N. T. Wright's New Perspective on Paul Brings New Understanding on Paul

NT Wright's New Perspective on Paul Brings New Understanding on Paul

Calvin CP SAO

This essay serves two purposes. On the one hand, it introduces the New Perspective on Paul and its importance to our Chinese readers. On the other hand, it introduces the thoughts of NT Wright, who is one of the key proponents of the New Perspective , to the readers. The essay is divided into two parts. In the first part, it deals with the importance of the New Perspective in the field of biblical research and illustrates its two core elements: the new perspective on Judaism (by EP Sanders) and the new perspective on Paul (by James DG Dunn). In the second part, it shows that Wright's version of the New Perspective could bring special contributions to our understanding on Paul. The most prominent strength of Wright's New Perspective is that it can show a coherent, comprehensive and holistic picture of how Paul did his theology against his Jewish background. According to Wright's perspective, Paul drew on his own experience with the resurrected Messiah with which he could construct a whole new structure of the Jewish faith by redefining the old one. Paul's teachings remain theologically, exegetically and ethically sound even today.