IVP interviews Anthony Thiselton on new Paul book

I recently received IVP’s “academic alert” (Spring 2010) which has lots of interesting little tidbits and interviews.  One is with Anthony Thiselton regarding his new book The Living Paul: An Introduction to the Apostle’s Life and Thought. This was a very interesting dialogue.  Check it out HERE.

Here are some things that you learn.

– Thiselton had intended to write a larger tome, but was convinced that a simple lay-level intro was needed.

– He avoids peddling strange theories, but offers a balanced perspective: ‘I don’t greatly warm to packaged positions, but to a search for the truth’.

– He argues in the book that too many people generalize what Paul was saying regarding a ‘specific cultural situation’ (as in the matter of women and head coverings).

– the interviewer brings up theosis – Thiselton likes the emphasis on ‘transformation and participation’, but he rejects any connotation of ‘divinization’.

– There is an interesting brief engagement on re-capturing the trinitarian framework of atonement in Paul.

– Thiselton laments that today NT scholars tend to not be interested in theology or doctrine.  He labels them, using J.I. Packer’s term, ‘technicians’.  This is a concern over ‘overspecialization’.  Thiselton, of course, has modeled well this diversity, especially vis-a-vis NT, hermeneutics, and philosophy.

There is much more and I am certainly eager to see this book!