matthew novenson & friends on paul
PAUL & JUDAISM AT THE END OF HISTORY
Matthew V. Novenson
Cambridge University Press, 2024
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discussed chapter by chapter, the author defending, by
Martin Luther · Albert Schweitzer · E. P. Sanders
Paula Fredriksen · N. T. Wright · David Bentley Hart
WITH THE APOSTLE PAUL, THE SUBJECT, PRESIDING
“…upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”
— 1 Corinthians 10:11
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PROLOGUE
A constructed dialogue, imagined into being with Fable's able assistance. The table convenes to review a real book: Matthew V. Novenson's Paul and Judaism at the End of History (Cambridge, 2024), taken chapter by chapter in order. Each contribution — unless quoted directly from source — is mere pastiche built from the participants' published positions.
A seminar room, outside of time. A blue-jacketed volume lies at each place. Novenson sits alone at the near end.
MODERATOR. Our business today is this book — Professor Novenson's Paul and Judaism at the End of History, nine chapters. Its wager, in the author's words, is that Paul saw the end of history as present, not future — and that this, not a new religion, explains everything strange in him. We go in order.
Professor Novenson, you are the thesis. Chapter one: The Christian Problem of Paul and Judaism
11gathered pieces
011. the christian problem of paul & judaismessay · Jul 18, 2026NOVENSON. Let me open as the book opens — with an ambush.
A seminar room, outside of time. A blue jacketed volume lies at each place. Novenson sits alone at the near end. MODERATOR. Our business today is one book — Professor Novenson's Paul and Judaism at the End of History, ni
022. paul's former occupation in Ἰουδαϊσμόςessay · Jul 18, 2026NOVENSON. This time with the text open.
NOVENSON. This time with the text open. Ioudaismos occurs twice in one sentence of Galatians 1 — and those are the only two instances in the entire New Testament. In my rendering: 'For you heard of my former occupation i
033. who says justification from works of the law?essay · Jul 18, 2026NOVENSON. I begin with Voltaire, who observed that no people on earth ever took for themselves the name of idolater — 'idolatry' exists only in the mouths of its accusers.
NOVENSON. I begin with Voltaire, who observed that no people on earth ever took for themselves the name of idolater — 'idolatry' exists only in the mouths of its accusers. Some of our biggest ideas are like that: an idea
044. paul versus the gentilesessay · Jul 18, 2026NOVENSON. Now the chapter with the mischievous title, and a genuinely revisionist thesis.
NOVENSON. Now the chapter with the mischievous title, and a genuinely revisionist thesis. We know Paul fiercely opposed proselyte circumcision for his gentiles in Christ. But who was promoting it? The secondary literatur
055. the legalism of paulessay · Jul 18, 2026NOVENSON. The chapter opens with a thought experiment.
NOVENSON. The chapter opens with a thought experiment. Suppose we discovered anonymous Greek fragments of an ancient Jewish writer, and among the logia we made out: 'Do you not heed the law?' 'As many as sinned in the la
066. the ethnic chauvinism of paulessay · Jul 18, 2026NOVENSON. The chapter opens with Lenny Bruce's immortal riff — 'I'm Jewish.
NOVENSON. The chapter opens with Lenny Bruce's immortal riff — 'I'm Jewish. Count Basie's Jewish. Ray Charles is Jewish. Eddie Cantor's goyish… White bread is very goyish' — because Paul trades on the same folk binary, t
077. carnal israelessay · Jul 18, 2026NOVENSON. The chapter Tom has been waiting for, so let me be precise about what it claims.
NOVENSON. The chapter Tom has been waiting for, so let me be precise about what it claims. Paul never speaks of a 'true Israel' or 'spiritual Israel.' Never and nowhere. Origen himself gave the game away: 'The apostle sa
088. liberty & justice for allessay · Jul 18, 2026NOVENSON. I open, unrepentantly, with the Pledge of Allegiance.
NOVENSON. I open, unrepentantly, with the Pledge of Allegiance. Francis Bellamy, Christian socialist, wanted 'liberty, equality, fraternity' in 1892 and judged it too French and too utopian for his fellow school superint
099. the end of the law and the last manessay · Jul 18, 2026NOVENSON. The final chapter opens in Ottoman Izmir, with Rabbi Eliyahu Kohen Ittamari, kabbalist, who asked why Torah scrolls must be written without vowels, and answered: because the Torah as God beholds it is a heap of unarranged letters.
NOVENSON. The final chapter opens in Ottoman Izmir, with Rabbi Eliyahu Kohen Ittamari, kabbalist, who asked why Torah scrolls must be written without vowels, and answered: because the Torah as God beholds it is a heap of
10sourcesessay · Jul 18, 2026The book under review is real: Matthew V. Novenson, Paul and Judaism at the End of History (Cambridge University Press, 2024), in nine chapters as titled here.
The book under review is real: Matthew V. Novenson, Paul and Judaism at the End of History (Cambridge University Press, 2024), in nine chapters as titled here. All nine chapters were corrected against the book's own page
11paul within judaismpodcast · Jul 14, 2026matthew novenson is so sensible. i find his work confirming, clarifying, illuminating.
