For seminary and theological purposes, How to Read Paul explains to seminarians and theologians how Paul’s genuine letters might be interpreted through a contextual, historical-critical, theological lens, i.e., “by looking at the historical and literary contexts” of Paul’s writings.
Dr. Kim’s interpretation of the genuine letters “concerns all aspects of the text[,]” including what might not be written . . . .” Time and place helped fashion the Biblical traditions and writings.
Paul is introduced as a First Century C.E., Hellenistic Jew from the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Pharisee–likely, a learned man—who once persecuted the Christian church and tried to destroy it. About four years after Jesus’s death, Paul received a revelation from God—that is, God had revealed to him the risen Christ—so that he would proclaim the crucified Christ principally to the gentiles, a more universal definition of “Children of God,” and Christ crucified as the Messiah.
The “genuine letters”—First Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, First and Second Corinthians, Philemon, and Romans—are distinguished from others: the debated “Deutero-Pauline letters”—Colossians, Ephesians, and Second Thessalonians—and the generally regarded inauthentic “Pastoral letters”—First and Second Timothy and Titus.
Paul’s theology is contrasted with First Century C.E. Greco-Roman and Jewish theology and custom. At another level, Paul’s theology is cast against the problems confronting the various communities he visited.
For instance, Dr. Kim provides the First Century C.E., Roman Empire’s definition of the “good news” that culminated with Augustus—the Roman “savior”—who was thought to have forever stopped war and brought order to all things. That explanation and others of the Roman Empire and Paul’s Jewish circumstance help readers better appreciate Paul’s lexicon, with which he more easily communicated with First Century C.E. Christian converts and Jews his definition of Christ crucified. Dr. Kim then discusses Paul’s gospels of God and Christ that redefined “good news.”
Dr. Kim continued explaining the Greco-Roman circumstance in contrast with Paul’s writings, while interspersing explanations of First Century C.E. Jewish culture and theology. Thus, he clarifies Paul’s principles of righteousness and justification, faithfulness, and freedom and the meaning of “new life or new creation,” “body of Christ,” and “Holy Spirit.”
At a more micro level, the castings against community circumstances help readers better appreciate Paul’s addressing certain issues. First Corinthians, for example, was Paul’s response to problems in Corinth, ranging from sexual immorality to denial of the resurrection.
L.J. Thomas II
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