateful Response
(2020)
Journal Article
About Durham Research Online (DRO)
Administrator e-mail: dro.admin@durham.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2025
Advanced Search