From Jesus to Paul: Studies in Honour of Francis Wright Beare

A.J. Pell is editor of the Canadian Evangelical Review and an instructor
of Liturgy, Anglican Studies Program, Regent College, Vancouver.

From Jesus to Paul is a collection of scholarly essays written to honour Francis Wright Beare, the pre-eminent Canadian biblical scholar of the twentieth century. The editors of this Festschrift are Peter Richardson, Professor of Religious Studies and Principal of University College at the University of Toronto, and John C. Hurd, Beare’s successor as Professor of New Testament in Trinity College at the University of Toronto. With the exception of Robert Grant, a longtime friend of Beare’s from the University of Chicago Divinity School, all the contributors are active Canadian scholars working in Canada and the United States who represent a variety of religious traditions.

Preceding the essays are two personal tributes to Beare, one by Adrien Brunet, the only French-language contribution to this volume, and one by Eugene Fairweather, a longtime colleague of Beare’s at Trinity. Then follow the thirteen learned essays dealing with the question of the relationship between the teachings of Jesus and Paul, the topic of Beare’s 1958 CBC Radio talk. These papers range from an historical overview of the scholarly debate, to an analysis of Philippians 2:5-11, to an examination of the second-century heretic Marcion’s critical study of the true gospel of Jesus in Paul’s letters.

The scholarship demonstrated in these essays is solid, but no major new insights are provided for the reader. Stephen Wilson’s opening paper is a good, concise summary of the historical debate on the subject. John Hurd’s essay is cluttered with an annoying and unnecessary defence of his 1965 book The Origin of I Corinthians (London: SPGK). Perhaps the two most interesting essays are by David Stanley and George Johnston. Johnston’s treatment of “Kingdom of God Sayings in Paul’s Letters” is most timely, for it provides a necessary corrective to the often weak New Testament analysis of some writings on liberation theology. Stanley’s paper on the theme of “Imitation in Paul’s Letters” is scholarly writing at its clearest; it begs to be reread both for its scholarly and for its devotional insights.