Thanks you so much for writing it just as you did, Richard.

The book is available online here:
http://www.amazon.com/What-Was-Paul-Thinking-Homosexuality/dp/0984481508/

and here:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/What-Was-Paul-Thinking/Isaacs-Press/e/9780984481507/?

It’s also available from Amazon Canada:
http://www.amazon.ca/What-Was-Paul-Thinking-Homosexuality/dp/0984481508/

and Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0984481508/

It has been a little more than 30 years since I was first exposed to ideas that have come to be identified under the name “New Perspective” as a student in Professor Lloyd Gaston’s classes at Vancouver School of Theology. Since then hundreds of books, journal articles, graduate-level theses, and dissertations by Christian and Jewish scholars have been produced. It makes for an impressive bibliography, much of it listed here at The Paul Page.

I once heard it said that within all disciplines there is a gap between scholars and serious students on the one hand and those who popularize those ideas for the general public on the other–but the gap within the field of theology and religion is arguably the widest of all. Whether that is entirely true makes for an interesting discussion. Yet it should be apparent there’s a considerable chasm between the most well-known, respected theologians today and the so-called “pop theology” espoused by, for example, the Prosperity Gospel preachers on TV and radio.

I live in the U.S. Midwest where it’s common to be asked by evangelical Christians, in particular, “Are you saved?” They’re looking for a yes-or-no answer, salvation being an individual’s personal and private concern made possible by Jesus’ atoning sacrifice (with Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith as the centerpiece of the gospel). However, I was reared in a faith tradition that regards “Are you saved?” as an essay question at the least and maybe even unanswerable in a larger sense. Let me just say that it was a memorable moment when Professor Gaston introduced the idea of “covenant faithfulness” to me (there were other memorable moments, as well).

Any worthwhile text intended for adult Bible study should, I believe, attempt to bridge the gap between the scholarly community and the far-larger faith community. Of course, the easy path is to “dumb down” the theology, making it simplistic and shallow. It’s tougher to attempt to make it simpler and more understandable, while remaining grounded in responsible, thoughtful scholarship. That’s not the same as taking a scholarly work and just rewriting it with shorter words and less complex sentences. To start with it requires adhering to one of the basic rules of writing I learned back in journalism school: Know your audience and write to and for them.

As one example, if I had written What Was Paul Thinking? for scholars I most likely would have done exactly as Mark suggested and placed chapters one and two after chapters three and four. But I felt I needed to capture the attention of my intended general audience (I don’t care much for using either “nonscholars” or “laity” here) and introduce to them some basics of the New Perspective, because I suspect most of them have never heard of it before. Put another way: once they know where I’m going, I can fill in some details on how and why I got there.

As I noted in the book’s introduction, I am deeply indebted to the incredible work of so many scholars and researchers. The Paul Page provides an invaluable service to them and all who come here. Nothing would please me more than for vast numbers of people of faith to discover the New Perspective and broaden the dialogue among all the children of Abraham. If nothing else, it’s a whole lot better than “accepting Jesus so he can make you wealthy beyond your imagination.”