Paul's Summons to Messianic Life

Taubes, Badiou, Agamben, Žižek, Reinhard, and Santner have found in the Apostle Paul's emphasis on neighbor-love a positive paradigm for politics. By thoroughly reexamining Pauline eschatology, L. L. Welborn suggests that neighbor-love depends upon an orientation toward the messianic event, which Paul describes as the "now time" and which he imagines as an "awakening." Welborn compares the Pauline dialectic of awakening to attempts by Hellenistic philosophers to rouse their contemporaries from moral lethargy and to the Marxist idea of class consciousness, emphasizing the apostle's radical spirit and moral relevance.

Compares the Pauline dialectic of awakening to attempts by Hellenistic philosophers to rouse their contemporaries from moral lethargy and to the Marxist idea of class consciousness

L. L. Welborn is professor of New Testament and early Christianity at Fordham University.

An interesting read that offers food for thought.

[I] eagerly await a sequel and recommend this book to anyone interested in the contemporary political implications of St. Paul's theology.

A provocative sociopolitical analysis of Paul's letters.... Recommended.

Brigitte Kahl, Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York:
Paul's Summons to Messianic Life should spark a lively and far-reaching debate in both departments of religion and philosophy that might indeed make Paul 'legible' in entirely new ways.

Ward Blanton, University of Kent:
A manifesto for a Paulinism received histories have strategically forgotten, Welborn's book presents a compelling rethinking of the historical Paul in ancient contexts that substantially transforms the way we hear Paul in recent theoretical or philosophical conversations.

Laura Nasrallah, Harvard Divinity School:
A courageous and welcome grappling with contemporary philosophers by a New Testament scholar who has expertise in the history, languages, and methodologies of reading Paul. Paul's Summons to Messianic Life reminds us of the relevance of New Testament scholarship to important contemporary debates on universalism, time, and even political action.