It is with great pleasure that I pass along the news that I have signed a contract with Cambridge University Press to publish my book, Paul and the Resurrection of Israel: Jews, Former Gentiles, Israelites, expected to be released in the spring of 2023.
This book represents two decades of work, and I cannot wait to see it in the wild and see how others interact with it. A basic abstract of the project follows:
This study examines how the concept of “Israel” was constructed and contested among Jews, Samaritans, and others in the Second Temple Period (roughly 515 BCE–70 CE), as different sects and groups laid claim to the heritage of biblical Israel and differentiated themselves from others doing the same.
Through exhaustive analysis of early Jewish and Samaritan evidence, the books demonstrate that (contrary to the assumptions of most modern scholarship) the terms “Israelite” and “Jew” were not synonymous in Second Temple Period. Instead, the most common view reflected in early Jewish sources is that the Jews are only a subset of the larger body of Israel, namely the descendants of the southern kingdom of Judah. Samaritans, by contrast, neither called themselves Jews nor were they regarded as such by others, but they did consider themselves Israelites, with different Jewish groups having varying responses to this claim. Moreover, the study demonstrates that the continued distinction between “Jews” and “Israelites” in Jewish literature frequently seems to reflect continuing hopes for a future restoration of reconstituted twelve-tribe Israel including the northern tribes of Israel scattered by the Assyrians in the eighth century BCE.
The project thereby introduces a new model for understanding the relationship between the terms “Israelite” and “Jew,” a problem that has drawn increased attention in recent scholarship. In the process, this study helps contextualize the variety of eschatological views that appear in Jewish literature from the Second Temple Period, correcting several recent scholarly trends in this area.
I am especially pleased that the book will be priced affordably, around $39 per hardback copy.
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I thoroughly enjoyed Paul and the Resurrection of Israel. I feel like I can finally read Rom 9-11 and without confusing questions hindering my understanding.
I am wondering you will appear in any media(podcast) appearances/interviews concerning this work like you did for The Idea of Israel?
Thanks,
Hi Jay, thanks for the kind words. I’ll indeed be doing quite a few podcast episodes on this and quite a bit more. There’s plans in the works for some YouTube videos and more. Just have to get it all rolling! Thanks again!
The feature which raises Staples’ work to the level of a magisterial contribution to biblical scholarship is its dialectic: the argument is not, here is my interpretation, and this is the evidence in its favor; rather, the book is structured as, here is the problem, here are others’ attempts to solve the problem, here are the fatal objections to their solutions, and here is my interpretation, which I can buttress with citations from the Torah, the Prophetic Books, the contemporary rabbinic literature, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Mr Staples, have both of your books on this subject matter. Very impressive. Could you please share links to any extensive interviews you have done on this and which you recommend? Also, have you answered any scholarly critiques since publication? Where can we find those?
Thank you.
May peace be on you.
Paul
Hi Paul, here’s a playlist with a variety of interviews on this work: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkEUrcuG_z1YuzYSq_vFv09Nb05dUdluM&si=lpiLol2g40YfD1Cu
I’d also recommend the OnScript interviews, Part 1 here: https://onscript.study/podcast/jason-staples-paul-and-the-resurrection-of-israel-part-i/ and Part 2 here: https://onscript.study/podcast/jason-staples-paul-and-the-resurrection-of-israel-part-ii/
Here’s some discussion of initial reviews, including my response: https://jasonstaples.substack.com/p/four-reviews-of-paul-and-the-resurrection
I have a question. If we get eternal life through the Spirit’s transformation (by God giving us a new heart after we trust in Jesus), then how did the ancient Israelites get saved? Like David?