Description:
In The Rhetoric of Romans, Neil Elliott presents a rhetorical-critical reading of the letter that indicates that Paul wrote, not to counter Jewish opponents or aspects of the Jewish religion, nor to legitimize the law-free gentile church, but to warn against elements of the Hellenistic church's Christology and an incipient Christian supersessionism that threatened the collection in Jerusalem and the heart of his apostolic work.
Brief description:
Neil Elliott, an Episcopal priest, teaches biblical studies at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis. He is the author of Liberating Paul (Fortress ed. 2005, 978-0-8006-2379-1) and The Rhetoric of Romans (Fortress ed. 2006, 978-0-8006-6202-8).
Review Quotes: "A quite new reading of the epistle.... Elliott sees Romans as essentially a paraenetic document, and with the help of literary and sociological arguments achieves a reading of chapters 1?4 which avoids many of the difficulties attached to other approaches.... Among the more important works on Romans to have appeared in recent years...."