Abstract
This book from Gordon Fee presents, in his own words, a ‘theological synthesis’ of Fee’s detailed exegetical work from his much larger 2007 book Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study, with the intention of making the results of his exegesis accessible to a broader audience of laypersons (p. xviii). In pursuit of this aim there is sparse footnoting and no bibliography, but a two-page glossary at the back explaining basic theological terms.The book is divided into four parts which broadly reproduce the chapter headings of the ‘Synthesis’ section of Pauline Christology. Parts 1 and 2: ‘The Savior’, and ‘The Second Adam’, deal with the work of Christ as both the divine redeemer of a fallen humanity, and the truly human creator of a new humanity in his image. Parts 3 and 4: ‘The Jewish Messiah and Son of God’, and ‘The Jewish Messiah and Exalted Lord’ move to discuss the person of Christ, as Son of God, read against the backdrop of the story of Israel, and as exalted Lord, focusing on the divine name (kyrios), roles and prerogatives applied to Jesus by Paul. This all points, for Fee, to the conclusion that ‘Paul offers as high a Christology as one could imagine.’ (p. 172) A concluding chapter brings Paul’s understanding of the Spirit into the discussion in order to situate Paul on the trajectory to Nicaea as a ‘proto-trinitarian’.As can be seen, Fee’s treatment stays along the lines of traditional theological categories, but this does not generally come at the expense of sound exegesis of the primary texts. Indeed, the main strength of this book is its foregrounding of the Pauline texts, the relevant passages of which are often reproduced in full, and frequently returned to for comment from different angles. Given that the work is intended as an introduction, but also argues quite a specific case, it would have benefitted from a section offering suggestions for further reading so that the interested reader could have access to the broader discussions and perspectives on this issue. As a theological distillation of Fee’s larger work, though, the book admirably serves its purpose and will be useful for many as a concise and accessible introduction to the arguments for an early, high Christology.