Paul's Letter to the Romans with Douglas Campbell

In this episode of Cross Connections Podcast, we are thrilled to have with us Pauline Scholar and Author, Douglas Campbell. You can find his translation of Romans on his blog here.

Douglas was born in London but raised a New Zealander. He did his undergraduate degree in Political Philosophy at the University of Otago in New Zealand, and his graduate degrees in Religious Studies at the University of Toronto in Canada, where he was supported by a Commonwealth Scholarship. He wrote his thesis on Romans 3:21-26 under the direction of Richard Longenecker. His first academic post was in Religious Studies at his alma mater, the University of Otago (1989-96). After seven years he went to teach in Theology and Religious Studies at King's College London (1996-2003), and after another seven years was hired into his current teaching position at Duke Divinity School, where he is now a Professor of New Testament and directs the Prison Studies program. Since arriving at Duke in 2003 he has published four books on the apostle Paul, and the fifth, reasonably large, book was published in November 2019. Douglas has two adult children, and is a keen supporter of the arts, as his wife, Rachel, is a painter. He loves the warm weather of North Carolina, and currently lives in downtown Durham with a cat, a dog, and his wife's chickens. Despite qualms in terms of a Christian virtue ethic, he remains passionate about international politics and international rugby.

On this episode we discuss why we need biblical scholarship, as opposed to each person sitting and reading the Bible to themselves and “figuring it out.” We talk about Galatians and about Douglas’s "Translation for Pagans" of Romans. We talk about how Paul’s letters are difficult to understand, and seem contradictory, without knowing how letters were written and conveyed in ancient times. This leads into explaining why his translation includes stage directions and the role of speech in character within Romans.

Rick leads us into discussion of "justification" in scholarship. We ask Douglas why it matters that we get this right and why he opts for "deliverance" in his translation. We discuss Paul’s “opponents” and his relationship to Judaism, Messianic Jews, pagans, and the “Christians” – so named in Antioch. We finally talk about what Paul’s radical inclusion means for us today, and the heresies we run into if we misunderstand Paul.

Where to find more Douglas Campbell:

His website: https://www.douglascampbell.me/

Open Table Conference: https://www.opentableconference.com/letters-of-paul-class-2

Cross Connections is a ministry of ⁠⁠St. David’s Episcopal Church in Wayne, PA⁠⁠. Season two, Cover to Cover is hosted by the Rev. Rick Morley, Elliot VanHoy, and Natalee Hill.

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