The form of this account
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 of the account were checked against the book's own pages.
The form is a summary rather than a transcript. Novenson's argument is reported from the book. The positions attributed to Luther, Schweitzer, Sanders, Fredriksen, Wright and Hart are reconstructed from their published work, since none of them has responded to a book published in 2024; three of the six are dead. Where a chapter says that an objection is reconstructed, it names the work the reconstruction rests on. Paul is reported from his letters only, and where the letters are silent the account says so rather than supplying an answer.
Anything inside quotation marks is quoted from the work named beside it. Anything else is paraphrase.
An earlier version
This piece was first written in 2026 as a dramatised symposium, with each figure, Paul included, speaking in the first person in an imitation of his own voice. It was rewritten in the present form on 28 August 2026.
The reason for the change is worth recording, because it is a reason and not a preference. In the dramatised version an invented sentence in Luther's mouth was typographically identical to a quotation from the 1535 Galatians lectures, and a reader had no way to tell them apart without consulting this page. The present form can mark each claim with its own warrant in the sentence that makes it. What was lost is that a position spoken is felt more sharply than a position reported. That loss is real and was accepted.
The book under review
Novenson, Matthew V. Paul and Judaism at the End of History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024. Chapters: 1. The Christian Problem of Paul and Judaism; 2. Paul's Former Occupation in Ἰουδαϊσμός; 3. Who Says Justification from Works of the Law?; 4. Paul versus the Gentiles; 5. The Legalism of Paul; 6. The Ethnic Chauvinism of Paul; 7. Carnal Israel; 8. Liberty and Justice for All; 9. The End of the Law and the Last Man.
Also by Novenson
Christ Among the Messiahs (Oxford, 2012); The Grammar of Messianism (Oxford, 2017); Paul, Then and Now (Eerdmans, 2022); "Paul's Former Occupation in Ἰουδαϊσμός", in Galatians and Christian Theology (Baker Academic, 2014).
The interlocutors
Luther, Preface to the Complete Edition of Luther's Latin Writings (1545); The Freedom of a Christian (1520); Lectures on Galatians (1535).
Schweitzer, The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle (1931); The Quest of the Historical Jesus (1910).
Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism (Fortress, 1977); Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People (Fortress, 1983).
Fredriksen, Paul: The Pagans' Apostle (Yale, 2017).
Wright, The Climax of the Covenant (T&T Clark, 1991); Justification (IVP, 2009); Surprised by Hope (HarperOne, 2008).
Hart, The New Testament: A Translation (Yale, 2017); "Everything You Know About the Gospel of Paul Is Likely Wrong", Aeon (2018); That All Shall Be Saved (Yale, 2019).
Others cited in the argument
Alexander, Philip, on what is wrong with legalism (1986). Arneson, on the syntax of Romans 2:28 to 29. Badiou, Alain, on Paul and the universal. Barclay, John, on the incongruity of the Christ-gift. Baur, F. C., on Petrine and Pauline Christianity. Bellamy, Francis, on the 1892 Pledge of Allegiance. Boyarin, Daniel, on Paul and the desire for the One. Cohen, Shaye, on who judaizes. Collman, on severance from the body. Donaldson and Thiessen, on Galatians 5:11. Dunn, James, on works of the law. Gathercole, Simon, on five senses of legalism. Gaventa, Beverly, on circumcision as forbidden rather than optional. Hayes, Christine, on robo-righteousness. Jackson, Bernard, on the date of the Jewish legalism stereotype. Kennedy, H. A. A., of Edinburgh, on Schweitzer. Kugel, James, on the genius of a religion of laws. Mason, Steve, on Ἰουδαϊσμός (2007). Munck, Johannes, Paul and the Salvation of Mankind (Aarhus, 1954). Neusner, Jacob, on Sanders. Origen, De principiis 4.3.6, and the commentary on Romans. Räisänen, Heikki, on Paul and the law. Rothschild, on the Epistle of Barnabas. Schäfer, Peter, on the Torah in the messianic age. Scholem, Gershom, on Eliyahu Kohen Ittamari of Izmir. Stowers, Stanley, on Paul's physics. Thiessen, Matthew, on eighth-day circumcision. Voltaire, on idolaters. Watson, Francis, on the coinage of "works of the law" and on the super-apostles.
Primary texts
4 Ezra. 2 and 4 Maccabees. 1 Maccabees 12, on the Spartans. Wisdom of Solomon. 1 Enoch; 2 Baruch. Qumran: 4QMMT (Miqsat Ma'ase ha-Torah), "some of the works of the law". Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1. Sifra; Deuteronomy Rabbah; Ecclesiastes Rabbah; Song of Songs Rabbah. Ignatius, To the Philadelphians. Epistle of Barnabas. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho.
The same chapter as a dialogue sets these positions in the participants' own voices, which is how this was first written.