Shorter Reviews
and Notices
texts. Luke-Acts is the test case.
The work is divided into three sec-
tions. Following an introductory essay on
reading theory, there are three essays
that deal with aspects of social psychol-
ogy including values of honor and
shame, first-century personality, and con-
flict. The second section examines social
institutions such as the preindustriai city,
the countryside, the health-care system,
temple-household relations, and patron-
client relations. T h e final section deals
with social dynamics and includes essays
on rituals, ceremonies, Luke's symbolic
universe, and the social location of the
implied author.
Each essay in the volume begins by
outlining an abstract social-scientific
model. T h e text of Luke-Acts is then
read with the particular model in view.
In this way the model is tested and the
social world of Luke the writer is expli-
cated. Finally, brief suggestions for the
further application of the model are
provided.
The first four articles draw on com-
parisons with modern American culture
to underscore the fundamental differ-
ence between the social world in which
Luke-Acts was written and the social
world in which it is often read today.
This is most helpful for the modern
American reader as she or he strives "to
understand what the author says and
means to say to his Mediterranean hear-
ers in terms of their culture and within
their social setting" (p. 22). This work
should be a principal resource for any-
one seeking an introduction to the appli-
cation of the social sciences in New Tes-
tament studies and anyone wanting to
understand Luke-Acts better.
Richard S. Ascough
Toronto, Ontano
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The Romans Debate, edited by Karl
P. Donfried. Revised and expanded edi-
tion. Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody,
1991. 372 pp. $19.95. ISBN 0-
943575-42-7.
THIS SECOND and significantly enlarged
version of a book that originally ap-
peared in 1977 has greatly increased its
value both for scholars and for general
readers. Continuing the practice of the
first volume, the articles that are here
collected have all been printed in other
places, either in volumes by their author
or in periodicals. Whereas the first vol-
ume concerned itself principally with
pieces that debated the reason for the
writing of Paul's letter to the Romans,
this second edition adds sections on
"Historical and Sociological Factors,"
"The Structure and Rhetoric of Ro-
mans," and "The Theology of Romans:
Issues in the Current Debate." In that
way it presents readers with a conspectus
of those elements that are currently at
the forefront of the debate not only
about the purpose but also about the
meaning of this most important of New
Testament epistles.
In keeping with the intent of the
first volume, all of whose articles are also
reproduced here, the additional con-
tributors represent international schol-
arly community and present a variety of
viewpoints. Perhaps most helpful are the
articles on the theology of Romans, par-
ticularly the one by James D. G. Dunn
("The New Perspective on Paul: Paul and
the Law"), which shows the revolution in
understanding Paul's relationship to the
Judaism of his time, begun by the semi-
nal work of E. P. Sanders, continues
apace; and the one by J. Christiaan
Beker ("The Faithfulness of God and the
Priority of Israel in Paul's Letter to the
Romans" ), which illustrates Paul's con-
Interpretation 91
tinumg positive valuation of Israel in
God's salvific plan for all humankind
That is by n o means to denigrate
the worth of the other articles All are
stimulating and well worth reading The
volume has been greatly improved and
will now be all the more valuable for
those who read and ponder what its vari-
ous authors have to say
Paul J A c h t e m e i e r
Union Theological Seminary in
Virginia
Theocracy in Paul's Praxis and
Theology, by Dieter Georgi Translated
by David L Green Fortress Press, Min- does, against the political circumstances
neapolis, 1991. 112 pp $8 95 (paper) and theories of Paul's age is rather like
ISBN 1-8006-2468-8 looking at them through polarized glass
THIS SHORT BOOK originated as a series of
theses presented at a conference on the-
ocracy Later, it was expanded into an es-
say ("Gott auf den Kopf stellen") and
published with other papers from the
conference in a volume edited by Jacob
Taubes ( Theokratie, Rehgionstheone und
politische Theologie [Munich Ferdinand
Schoningh u n d Wilhelm Fink, 1987])
The main thesis of Georgi's book is that
in his letters Paul challenges not only
the religious presuppositions of his day
but the political and social ones as well
Indeed, religious issues and language of-
ten provided a protective cloak for the
radical political agenda that was the
heart of Paul's message
Georgi begins this study with a brief
survey of the democratizing tendencies
of Israel's wisdom tradition, a tradition
that—in the form of apocalypticism, Jew-
ish missionary theology, and gnosti-
cism—influenced Paul's thought In the
second chapter he discusses Paul's Da-
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mascus experience in terms of the "con-
version of God," that is, from a position
of transcendent superiority to a relation-
ship of solidarity with sinful humanity
Georgi then tests his hypothesis of a
"transformed God"—and thus a trans-
formed social order—with a brief survey
of First Thessalonians In Chapter Three
he surveys four more letters (Gal , I and
II Cor , and Phil ), emphasizing the de-
mocratizing implications of Paul's mes-
sage and its implicit challenge to the es-
tablished social and political order The
book concludes with a discussion of Ro-
mans, the letter in which, according to
Georgi, Paul's message becomes most de-
fiantly and aggressively political
Reading these letters, as Georgi
Many familiar aspects of Paul's message
are screened out and those that come
through assume unfamiliar contours and
strange hues Yet the political overtones
of Paul's thought are rarely investigated,
and it is helpful to have these high-
lighted and to be reminded that even
words such as pistis, eirënê, and euangehon
would have had political as well as reli-
gious nuances in the Greco-Roman
world
This book draws hea\ilv on Georgi's
earlier work, especially in the opening
chapters, and overall it retains the char-
acter of a sketch rather than a full-blown
treatment of the subject Yet it is a pro-
vocative sketch and will hold the reader's
attention, especially in the final chapter
with its rather startling hypotheses con-
cerning Paul's letter to the church m
Rome
This is n o dry, arcane analysis of
Paul's theology It is an interpretation
with dramatic implication for Paul's
world and for ours Georgi has given us
a thought-provokmg work that deserves