Paul and the Resurrection of Israel

The gospel promoted by Paul has for many generations stirred passionate debate. That gospel proclaimed equal salvific access to Jews and gentiles alike. But on what basis? In making sense of such a remarkable step forward in religious history, Jason Staples reexamines texts that have proven thoroughly resistant to easy comprehension. He traces Paul's inclusive theology to a hidden strand of thinking in the earlier story of Israel. Postexilic southern Judah, he argues, did not simply appropriate the identity of the fallen northern kingdom of Israel. Instead, Judah maintained a notion of 'Israel' as referring both to the north and the ongoing reality of a broad, pan-Israelite sensibility to which the descendants of both ancient kingdoms belonged. Paul's concomitant belief was that northern Israel's exile meant assimilation among the nations – effectively a people's death – and that its restoration paradoxically required gentile inclusion to resurrect a greater 'Israel' from the dead.

• What motivated St Paul's great leap forward, as regards his gospel of Gentile inclusion? This important book provides imaginative, persuasive and comprehensive answers to questions that have tantalised scholars for many years
• Represents a brilliant new take on the rise of Christianity and its divergence from the Jewish religion as well as an exemplary articulation of the emerging field of 'Second Temple studies'
• Mandatory reading for scholars of early Christianity and of Paul, as well as Second Temple Judaism: will engage students of the Hebrew Bible/OT as much as those of the NT
• Jason Staples is one of the most exciting younger biblical scholars whose earlier CUP book received much attention and praise