Paul and Matthew Among Jews and Gentiles

Essays in Honour of Terence L. Donaldson

Ronald Charles, Ronald Charles

• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780567694119
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Biographie biblique

Terence L. Donaldson's scholarship in the field of New Testament studies is vital, as he has pressed scholars to pay closer attention to the complex relations between early Christ-followers-who were mostly non-Jews-and the Jewish matrix from which the narrative of the Christian proclamation comes from. This volume allows prominent New Testament scholars to engage Donaldson's contributions, both to sharpen some of his conclusions and to honour him for his work. These essays are located at the intersections of three bodies of literature-Matthew, Paul and Second Temple Jewish Literature-and themes and questions that have been central to Donaldson's work: Christian Judaism and the Parting of the Ways; Gentiles in Judaism and early Christianity; Anti-Judaism in early Christianity. With contributions ranging from remapping Paul within Jewish ideologies, and Paul among friends and enemies, to socio-cultural readings of Matthew, and construction of Christian Identity through stereotypes of the Scribes and Pharisees, this book provides a multi-scholar tribute to Donaldson's accomplishments.

Introduction

This Festschrift celebrates the work of Terence L. Donaldson. As a former student of Professor Donaldson, I consider it an honor and a privilege to have worked as the editor of this volume. I first shared the idea of a Festschrift with Catherine Sider Hamilton, a former student of the honoree, who immediately thought it was an excellent idea. She encouraged me to pursue the project, and if it were not for the overwhelming demands on her schedule as a parish priest and as an extremely busy scholar, she would have been more than willing to be at my side as a coeditor. I thank her for her encouragement and ongoing support. Indeed, I have to thank all the contributors who have responded with eager enthusiasm to participate in this Festschrift. Other scholars, whose works are not included here, were also very willing to contribute but had to send their regrets because of several other pressing commitments or even because of illness. A Tabula of the names of all scholars who wished to honor Professor Donaldson is added at the end of this introduction. Donaldson’s scholarly achievements and the respect he has gained among peers have made my task as an editor a real pleasure. The positive responses from high-caliber scholars and the rigor of their analyses offered throughout the chapters in this volume testify to the high esteem that scholars of various generations and of different genders, social-locations, historical and theological positions have for Professor Donaldson, an extraordinary and very unassuming New Testament (NT) scholar.

I have known Terry—as he is usually known—since 2005. I went to his office at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto, with a newly purchased copy of his Paul and the Gentiles.¹ I wanted to do my graduate studies under his supervision at the Toronto School of Theology. With his usual calm demeanor, he assured me he would be glad to be my thesis supervisor but that although I already had a 3-year M.Div. degree and I had done quite a bit of reading in the field prior to meeting with him, I needed to complete an M.T.S. at Wycliffe to broaden my theological horizon. I registered as a student and went to the mandatory weekend retreat for new students. There, in a beautiful setting outside of the bustling city of Toronto, I discovered a joyous human being and a fun professor. Terry invited me to play Scrabble with him and others. But it was not English Scrabble. It was in Hebrew! Also, to my delight as a violinist, I discovered he was a very decent banjo player. For a night of songs and games, we just played and played together while others were singing. I knew right then that there was something fascinating about this person. Later on, I learned that his undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto was in Mathematics. One can see traces of that training in his work as a biblical scholar. There is always in his work a search for precision and for beauty, for balance and for nuance, for logical development and for capturing vast amounts of information in ways that help one see patterns without ever imposing rigid or formulaic propositions on the materials under study. One may, for example, refer especially to Terry’s Judaism and the Gentiles for this kind of careful approach.² In that magisterial work Donaldson summarizes the ways in which Jews envisaged Gentile relation to the covenantal Jewish God in four distinct ways: sympathizing with Judaism, being ethical monotheists, participating in eschatological salvation, or converting to Judaism.

When I finished my M.T.S. and was accepted to do my Ph.D. with the Religious Studies Department at the University of Toronto, I was very glad to have Terry as the cosupervisor of my doctoral dissertation, alongside Professor John W. Marshall. I could not have asked for a better team to guide and help me in my scholarly journey. Throughout my years of research and development as a young scholar, Terry has always been a firm, gentle, and quiet mentor. His notes on what I needed to do in my work were always clear. The distance between professor and student was appropriately maintained. I was lucky to be an apprentice learning how the craft was done from two great masters. After I successfully defended my dissertation on February 7, 2014, Terry invited me to have lunch with him. I was surprised and glad. I thanked him for being there for me and also for being such a great model of a scholar, mentor, husband, and genuine and caring human being.

It is only after I finished my dissertation and started to work as a professor myself that I realized the pressure one is under as an academic. When I submitted my drafts as a doctoral candidate, I had thought I would receive feedback right away. Terry would usually say to me that my chapter was next on his pile to occupy his close attention, and indeed he would get back to me in a reasonable and timely manner. It never really occurred to me to consider the almost insurmountable task and pressure that a university professor working in a large research institution might face. Terry was busy as a professor, active researcher (he always had one day totally devoted to his research projects), administrator, and the myriad other roles one is assigned in a university context. As a student, I lived in a different world. I realize today that my students occupy a different universe. I thought I was busy until I started my own career. It is remarkable that in the busyness of his life Terry has been able to pursue a number of extremely important scholarly questions for more than thirty years. Donaldson’s scholarship in the field of NT broadly conceived is very important, especially as he has pushed scholars to pay closer attention to the complex relations between early Christ-followers—who were mostly non-Jews—and the Jewish matrix from which the narrative of the Christian proclamation comes. In four clearly articulated monographs, Donaldson presents a research trajectory that is both solid and informative.³ At the writing of this edited volume he also has a forthcoming monograph on Gentile Christian Identity from Cornelius to Constantine.⁴ This edited volume is important for the development of scholarship in the ways in which some prominent NT scholars engage Donaldson’s contributions to sharpen some of his conclusions and to honor him for his work and friendship. These essays are located at the intersections of three bodies of literature— Paul, Matthew, and Second Temple Jewish Literature—as well as with themes and questions that have been central to Donaldson’s work: Christian Judaism and the parting of the ways, Gentiles in Judaism and early Christianity, and anti-Judaism in early Christianity.

Donaldson’s scholarly achievement, as well as his dedication to his students and commitment to scholarly pursuits across the academic divide, has made it a pleasure for me to be in conversation with a variety of scholars. The essays included in this Festschrift testify to the wide array of colleagues eager to engage with Donaldson’s work and to push the scholarly conversations in further and fruitful directions.

Overview of the Volume

Chapter 1 is from Steve Mason. Mason is very interested in probing historical questions. He challenges some of the categories now taken for granted, such as Judaism, to study Paul. The question that guides his analysis is a simple, yet profound one: “How did Paul present himself to the groups of Christ-followers he established, in relation to Judean law, custom, and culture?” To Mason, there was not a lexical category of “Judaism” known to Paul and his contemporaries. His important contribution pushes us to be more attentive to history and to historical figures like Paul in their particular historical and linguistic milieu.

Chapter 2 is by Leif Vaage. His style of writing and of thinking is provocative and inimitable. He moves from modern anthropology, to ancient history, and to biblical studies to push the reader to reassess his/her understanding of Paul’s earthly identity. What comes to us from Vaage’s analysis is the presentation of an ancient figure who appears stranger and, perhaps, much more interesting than simply understanding Paul as being “this” (by nature a Jewish self) or “that” (an identity framed by Christ and understanding himself as a citizen of heaven).

My contribution in Chapter 3 explores the theme of the new creation in Jubilees and Romans. I have shown some similarities between human sin and the decay of creation in Jubilees and Romans, but the two texts could hardly be more dissimilar in some respects, for example, in the place the two accord to Israel and the law, although in this area there are important agreements. I also maintain, alongside Donaldson and other scholars, that for Paul the believer lives in two ages, as the new has dawned and broken into the old.

Ann L. Jervis’ essay (Chapter 4) is placed right after my analysis, because in a brilliant piece of writing, she challenges most of what I advanced. For her Paul was not thinking in terms of two-age dualism. Rather, she understands Paul to conceive the risen Christ as actively present in the lives of his followers, in anticipation of his return. Ann’s chapter and mine may be read as fruitful conversations in order to understand Paul’s language better.

I have placed Matthew Thiessen’s essay at the end of Part 1, the section on Paul, because his reflections on remapping Paul within Jewish ideologies of inclusion echo some of the language present in the previous chapters, namely, how modern categories are sometimes imposed on the ancient world and how theological preoccupations may sometimes be favored in lieu of clear historical investigation. Thiessen’s essay is about mapping Pauline studies historically, but also helping the modern reader understand what exactly Paul was thinking in his time with regard to how God had mapped out Gentiles.

Part 2 is on Matthew. Anders Runesson’s essay, Chapter 6, provides an excellent link between the two parts. In this chapter Runesson argues that while Matthew would agree with Paul on the continuing validity of the law for the Jewish people, the two come to conflicting conclusions about what this would mean for the nations as they try to solve the Gentile problem.

Chapter 7 is by Stephen Black. Black argues that the Sermon on the Mount is in large part constructed upon a negative stereotype of the Scribes and Pharisees. By making the Scribes and Pharisees a necessary negative foil by which Jesus’ higher righteousness can be understood, Matthew makes them constitutive of any “Christian” identity that is built upon this higher righteousness.

Catherine Sider Hamilton focuses on women and the word in Matthew in Chapter 8. Hamilton begins with a close analysis of the place and significance of the women in the Matthean genealogy; she brings to bear on this analysis the treatment of women in Second Temple Jewish texts such as Jubilees and Pseudo-Philo—with thanks to Donaldson, whose interest in and thorough knowledge of Second Temple Judaism sparked her own. She then shows how Matthew’s interest in women as speakers of the word and bearers of God’s purpose is well developed.

Adele Reinhartz writes the penultimate chapter of the volume, which focuses on an issue that has been at the core of Donaldson’s research: the “Parting of the Ways” between Judaism and Christianity. Chapter 9 addresses the different ways in which the criterion of plausibility has been employed in the discourse on this issue, and draws on examples from scholarship on Pau...