The relationship between the church and Israel in Pauline interpretation has long been an area of considerable debate. The traditional view has understood Paul to identify the church with Israel, such that the church is the sole inheritor of Israel's sacred history, privileges, and divine promises. Yet recent developments in Pauline scholarship have called this view into question. The so-called New Perspective and its emphasis upon the decidedly Jewish context of Paul's theologizing,...
Paul's letter to the Philippians has often been read as one of the apostle's clearest denials of his (previous) Jewish identity in order to preempt the «Judaizing» tactics of false teachers who might infiltrate the congregation. But is this really the problem that Paul is confronting? And did Paul really abandon his identity as a Jew in order to «know Christ»? Furthermore, what should Paul's gospel converts understand about their own identity «in Christ»? Zoccali provides fresh...
