Monday, February 13, 2006

Busybody Book Reviews

Don't miss a couple of very interesting book reviews on Loren Rosson's blog The Busybody:

The Rolling Gospel of Thomas
Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas, by April DeConick. T&T Clark International, Dec 2005. ISBN 0-567-04342-8.

Social Science Commentary on the Letters of Paul
Social Science Commentary on the Letters of Paul, by Bruce Malina and John Pilch. ISBN 0-8006-3640-6.

As often, Loren is up to speed on the latest stuff and has read and digested these two books and has some very helpful reflections. I am inclined to agree with Loren on DeConick, which I have read (I edit the series in which it appears) and plan to comment on myself in due course. I have read some of Malina and Pilch too, and there has been a little discussion of it on Corpus-Paulinum, particularly in relation to the claim that Paul was not apostle "to the Gentiles" but to Greek Israelites. It would take a lot to convince me of that, and so far Malina and Pilch have not done so.

Update (17 February): Stephen Carlson comments on DeConick in Hypotyposeis.

2 comments:

Michael F. Bird said...

Mark, on Paul and Greek Israelites, I think Rick Strelan has argued for something similar on ocassion. The only passage I think comes close is Rom 1.5 (from memory)

Loren Rosson III said...

...the claim that Paul was not apostle "to the Gentiles" but to Greek Israelites. It would take a lot to convince me of that, and so far Malina and Pilch have not done so.

Nor have they persuaded me (as I mentioned in the review). On this point I'm afraid the authors went off the deep end. I look forward to your comments about DeConick's book.