Tuesday, 15 December 2015

Unity and Diversity in Christ: Interpreting Paul in Context: Collected Essays,
Willian S. Campbell, Cascade Books, 2013, page 69

After reviewing comments by C H Dodd, E P Sanders, Francis Watson and others concerning the consistency or inconsistency between Romans chapters 9 and 11, William Campbell touches upon a tendency to judge Paul:

We note in passing the need to be careful lest we seek anachronistically to judge Paul by our stabdards of logic and consistency and the need also to maintain an awareness of the fact that Paul was operating in a very different culture to ours where somewhat different standards of consistency - perhaps even of rationality - and methods of argument applied applied. Paul was after all seeking to convince a first-century audience and we must not judge him as if he had targeted us.