Paul The Apostle

Plot

In his book, Paul the The Triumph of God in Life and Thought, Christiaan Beker presents his interpretation of the center of Pauline theology. Beker's intent with this book is to answer the question; "What is the coherent theme of Paul's thought and what is the texture of his hermeneutic?" Beker attempts to understand the "whole" Paul by focusing on two central questions. The first concerns the coherent theme of Paul's gospel, which Beker believes to be the triumph of God. The second interested in the "texture of Paul's hermeneutics", which Beker maintains is a translation of the apocalyptic theme of the gospel into the "contingent particularities of the human situation." Paul's "hermeneutic consists in the constant interaction between the coherent center of the gospel and its contingent interpretation" (page 11). By coherent center Beker means the basic core of Paul's theology; by contingency he is referring to the specific context of the letters and the application of the coherent center to that context. (Amazon customer)