Justification and Variegated Nomism. Vol. I: the complexities of Second Temple Judaism.

   [Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2. Reihe, 140.
   Herausgegeben von Jorg Frey, Martin Hengel, Otfried Hosius] Edited by D. A.
   Carson, Peter T. O'Brien, & Mark A. Seifrid. Tubingen, Germany: Mohr
   Siebeck; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001. Pp. 619. Paper, $44.99.

This is the first of two volumes designed to critique the work of Ed Parrish Sanders, especially his PAUL AND PALESTINIAN JUDAISM: A COMPARISON OF PATTERNS OF RELIGION (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977). Sanders established the point of reference for discussions over the past quarter century for understanding what was common to the highly diverse forms of Judaism, or Judaisms, in the pre-Christian and pre-Rabbinic period. Sanders also provided the sound-bites needed to focus attention on what he considered essential to the varieties of Early Judaism and gave the commonality the name, "covenantal nomism." It has become common to say, with Sanders, that election to salvation (the covenant) was due to "the grace of God" while maintaining that salvation lodged in Jewish "obedience to the law." The distinction was between "getting in" (grace) and "staying in" (works).

Sanders, through his teacher W. D. Davies, was considerably influenced by the work of George Foot Moore of Harvard early in the past century. Moore's synthesis was later challenged by the complex view of Early Judaism brought on by the discovery of the Judaean Desert Scrolls. The complexity was already evident in the massive literature of Early or Second Temple Judaism well before the Scrolls dramatically added to the mass. This had been evident in the debates about and critiques of Moore's work seventy years ago, especially in Germany. A quarter century after early publication of some of the Scrolls, Sanders felt the need to view Early Judaism whole, including the antecedents of Rabbinic Judaism, the focus of Moore's work. Moore had advanced the view that the Pharisees and other precursors to Rabbinic Judaism actually represented early "normative Judaism" while the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus, and other Jewish literature of the pre-Christian period, that the later churches preserved but Rabbinic Judaism set aside, had been produced, for the most part, by Second Temple "heterodox Judaism."

The Scrolls have induced a mostly negative reassessment of Moore's thesis. Sanders, influenced by Moore's and Davies' work (as well as that of David Daube), wanted to take a fresh look at the whole situation, and did so rather effectively. He concluded that "covenantal nomism" characterized Early Jewish thinking generally. My teacher, Samuel Sandmel, often said that Judaism was Torah and Torah Judaism. The question addressed by C. H. Dodd in THE BIBLE AND THE GREEKS (1938) issued from the debate and stressed that Torah was a far broader concept than the Greek word nomos denoted. Torah includes haggadah as well as halachah, narrative (gospel?) as well as law. If Sanders meant only "obedience" he failed to convey all that Torah meant or means.

Biblical study generally has had to deal seriously with Sanders' perspective, and the project under review represents a concerted and well conceived effort to scrutinize what Sanders has done in the field over the past quarter century, especially now that publication of all the Scrolls is almost complete. (That event was marked by a special celebration at the 2001 meetings of the international Society of Biblical Literature.) Back when Sanders penned his work there were at most eight published volumes of the Scrolls available; now some forty are available, and the remaining few will soon be published.

The editors of the book under review rightly felt it was time to reassess Sanders' thesis. The present volume is the first of two stemming from the project. It evaluates Sanders' thesis in the light of "the complexities of Second Temple Judaism" (the subtitle of this first volume). The second volume, to be titled "The Paradoxes of Paul," will deal with Paul directly. The present volume comprises fourteen studies of selected types of Early or Second Temple Jewish literature, plus a very helpful introduction and a detailed concluding summary, both by D. A. Carson. The volume concludes with twelve very useful indices.

While three of the sixteen chapters deal with Scroll literature, only one addresses Qumran literature directly, and that one is limited almost entirely to probing the Serek ha-Yadad from Caves One and Four. It is focused on 1,4QS in an effort to discern the specific thinking of the Qumran community about divine grace and human obedience. But the whole book in effect shows the influence the Scrolls have had in the last half-century in re-reading the rest of the already known Early Jewish literature in the light of the quite new situation. While a number of categories and titles of Early Jewish literature are neglected, each study with hardly an exception offers fresh information and insight on the issue addressed.

Over all, the book offers a rather grudging nod to Sanders' formulation, with some contributions clearer about that than others. But the book has a point of view which is provided in the first and the last chapters, both by editor D. A. Carson. And that point of view is that while thanks are due Ed Sanders for the heuristic value of his thesis on this all-important subject, it is inadequate now and needs reformulation. One must say that if "variegated nomism" is offered as the corrective, it will not have the same sound-bite value or heuristic function as Sanders' simpler vision. One stumbles over variegation.

But one must also say that the first volume whets the appetite for the one yet to come. Packed into this first volume is a great deal of valuable research and information about Early Jewish literature well worth the effort of a careful read.

Ed Sanders has served the field well, as Moore and Davies did in their time, even if "economy of explanation" now must give way to allowing more amply for "the complexity of reality."

James A. Sanders
Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center
P.O. Box 593
Claremont, CA 91711