Three amazing little books on Resurrection, Genesis, Revelation, and Paul (Michael Gorman and Michael Pahl)

Recently I read three little books on Paul, the resurrection, Genesis and Revelation. They are really good. I recommend them to pastors, theological students, and any Christian who wants to think deeper about what they believe in.

Michael Gorman's Reading Paul. Here is the description of the book from the publisher.

In this new introduction to the Apostle Paul and his gospel, written especially for lay readers, for beginning students, and for those unsure about what to make of Paul, Michael J. Gorman takes the apostle seriously, as someone who speaks for God and to us. After an overview not only of Paul's radical transformation from persecutor to proclaimer but also of his letter-writing in the context of Paul's new mission, Reading Paul explores the central themes of the apostle's gospel: Gorman places special emphasis on the theopolitical character of Paul's gospel and on the themes of cross and resurrection, multiculturalism in the church, and peacemaking and nonviolence as the way of Christ according to Paul. Gorman also offers a distinctive interpretation of justification by faith as participation in Christ—an interpretation that challenges standard approaches to these Pauline themes. Reading Paul demonstrates that the apostle of faith, hope, and love speaks not only to our deepest spiritual needs but also to the challenging times in which we live.

Michael Pahl's From Resurrection to New Creation. Here is the description from the author's website.

What is Christianity really all about? Is it - in its essence - about proper religious rituals, or correct religious beliefs, or acceptable moral behavior? What is at the heart of an authentic Christian faith and life?

From Resurrection to New Creation provides an introduction to Christian theology which attempts to answer these questions, proposing that the heart of Christianity is not a set of rituals or beliefs or behaviors, but an event - the resurrection of the crucified Jesus from the dead - that prompts a story - the gospel or "good news" of salvation through Jesus. Jesus' resurrection, the book claims, is the starting place and the compass in the journey of Christian theology, our journey to understand God, God's work in the world, and how we should live out God's purposes for humanity. Thus, beginning with Jesus' resurrection and using this event as a guide, From Resurrection to New Creation surveys the terrain of classic Christian belief and practice. The Trinity, the identity of Jesus, the work of the Holy Spirit, the nature of humanity, Christ's atonement for sin, salvation and the gospel, baptism and the Eucharist, the church and the future state - all these landscapes and more are explored in this concise introductory survey of essential Christian theology.

Michael Pahl's The Beginning and the End. Here is the description from the author's website.

Have you ever wondered if there might be more to Genesis than fodder for anti-evolutionism? Or have you ever thought, "Revelation has to be more than simply a roadmap for the future of the Middle East"? You're not alone.

In The Beginning and the End Michael Pahl surveys the opening chapters of Genesis and the concluding chapters of Revelation, taking seriously both their historical and literary features as ancient texts and their theological purposes as inspired Scripture. The result is a reading of the first and last books of the Bible that sketches out, from beginning to end, a story of God, humanity, and all creation—a grand narrative in which we are placed in the middle, and which calls us to live in a particular way as our identity and our values are shaped in light of our origins and our destiny.

A story of sin's curse - Michael Pahl

I am reading Michael W. Pahl's The Beginning and the End (2011). This little book consists of some brief but brilliant studies on Genesis and Revelation, and it explores how we should live our lives in light of our origins and destiny.

The third chapter is entitled "A story of sin's curse". Here is an excerpt.

“The cost of this disregard for the divine will [Adam's disobedience] is spelled out in ways that would have made sense to ancient Israelites in an agriculture-based society built around close-knit family groups, with all the values such societies and groups hold dear. Shame in relationships – both among humans and between humans and God – is expressed in the images of nakedness (3:7, 10). Guilt in trespassing a divine command is portrayed in eating the fruit of a tree (3:11). Hostility within creation is described in terms of the relationship of a woman and a snake (3:15). Physical pain and suffering is presented in the image of a woman’s labor in childbirth and a man’s toil in the fields (3:16-17). Systemic human oppression is painted in the colors of a husband’s domination of his wife (3:16). A sense of futility in life and work – even creation itself cursed – is conveyed in the image of thorns and thistles in the land (3:17-19). And exclusion from life as God intended it – a summary of all that has been described – is represented in terms of banishment from the ideal garden God has made (3:22-24). All these effects of sin are portrayed in the story in ways that had maximum impact for the ancient Israelites, yet all of these things – shame, guilt, futility, hostility, exclusion, oppression, pain, suffering, and death – are the common experience of humanity in deviating from the divine design, disregarding the divine will.” (pages 38-39)

Pahl’s description of “death” is also useful: 

“This solemn warning of ‘death’ [in Gen 2:17] is fulfilled in the narrative in all the ways we have just highlighted: shame and guilt in relationships, futility in life and work, hostility in relationships, leading to oppression and exclusion, physical and psychological suffering and pain, and the cessation of bodily life. This ‘death,’ the cost of human sin, is thus not simply physical death but rather a comprehensive reality – a ‘deep death’ – affecting individual human beings, collective human societies, and even the rest of creation (see also proverbs 10:16; John 5:24; Romans 3:23; 5:12-21; 6:23; James 1:15; 1 John 3:14).” (page 39)

The effect of Adam's disobedience is multifaceted.

Revelation, suffering, God's faithfulness, attending a good play (Michael Pahl)

I am reading Michael Pahl's The Beginning and the End (2011). In the following I will quote a few things he says about Revelation. What I like about what Pahl says is that he talks about the suffering of the followers of Jesus and God's faithfulness to them. We fail to read Revelation probably if we miss these. The other great suggestion Pahl has is that we can read Revelation as if we are attending a play. (I will highlight some sentences in blue in the quotes below.)

"Revelation is not so much concerned with the precise when and how questions of the future as much as the who and what and why sorts of questions of human - and especially Christian - existence in this present age: Why do we suffer in this world, especially as God's people? Is God faithful to his people and his creation? What is our role as God's people in this oppressive world? What is wrong with the world? How will things be made right?"

"[I]n a real sense, reading Revelation is a lot like attending a good play - which brings us back to the importance of stories in shaping our collective identity and purpose and values. We have narrators (John and his angelic interpreter) guiding us through the story. We have a series of scenes (apocalyptic visions) unfolding before us, which are visually and verbally stimulating, even provocative, critiquing the world in which we live even as they present for us the world as it could be, as it will be. And, just like a good play, if we fully engage the strange world of this dramatic story we call Revelation, we will come out of the theater changed, seeing the real world - and our place in it - in a radically new way."

Proclaiming and living out the resurrection of the crucified Christ (Michael Pahl)

I just finished reading Michael W Pahl's little book called From Resurrection to New Creation (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2010). In the following I will cite three quotes in the last chapter that are very helpful (on page 94).

The first two quotes probably require reading the book itself before one can fully grasp their significance, although they shouldn't be too hard to understand. The last quote shows how in practice the church can carry out its task of proclaiming and embodying Christ in this age.

In many ways this has been what I have been trying to say in the past five years at theological colleges and churches.

"Proclaiming and living out the death and resurrection of Jesus in faith, hope, and love, as described above, the church is called to enact God's program of creation renewal in this age in anticipation of the fulfillment of the renewal of creation in the age to come."

"Another way to look at this task of creation renewal is to see it as simply fulfilling the purpose of humanity in the image of God, ensuring and extending God's loving and faithful rule throughout the earthly creation."

"Yet another way to see this creation renewal task is to understand it as applying the resurrection reversal of the crucified Jesus to the world around us. In Jesus' resurrection, condemnation, shame, oppression, and death have been transformed into vindication, glory, freedom, and life. Thus, by the Spirit of Jesus the church is called to bring restorative care to the earth, liberating justice to the oppressed, food to the hungry, comfort to the suffering, healing to the sick, forgiveness and honor to the guilty and shamed, love to those in need, faith to those who doubt, hope to those in despair - light and life to a dark and dying world. This resurrection reversal is both our salvation and blessing and our missionary task."

The way I myself would like to frame this is through the stories in the Bible, the stories of the people of God, as well as the stories of the poor and oppressed. Through the biblical narratives we discover the story of the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, as well as the stories of God's people (those of Israel and the Christ-community). As we enter the biblical stories we learn to appropriate those stories in our own lives and in the world. That's how we may proclaim and embody the gospel in a world out-of-joint.