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9 Toward the Center of Pauline Hermeneutics 1 G 1 See brief surveys in E. Earle Ellis, Paul’s Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans , 1957), 2–5; Dietrich-Alex Koch, Die Schrift als Zeuge des Evangeliums: Untersuchungen zur Verwendung und zum Verständnis der Schrift bei Paulus, BHT 69 (Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck ], 1986), 2–10; Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), 5–10; Christopher D. Stanley, Paul and the Language of Scripture: Citation Technique in the Pauline Epistles and Contemporary Literature, SNTSMS 74 (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1992), 8–28; Florian Wilk, Die Bedeutung des Jesajabuches für Paulus, FRLANT 179 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998), 2–7 (focused only on Isaiah in Paul); J. Ross Wagner, Heralds of the Good News: Paul and Isaiah in Concert in the Letter to the Romans, NovTSup 101 (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 5–13. Especially noteworthy is the thorough and judicious survey of the literature from 1989 through 1997 in Kenneth D. Litwak, “Echoes of Scripture? A Critical Survey of Recent Works on Paul’s Use of the Old Testament,” CurBS 6 (1998): 260–88. Previous Study of Pauline Hermeneutics A Typology of Approaches Not only is the story of previous research into Pauline hermeneutics a story worth hearing in and of itself, the story also conveniently delineates a typology of possible ways to approach the subject of Pauline hermeneutics. By tracing the main contours of the plot, with special attention to developments in the last century, a measure of clarity can be obtained regarding the skirmishes that have been fought in the past, the consensuses that have emerged, and the unresolved battles that are still being waged. Such an attempt is further justified because no adequate recent surveys of the secondary literature on Paul’s scriptural interpretation exist—at least none that engage the secondary literature in more than a cursory manner and focus on hermeneutics rather than purely text-critical issues.1 In short, a central purpose of this book is to offer suggestions about the nature of 10 The Hermeneutics of the Apostolic Proclamation 2 The boundaries of the Pauline corpus utilized for this study will be the seven undisputed letters—Romans, 1–2 Corinthians, Galatians, 1 Thessalonians, Philippians, and Philemon —even though many scholars, including myself, judge more to be authentic. Yet, since this study is primarily concerned with Paul’s scriptural interpretation—moreover with certain direct citations—the problem of the bounds of the authentic Pauline corpus is less acute. No direct citations from the scriptures are to be found in Colossians, 1–2 Thessalonians, Philemon, or Titus. With regard to the disputed epistles, this leaves remaining Ephesians and 1–2 Timothy, and these letters collectively contain only some six quotations from the scriptures and a handful of allusions. Thus, the exclusion of the disputed Pauline material will have little impact on the final results of this study. Pauline hermeneutics as part of an ongoing conversation with other scholars , so it is critical to indicate in some detail precisely how I have read the manifold contributions of my conversation partners. Of course, a comprehensive survey of Paul’s use of the scriptures would consume an entire monograph on its own, and thus cannot be attempted within the confines of this chapter. My goal is more modest , yet twofold. First and foremost, I have chosen to emphasize studies that have made major theoretical advances in our understanding of Paul’s interpretative logic, as opposed to studies that work within a preexisting scholarly framework vis-à-vis Pauline hermeneutics. Of course, some of these studies are not narrowly focused on Paul’s use of the scriptures, but on the phenomenon of intra-biblical citation more generally. Second, I have attempted to include those works that are important because they illustrate with peculiar verve a certain aspect, problem, or question with which anyone working on the topic of Pauline hermeneutics must come to terms, thus creating a typology of approaches to Pauline hermeneutics . After retelling the story, I will show how my own project arises from certain perceived weaknesses in this ongoing conversation about Paul’s use of the scriptures by setting forth a novel diachronic intertextual method grounded in reception history—a method that results in a new thesis regarding the center of Pauline hermeneutics. The burden of this book will be to show that the thesis provides a more cogent understanding of Pauline hermeneutics than competing...

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