In the dominant interpretation of the Antioch incident Paul is viewed as separating from Peter and Jewish Christianity to lead his own independent mission which was eventually to triumph in the creation of a church with a gentile identity. Paul's gentile mission, however, represented only one strand of the Christ movement but has been universalized to signify the whole. The consequence of this view of Paul is that the earliest diversity in which he operated and which he affirmed has been anachronistically diminished almost to the point of obliteration. There is little recognition of the Jewish form of Christianity and that Paul by and large related positively to it as evidenced in Romans 14-15. Here Paul acknowledges Jewish identity as an abiding reality rather than as a temporary and weak form of faith in Christ. This book argues that diversity in Christ was fundamental to Paul and that particularly in his ethical guidance this received recognition. Paul's relation to Judaism is best understood not as a reaction to his former faith but as a transformation resulting from his vision of Christ. In this the past is not obliterated but transformed and thus continuity is maintained so that the identity of Christianity is neither that of a new religion nor of a Jesus cult. In Christ the past is reconfigured and thus the diversity of humanity continues within the church, which can celebrate the richness of differing identities under the Lordship of Christ.

An examination of how the church eventually became a gentile movement, exploring how this was as the result of various historical, social and cultural factors in which the earliest vision of diversity within the church was lost, contrary to Paul's vision in which subgroup identities of Jew and gentile in Christ were recognized.

In the dominant interpretation of the Antioch incident, Paul is viewed as separating from Peter and Jewish Christianity to lead his own independent mission. This book argues that diversity in Christ was fundamental to Paul and that particularly in his ethical guidance, this received recognition.

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More than a guidebook to the postmodernity debate, Paul Lakeland's lively and novel volume clarifies the critical impulses behind the cultural, intellectual, and scientific expressions of postmodern thought. He identifies the issues it presents for religion and for Christian theology. Concentrating on God, Church, and Christ, Lakeland outlines the church's mission to the postmodern world, including a constructive theological apologetics.

You Belong to Christ explores the way that the Apostle Paul sought to form the social identity of one of his most important Christ-following communities. It sheds light on the way various social identities function within the Pauline community and provides guidance concerning the social implications of the gospel. Drawing from contemporary social identity theories as well as ancient source material, J. Brian Tucker describes the way 1 Corinthians 1-4 forms social identity in its readers, so that what results is an alternative community with a distinct ethos, in contrast to the Roman Empire and its imperial ideology. This book contends that previous identities are not obliterated "in Christ," but maintain their fundamental significance and serve to further the Pauline mission by means of social integration. Providing a comprehensive survey of Christian identity in Pauline studies as well as an interesting look into the material remains of Roman Corinth, this volume provides a social-scientific reading of 1 Corinthians 1-4, and argues that Paul's strategy was to form salient "in Christ" social identity in those to whom he wrote.

The legacy of Pauline scholarship, from ancient to modern, is characterised by a surfeit of unsettled, conflicting conclusions that often fail to interpret Paul in relation to his Jewish roots. William S. Campbell takes a stand against this paradigm, emphasising continuity between Judaism and the Christ-movement in Paul's letters. Campbell focusses on important themes, such as diversity, identity and reconciliation, as the basic components of transformation in Christ. The stance from which Paultheologises is one that recognises and underpins social and cultural diversity and includes the correlating demand that because difference is integral to the Christ-movement, the enmity associated with difference cannot be tolerated. Thus, reconciliation emerges as a fundamental value in the Christ-movement. Reconciliation, in this sense, respects and does not negate the particularities of the identity of Jews and those from the nations. In this paradigm, transformation implies the re-evaluation of all things in Christ, whether of Jewish or gentile origin.