My article, “Vessels of Wrath and God’s Pathos: Potter/Clay Imagery in Rom 9:20–23” has just published with Harvard Theological Review. It’s open access, so all can download freely! The abstract:
Starting from the concept of divine patience in Rom 9:22, this article argues that Paul employs the potter/clay metaphor not (as often interpreted) to defend God’s right to arbitrary choice but rather as an appeal to what Abraham Heschel called divine pathos—the idea that God’s choices are impacted by human actions. The potter/clay imagery in Rom 9:20–23 thus serves to highlight the dynamic and improvisational way the God of Israel interacts with Israel and, by extension, all of creation.
I’m very grateful to the HTR editorial staff for catching more than the usual number of typos, including several embarrassing Greek accenting mistakes. They definitely made the final product better.