Reinventing Paul
by John G. Gager
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Book Summary Information
Author: John G. GagerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-05-16
ISBN: 0195150856
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of Reinventing Paul
Book Review: "An Imaginary Paul" would be a better title
Summary: 2 Stars
John Gager's book, Reinventing Paul, has a provocative thesis: the Gospel preached by the Apostle Paul declared faith in Jesus Christ as the way to salvation for the Gentiles, but continued obedience to the Law as the way to salvation for the Jews. Gager rejects what he calls the "traditional" view of Paul's Gospel, which he titles the "rejection/replacement" theory, in which God has rejected Israel and replaced it with Christianity. Gager builds his case primarily from Paul's letters to the Galatians and the Romans, two works that have been the basis for the so-called "rejection/replacement" theory. He posits that these two letters, and all of Paul's missionary work, was directed solely to Gentiles, and as such all the arguments about the importance of faith in Christ and the impotence of the Law for salvation are only applicable to Gentiles. Jews, on the other hand, are still bound to the Law for salvation, which God has not abandoned.
Whereas there are a number of aspects of Gager's argument to admire - such as his emphasis on Paul's self-understanding that he never left Judaism as well as his condemnation of anti-Semitism that has resulted within Christianity due partially to a distorted view of Paul's theology - his arguments in the end are woefully flawed.
First, in order to advance his theory, Gager must marginalize some inconvenient facts. In the book of Acts, Paul is clearly shown to start his missionary work in various cities by first preaching in the synagogues (Acts 9:20, 13:5, 13:14, 14:1, 17:2, 17:10, 18:4, 18:19, 19:8). Gager tries to advance the theory that Paul only preached to Gentiles attending the synagogue, yet Acts explicitly contradicts this claim (Acts 18:4). Apparently realizing that Acts paints a clear picture of Paul preaching to the Jews, Gager tries to marginalize it by questioning the author's motives and dating it very late ("ca 120 C.E."), thus making its author uninformed about the "real" Paul. However, Paul himself claims that he not only tried to win Gentiles to his Gospel, but also that he "became as a Jew, in order to win Jews" (1 Cor. 9:20). Since much of Gager's argument is based on the theory that Paul only preached to the Gentiles, and that his message of salvation in Christ was never directed to the Jews, this statement of Paul's, along with the evidence found in Acts, goes a long way towards deflating Gager's main argument.
Furthermore, Gager goes to great lengths to emphasize that Paul's audience in both Galatians and Romans was only Gentiles, leading to the contention that all the arguments contained therein are completely irrelevant to the Jews. Certainly, this does not logically follow, but also Paul himself contradicts this thesis. For example, in the first two chapters of Romans, Paul three times specifically states that his arguments apply for "the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16, 2:9, 2:10). In other words, although his letter is directed primarily to Gentiles, it applies to both Jews and Gentiles.
Gager wishes to have a strict line of demarcation between Jews and Gentiles in Paul's thought, but he himself confuses the issue often by seemingly forgetting that Paul himself was a Jew who found faith in Jesus Christ as the way to salvation! How can Gager consider Paul, who proclaims his Jewishness strongly in his letters (cf. Rom 11:1, Phil 3:5), now a Gentile? This simply does not add up if Gager's strict delineation between Jew and Gentile in Paul's thought is true, but it is perfectly consistent if Paul saw one way to salvation - faith in Christ - for both Jews and Gentiles.
There are many other weaknesses in Gager's arguments, but ultimately it is clear that his overall thesis - that Paul's Gospel proclaimed the Jews are saved by the Law, not by faith in Christ - is not consistent with the evidence. His legitimate antipathy towards anti-Semitism leads him to eisegesis: he reads into the text his theory so that he might combat anti-Semitism better. A noble goal, but one that should be based on the actual facts, not a "reinvention" of them.
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