Maccabean Martyr Traditions in Paul's Theology of Atonement: Did Martyr Theology Shape Paul's Conception of Jesus's Death?

Maccabean Martyr Traditions in Paul's Theology of Atonement: Did Martyr Theology Shape Paul's Conception of Jesus's Death?

In an age in which scholars continue to produce books on the nature and significance of Jesus's death, books that often assume the Old Testament cult was the New Testament authors' primary background for their conception of Jesus's death, Jarvis J. Williams offers a fresh and novel contribution regarding both the nature of and background influences behind Paul's conception of Jesus's death. He argues that Paul's conception of Jesus's death both as an atoning sacrifice and as a saving event for Jews and Gentiles was significantly influenced by Maccabean Martyr Theology. To argue his thesis, Williams engages in an intense exegesis of 2 and 4 Maccabees while also interacting with other Second Temple Jewish texts that are relevant to his thesis. Williams further interacts with relevant Old Testament texts and the key texts in the Pauline corpus. He argues that the authors of 2 and 4 Maccabees present the deaths of the Jewish martyrs during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes IV as atoning sacrifices and as a saving event for Israel. He further argues that, although the Old Testament's cultic language certainly influenced Paul's understanding of Jesus's death at certain junctures in his letters, the Old Testament cult alone-which emphasized animal sacrifices-cannot fully explain why or even how Paul could conceive of Jesus's death, a human sacrifice, as both an atoning sacrifice and a saving event for Jews and Gentiles. Finally, Williams highlights the lexical, theological, and conceptual parallels between Martyr Theology and Paul's conception of Jesus's death. Even if scholars disagree with Williams's thesis or methodology, serious Pauline scholars interested in the background influences behind and the nature and significance of Jesus's death in Paul's theology will want to interact with this work. ""Jarvis Williams . . . has provided a valuable and balanced assessment of the influence of Maccabean Martyr Theology on Paul's portrayal of the death of Christ. He makes a case that Paul's theology of atoning sacrifice, while rooted in the Old Testament, has also been influenced by these martyr traditions. The book features a helpful overview of the martyr texts as well as careful exegesis of the relevant Pauline passages."" --Douglas J. Moo Blanchard Professor of New Testament Wheaton College ""Jarvis Williams defends a novel thesis regarding martyr traditions in Pauline theology, arguing that such traditions played a significant role in Paul's thinking, and that martyr theology fits with substitutionary atonement. Williams sets his study in historical context and defends his thesis with careful exegesis. Scholars will certainly want to interact with this fresh contribution."" --Thomas R. Schreiner James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Williams's monograph should be recommended to all scholars working on Paul's interpretation of Jesus' death. Not everybody may endorse his thesis, but Williams offers a very useful fresh assessment of the debate about the origins of Paul's view of Jesus's death as well as the relevant primary sources. --Jan Willem van Henten, University of Amsterdam, as reviewed in RBL, 1/2013 Jarvis J. Williams is an associate professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of the forthcoming book, The Cross and Racial Reconciliation in Paul's Theology . Williams lives with his wife Ana and their son Jaden in Louisville, Kentucky, where they are members of Clifton Baptist Church.