Justification by Faith in the Letters of Saint Paul: Keys to Interpretation. By Jean-Noël Aletti. Translated by PeggyManningMeyer
Aletti’s volume on justification is the mature product of a lifetime of reflection on the Pauline corpus. After beginning with a brief overview of the state of the question (introduction), Aletti offers a concise examination of Paul’s judicial justification vocabulary (ch. 1), before turning to 1 an...
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| Format: | Electronic Review |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2020
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| In: |
The journal of theological studies
Year: 2020, Volume: 71, Issue: 2, Pages: 865-867 |
| Further subjects: | B
Book review
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Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Aletti’s volume on justification is the mature product of a lifetime of reflection on the Pauline corpus. After beginning with a brief overview of the state of the question (introduction), Aletti offers a concise examination of Paul’s judicial justification vocabulary (ch. 1), before turning to 1 and 2 Corinthians (ch. 2).In chapter 3 (Galatians 1-2), Aletti begins his engagement with Galatians by arguing that the ecclesial debate regarding the circumcision of Gentile believers provides the context for Paul’s use of justification vocabulary (p. 45). To illuminate Paul’s particular use of justification language in Galatians 1-2, Aletti offers a rhetorical analysis of Paul’s argument. He argues that the propositio is that Paul’s gospel is not of human origin (1:11-12), with 1:12-2:21 functioning as proofs, while 2:21-25 serves as a mini-discourse on justification (p. 47). Aletti holds that Paul is addressing Jewish believers in Gal. 2:15-21 to assert that justification is only possible through Christ and not through the Torah. In chapter 4 (Galatians 3-4), he maintains that Galatians 3 is where Paul argues that Gentile believers are not to be circumcised in order to be full participants in Christ. To prove this thesis, Aletti notes that Paul employs two kinds of proofs, namely, from experience (reception of the Spirit in Gal. 3:1-5) and from Scripture (Gen. 15:6, Deut. 27:26, Hab. 2:4, Lev. 18:5, and Deut. 21:23 in Gal. 3:6-14). Aletti turns to Gal. 3:15-4:7 in chapter 5, suggesting that Paul moves from a synchronic to a diachronic analysis of Israel’s Scripture in order to prove that the giving of the Torah is unable to alter the promises made to Abraham. He further suggests that Paul’s argument turns on the fact that since Gentile believers have been justified by faith and baptismally united to the true seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ, they are sons of Abraham by faith without being under the Torah. This analysis leaves Aletti with the following question: is justification in Galatians merely forensic or does it entail an interior transformation? He attempts to answer this question in chapter 6 by examining Gal. 5:16-25 and argues that the flesh/Spirit antithesis indirectly shows that forensic justification necessarily requires an interior transformation. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4607 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of theological studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jts/flaa128 |