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Hannah M. Mecaskey
MAs Philosophy/Theology Thesis Proposal
4 November 2010

1. Thesis Title: A Christian Hermeneutic of Judaism through Pauline Atonement Theory

Subtitle: Re-exegeting Romans 3.21-31, a text historically interpreted through a Supercessionist,
Anti-Jewish lens to find new room for Jewish-Christian Relations in the Apostle to the Gentiles.

2. Question to be investigated:
How does a post-new-Pauline interpretation of Paul’s use of cultic sacrificial/atonement metaphor
common to his Jewish roots to describe the sacrifice of Christ inform contemporary Christian
understandings of Judaism and create new possibilities for understanding one another as brotherly
religions? (under revision)

3. Thesis: Analyzing Paul’s use of Israelite cultic metaphor through his usage of the Greek term
“hilastērion,” I will attempt to analyze Paul’s atonement theory in the context of Romans 3.21-
31, drawing out as much of Paul’s intent and exegetical method as can be re-understood as pro-
Jewish/pro-Gentile, hoping to shed light on modern ecclesiological understandings.

4. Description of Methodology: Focusing primarily on the question of Pauline Ecclesiology, I will

employ Biblical hermeneutical tools such as the historical-critical method, feminist theories, and
rhetorical analyses to present my non Anti-Jewish interpretation of Paul’s theology. Philosophical
ethics will be contributed by numerous works of Emmanuel Levinas, which informs the personal
context from which I write—my method contains a Reader-Analysis perspective reflecting my
own context (Catholic, convert with other Christian experience, Exegetical, etc).

5. Significance of the work: While I am very much interested in contributing to the field of Pauline
scholarship by presenting an interpretation of how Romans 3.21-31 can benefit not only a
feminist agenda, but also that of the Jewish-Christian dialog, my main goal is to provide a MA
Thesis which will contribute to the reduction of Anti-Semitic/Anti-Jewish self-identification
within Catholicism in particular, but also the Christian world as whole. By deconstructing former
conceptions negative conceptions of Paul, I hope to add to some work in re-building a theological
understanding of Judaism and Christianity as brothers/sisters in faith.

6. Discussion of Process: Having considered the relationship between Christianity and Judaism as
historically interpreted from the writings of the Apostle Paul, I have been deeply troubled by the
deeply Anti-Jewish/Anti-Semitic nature by which the Catholic Church (and Christianity at large)
have self-identified as the Church of Jesus Christ. As a student of the New Perspective
scholarship on Paul, previous research leads me to believe that it is not only unnecessary to
interpret Paul’s highly polemical writings as Anti-Jewish, but that to separate Paul from Judaism
is to eliminate the context in which his writings have meaning. From this background, I propose
to investigate the question of how Pauline atonement theory from Romans 3.21-31 can be re-
understood to further Jewish-Christian relations. Applying Emmanuel Levinas’ ethic of “face-to-
face” beholding, I will re-investigate the text of Romans 3.21-31 applying a contextual reading of
Pauline theology to suggest that Paul was not seeking to develop an Anti-Jewish ecclesiology for
the Gentiles of the Church.
While still constructing an actual thesis statement, my MA Philsoophy/Theology Thesis
will suggest that a non-Anti-Jewish interpretation of Pauline Theology in Romans 3.21-31
challenges the historic self-description of Christendom, making it possible to see Paul’s theology
remaining within the parameters of pluralistic Israelite self-understandings, while also
introducing a new hermeneutical development to the conversation of Gentile participation in the
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Hebrew Covenant with God. Examining the question of the consequence of Jesus for Paul’s
Jewish understanding of atonement, I will interweave Levinas’ philosophical ethic to offer a new
perspective of the consequences of Pauline atonement for Jewish-Christian relations.
About my sources, I will employ exegesis to give background on the term “hilastērion”,
so as to see how Paul’s use of the term compares to the Septuagint context, as well as the
exegetical use of his contemporaries. This historical work will help determine the legitimacy of
re-interpreting Pauline atonement theory in Romans, applying my findings towards a
contemporary theological ethic. Using the philosophical-religious work of Emmanuel Levinas, a
Jewish thinker, to aid in the construction of this theological ethic, I will consult as many modern
Jewish sources on Paul as possible to make my final product as acceptable to at least some
members of the contemporary Jewish community, though this work is primarily for the benefit of
my own Christian community. My primary lens for this theological work, however, is my own
context, including my current religious identity and social setting.

7. Bibliography: (Partial)

Aegeson, James W. Paul, the Pastoral Epistles, and the Early Church. Library of Pauline Studies.
Stanley E. Porter, General Editor. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008.

Barclay, John and John Sweet., ed. Early Christian Though in its Jewish Context. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1996.

Beker, J. Christiaan. Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought. Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1980.

Borg, Marcus and John Dominic Crossan. The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the
Church’s Conservative Icon. New York: Harper One an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers, 2009.

Brondos, David. Paul on the Cross: Reconstructing the Apostle’s Story of Redemption. Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 2006.

Campbell, Douglas A. The Rhetoric of Righteousness in Romans 3.21-26. Journal for the Study of the
New Testament Supplement Series #65. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992.

Cohn-Sherbok, Dan. Rabbinic Perspectives on the New Testament. Studies in the Bible and Early
Christianity, Vol. 28. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1990.

Dunn, James D.G.,ed. Jews and Christians: the parting of the ways A.D. 70 to 135. Michigan: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999.

---. The New Perspective on Paul, revised edition. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 2005.

---.The Theology of Paul the Apostle. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998.

Eastman, Susan. Recovering Paul’s Mother Tongue: Language and Theology in Galatians. Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.

Elliot, Neil. The Arrogance of Nations: Reading Romans in the Shadow of the Empire. Paul in Critical
Context Series. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010.
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---.Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle, The Bible & Liberation: An Orbis
Series in Biblical Studies. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1994.

Eisenbaum, Pamela. Paul was Not a Christian: The Original Message of a Misunderstood Paul. New
York: Harper One an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers, 2009.

Finlan, Stephen. The Background and Content of Paul’s Cultic Atonement Metaphors, Academia Biblica,
Number 19. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004.

Fredriksen, Paula. “The Birth of Christianity and the Origins of Christian.” In Jesus, Judaism, and
Christian Anti-Judaism. Fredriksen, Paula and Adele Reinhartz, ed. Louisville: Westminster John
Knox Press, 2002.

Gager, John G. Reinventing Paul. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Given,Mark D. Paul’s True Rhetoric: Ambiguity, Cunning, and Deception in Greece and Rome. Emory
Studies in Early Christianity series. Harrisburg, Trinity Press International, 2001.

Gordon, Charlotte. The Woman Who Named God: Abraham’s Dilemma and the Birth of Three Faiths.
New York: Little Brown and Company, 2009.

Gossai, Hemchand. Power and Marginality in the Abraham Narrative. Lanham, MA: University Press of
America Inc., 1995.

Hawthorne, Gerald and others, ed. Dictionary of Paul and His Letters: A Compendium of Contemporary
Biblical Scholarship. Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993.

Levinas, Emmanuel., Difficult Freedom: Essays on Judaism. Sean Hand, trans. Baltimore: The John
Hopkins University Press, 1990.

---. In the Time of Nations. Michael B. Smith, trans. New York: Continuum, 1994.

---. Of God Who Comes to Mind. Bettina Bergo, trans. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1986.

---. Totality and Infinity: An Essay in Exteriority. Alphonso Lingus, trans. Hingham, MA: M. Nijhoff
Publishers, 1979.

Luedemann, Gerd. Opposition to Paul in Jewish Christianity. M. Eugene Boring, trans. Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 1989.

Maccoby, Hyam. Judaism in the First Century. Issues in Religious Studies. Peter Baelz and Jean Holm,
Series Editors. London, UK: Sheldon Press, 1989.

---. The Myth-Maker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco A
Division of Harper Collins Publishers, 1987.

Meech, John. Paul in Israel’s Story: Self and Community at the Cross. American Academy of Religion
series. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
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Neusner, Jacob. Rabbinic Theology and Israelite Prophecy. Studies in Judaism series. Lanham, MD:
University Press of America, 2008.

Sanders, E.P. Paul. Past Masters. Keith Thomas, General Editor. New York: Oxford University Press,
1991.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate. New York: Schocken
Books, renewed 1995.

Schűssler-Fiorenza, Elizabeth. Ed. Searching the Scriptures: Vol. 1, A Feminist Introduction. New York:
Crossroad Publishing Company, 1993.

---. Searching the Scriptures: Vol. 2, A Feminist Commentary. New York: Crossroad Publishing
Company, 1994.

Stanley, Christopher. Paul and the language of Scripture: Citation technique in the Pauline Epistles and
contemporary literature. Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series, #74. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Stendhal, Krister. Paul Among the Jews and Gentiles. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976.

Watson, Francis. Paul, Judaism, and the Gentiles: Beyond the New Perspective. Revised Ed. Grand
Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.

Wenham, David. Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity? Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdman’s Publishing Company, 1995.

Wright, N.T. Paul: In Fresh Perspective. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995.

---.What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity? Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997.