German Exploration of the Polar World is the exciting story of the generations of German polar explorers who braved the perils of the Arctic and Antarctic for themselves and their country. Such intrepid adventurers as Wilhelm Filchner; Erich von Drygalski; and Alfred Wegener are not as well known today as Robert Falcon Scott; Roald Amundsen; Ernest Shackleton; Robert E. Peary; or Richard E. Byrd; but their bravery and the hardships they faced were equal to those of the more famous polar explorers.In the half-century prior to World War II; the poles were the last blank spaces on the global map; and they exerted a tremendous pull on national imaginations. Under successive political regimes; the Germans threw themselves into the race for polar glory with an ardor that matched their better-known counterparts bearing English; American; and Norwegian flags. German polar explorers were driven; like their rivals; by a complex web of interlocking motivations. Personal fame; the romance of the unknown; and the advancement of science were important considerations; but public pressure; political and military concerns; and visions of immense; untapped wealth at the poles also spurred the explorers.As historian David Thomas Murphy shows; Germany's repeated encounters with the polar world left an indelible impression upon the German public; government; and scientific community. Reports on the polar landscape; flora; and fauna enhanced Germany's appreciation of the global environment. Accounts of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic; accurate or fantastic; permanently shaped German notions of culture and civilization. The final; failed attempt by the Nazis to extend German political power to the earth's ends revealed the limits of any country's ability to reshape the globe politically or militarily.
#425941 in Books Wm B Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2016-11-11Original language:English 8.90 x 1.00 x 6.00l; .0 #File Name: 0802867693322 pagesAn Anomalous Jew Paul Among Jews Greeks and Romans
Review
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful. Excellent Book on the Anomaly That Was PaulBy Ron ManessIf you are a fan of Australian theologian Michael Bird; you won’t be disappointed by his newest book: An Anomalous Jew: Paul Among Jews; Greeks and Romans. If you are not a fan; then you should be. He is a theologian who writes with keen insight and clarity; as well as his characteristic wit. This is the third Bird book I have read this year; the other two being his Romans commentary in the Story of God Bible Commentary series; and What Christians Ought to Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine Through the Apostles’ Creed. In addition; I have been reading sections of his Evangelical Theology.The title of this new book informs us of the subject: Paul as an anomalous Jew. We know Paul was a Jew; but what kind of Jew was he? What was distinctive about his Jewishness? What changed after his Damascus road experience? How did Paul posture himself with an approach that both affirmed and transformed his Jewish heritage?The title of the Introduction gives us hints of Bird’s perspective: “Paul the Jew…of Sorts†. In answering the question of what sort of Jew Paul was; Bird sets forth the five primary options: 1) a former Jew; 2) a transformed Jew (the view of the New Perspective); 3) a faithful Jew; 4) a radical Jew; or 5) an anomalous Jew. Now as you might have guessed from the book’s title; Bird opts for Paul as an anomalous Jew. However; he says the problem in arriving at that conclusion is that there is something right about each of the proposals. Nevertheless; he believes that the best option for characterizing Paul is that of an anomalous Jew; which flowed from his messianic eschatology as he attempted to “create a social space for a unified body of Jewish and Gentile Christ-believers worshipping Godâ€. In brief: God had launched the new age through the cross and resurrection of Christ; which meant the launch of the new creation and the renewal of Israel; of which his assemblies were the vanguard†(page 28). What we call Paul’s anomaly; he would probably call the “revelation of Jesus Christ†(Gal 1:12) that he received; which discloses how faith in Christ without Torah was the instrument that brings Jews and Gentiles into reconciliation with God and into the renewal of all things (page 28).This apocalyptic interpretation of the Messiah’s death and resurrection forced Paul into a “rereading of Scripture†with “the story and symbols of Judaism now being redrawn around Jesus the Messiah and his followers; who constitute the renewed Israel of an inaugurated eschatologyâ€.So; if that sounds simple; well; it wasn’t. The religious claims of Paul the anomalous Jew had the result of making him a marginal Jew as well. And his position was full of “tensions and ambiguities†that required theological answers and pastoral responses which needed to be worked out in actual practice. And we get a running blow by blow account in Paul’s epistles and the book of Acts.So then Bird tests his hypothesis of “an anomalous Jew on the margins†in five different areas; each of which constitutes a chapter of the book. Chapter 1: Salvation in Paul’s Judaism Chapter 2: Paul: Apostle to the Jews and Gentiles? Chapter 3: An Invasive Story: An Apocalyptic and Salvation-Historical Rereading of Galatians Chapter 4: The Incident at Antioch (Gal 2:11-14): The Beginnings of Paulinism Chapter 5: The Apostle Paul and the Roman Empire (he does this through a section by section analysis of Paul’s epistle to the Romans)While I thoroughly enjoyed the whole book; I must say my favorite chapter was chapter 4 on the Incident at Antioch (Gal 2:11-14); for Bird says that it was in this incident that the anomaly that is Paul first appeared. To me; that chapter just “rolled†; and after I finished the book I went back and typed up five pages of my notes and highlights from that chapter alone.Some of the key insights from that chapter: 1) Although a mediating position had been agreed upon at the earlier Jerusalem Council (Acts 15); that position did not envision table fellowship between circumcised and uncircumcised believers; 2) Therefore the Council inadvertently permitted the existence of two parallel theologies; 3) The problem was not the food itself; but the company in which it was consumed (with uncircumcised Gentiles); 4) Paul would not accept a “separate but equal†position (shades of the Jim Crow South); 5) The Council had probably not even considered integration into a single “churchâ€; 6) The underlying issue was circumcision (Gentiles did not need to be circumcised—unless of course they wanted to share in table fellowship on an equal basis); 7) The church in Jerusalem was experiencing severe persecution from the Jews; and the men from James hoped to prevent further persecution by insisting on social separation between circumcised and uncircumcised believers in Antioch ; 8) Paul saw this as a betrayal of the Jerusalem Council agreement (at least of its spirit); a rebuke to his apostolic authority; and an affront to the truth of the gospel; 9) It appears that the majority sided with Peter instead of Paul; 10) The result was not a complete break with Jerusalem—it was a “parting IN the waysâ€; not a “parting OF the waysâ€; 11) Afterward; Paul became an outsider to the very assemblies he had helped establish; grow and defend; 12) He therefore had to seek another base of mission operations; and was left with only the Gentile-majority churches in Galatia and Cilicia.There are of course numerous other highlights scattered throughout the other chapters; including:1) A discussion of the New Creation and New Israel on pages 162-168 of chapter 3.2) The discussion in chapter 3 of whether Galatians 2:16 should be rendered the “faithfulness of Jesus Christ†(subjective genitive); or “faith in Jesus Christ†(objective genitive) in pages 140-144. He concludes that a better solution is somewhere in the middle ground; whereby it “directs us to human faith in the whole apocalyptic saving reality wrought by God in the faithfulness; death; and resurrection of Jesus.†(Note: Bird does accept the subjective genitive for Galatians 2:19).3) His understanding of justification as the act whereby God creates a new people; with a new status; in a new covenant; as a foretaste of the new age (chapter 3; page 140).4) On page 179; he cites Richard Bauckham on Acts 15:16-18 (based on Amos 9:11) to show that the eschatological temple is not a literal building; but is the eschatological people of God composed of both Jews and Gentiles; a key distinction differentiating dispensational from non-dispensational interpretations of Scripture.But those are just a few of the many highlights of an excellent and very thorough discussion of Paul as an anomalous Jew.And of course the book includes many “zingersâ€; the very tweetable pithy one-liners that Bird is known for. For example: “Paul would not adhere to the demand of anyone who wanted to use the foreskins of Gentiles to save their own skins from the sword “. “Justification is forensic; apocalyptic; covenantal; and transformativeâ€. “Jesus is raised AS Israel and FOR Israel†“Galatians exhibits Paul in his most raw and radical state†“Christ terminates the Mosaic dispensation in order to fulfill the Abrahamic hopes (or promise)â€In conclusion; a highly recommended book which will give you insights into Paul and biblical Christianity that will stay with you and greatly enhance your reading of the relevant Bible passages.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. This is an important; extremely relevant book that deserves a wide audienceBy J. RoslynTheologian Michael F. Bird has taken on the herculean task of answering certain questions that religious scholars have debated for millennia: “Who was Paul? Where in Judaism should we situate Paul? What kind of Jew was he? And how did he relate to contemporary Judaism as a Christ-believing Jew?†"[W]as Paul an anomalous Jew on the margins of Judaism?â€Bird admits that this is a difficult task; writing a "whole industry of scholarship has attempted to map Paul in relation to Judaism and to show where he fit into the spectrum of Jewish beliefs and practices.†Placing this debate in the historical context; Bird notes that Pauline religious scholars in the twentieth century were forced to reassess and "even recast" the Jewish nature of Paul's thinking as a result of: 1. "scholarly recoil at the horrors of the European Holocaust; coupled with the observation that the grotesque evils of the Holocaust were at least partly perpetuated by a specifically Christian anti-Semitism [which] required a radical rethink of Paul and the Jewish people;" and 2. "the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.â€Bird makes clear that with this book; he intends to “test this hypothesis of Paul as an anomalous Jew on the margins in a number of areas that will highlight the jarring nature of Paul’s thought and clarify the meaning and limits of Paul’s Jewishness.†In so doing; Bird examines; among other things; Paul’s concept of “salvation;†whether Paul thought that “salvation was attainable within Judaism†and whether Paul was more involved in Jewish evangelism than previously thought.This is an important; extremely relevant; scholarly book . Most emphatically; this is a book that deserves a wide audience.*Michael F. Bird is lecturer in theology at Ridley Melbourne Mission and Ministry College in Australia.2 of 3 people found the following review helpful. What could be better? Scholarship that's intelligent and orthodoxBy JeriI just finished reading and reviewing a book by Bart Ehrman; whose specious logic was matched only by his silly dogmatic assertions. One of Ehrman's main planks was that; by the time the Gospels were written; the Christians were all Gentiles; so of course they had no knowledge scripture was sacred. Yes; really.So you can imagine my relish when I started reading Bird; one of whose main contentions is that "Paul's missionary career appears to have included periods of missionary activity oriented to Jews" (p 64).Bird points out that Paul states in Rom 15:19 that he "has proclaimed the gospel 'from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum'" (p 89). The evidence suggests that Paul's "early ministry in Arabia; Damascus; and Jerusalem was oriented to Jews" (p 90).This would be proven by Paul's own words; claiming that for the Jews he became a Jew. At the starting point of his ministry; Paul began missionary activity to other Jews. Over time; there was a gradual process in which the early; Jewish mission became a mission to both Jews and Gentiles; "a process...replicated by other Christ-believing Hellenists (Philip; Acts 8:4-40) and paralleled by other analogous happenings (Peter and Cornelius; Acts 10) (p 91).Where is the evidence that Paul continued to interact with Jews and synagogues? First; as scholar Richard Bell noted; "'Paul's theology demands a mission to the Jewish people''" (p 99). The message of Christ must be preached to everyone. Also; Acts reveals Paul working with both Jews and Gentiles. Paul's travels in Thessalonica; Berea; and Athens "all commenced in synagogues" (p 99). In Corinth; Paul began teaching in the synagogue; but had to eventually take the new Christians elsewhere.The evidence cast in concrete is the fact that Paul received the thirty-nine lashes from the Jews five times. He must have been interacting with the local synagogues to have roused Jewish ire to the point of having him whipped. And five times. So it seems that Jewish synagogues were outraged by what Paul had to say; and what else could have so outraged them as the claim that Jesus Christ was God?Even as he was being tossed out of synagogues and whipped; Paul's new belief in Jesus Christ "cannot be constructed as repudiation of Israel's covenant promises and its salvation history"(p 133). Christ's crucifixion and resurrection 'to be the great leap toward the climax of Israel's covenantal history and the fulfillment of prophetic hopes" *p 126).Paul does not reject his Jewish identity. Even as he argued against circumcision for the new converts; Paul considered this not a rejection of Jewish covenant but a new; inclusive covenant that transformed multiple identities under the "meta-identity marked by Christ" (p 53).
