Paul and Time

“What is time? Ann Jervis contends that Pauline interpreters of all stripes have ignored this question for far too long. Replacing the usual contrast between ‘this age’ and the ‘age to come’ with ‘death-time’ and ‘life with Christ,’ Jervis provokes reflection not only on Paul’s view of time but on his Christology, soteriology, and ecclesiology. Her startling proposals require and repay careful attention by all serious students of Paul’s letters.”

“The problem that Ann Jervis tackles in this book is arguably the most difficult one in the letters of Paul, not only on its own internal terms but also in its existential challenge to Christian reception of Paul. Jervis gives us a characteristically learned and incisive treatment of all the relevant texts. What is more, she wrestles profoundly with the greatest theological problem of all: the fact of death.”

“This rigorous and challenging book charts a new course in Pauline interpretation, centering our understanding of the time of the gospel on the crucified and living Christ. Through Jervis’s analysis, we learn to ask not only ‘What time is it?’ but crucially ‘Whose time is it?’ Essential reading for all serious students of Paul’s gospel.”

“Jervis’s bold intervention mounts a considered and wide-ranging challenge to commonplace accounts not only of the apostle’s eschatology but also of his Christology and his account of salvation. She invites us to see afresh how, for Paul, the massive gravity of Christ bends everything around it, including time itself. The result is an extraordinary reframing of the Christian life in terms of the fundamental antimony between Christ’s own ‘life-time’ and the time of death. A welcome provocation!”

“Surprising, even shocking on first read, Jervis’s book forces us to ask if we have read Paul aright at an absolutely central point, and it requires us to seek new patterns of thought in his wake. For that, we should all be heartily grateful.”

“I loved this book. I was, by turns, fascinated, charmed, and challenged. It engages some of the deepest questions we face in relation to time, God, and our understanding of Paul—questions that lie at the very heart of existence itself and yet that are seldom posed by Paul’s interpreters. It draws throughout on the reflections of some of the finest minds in theology, philosophy, and science, as well as in biblical scholarship. And it engages multiple key Pauline texts with deft, accurate exegesis. But it does so throughout with such elegance and clarity that I was drawn smoothly through its spiraling discussions and arguments to its key insight: the absolute centrality of our existence within the risen Christ and within his life-giving time. An original, powerful, and profound engagement with Paul. In short, a gem.”

“For a very long time, discourse about time in the Bible has been conditioned by well-worn expressions such as ‘Heilsgeschichte,’ ‘eschatology,’ and ‘apocalyptic.’ In this volume, however, Jervis offers a much-needed and genuinely fresh perspective on Pauline theology, an approach that has potential to reconfigure the way one might consider the New Testament corpus as a whole. Once begun, the book is hard to put down.”

“Debates about Paul’s thought, especially whether it was ‘salvation historical’ or ‘apocalyptic,’ often speak at cross-purposes because they leave unexamined Paul’s conception of time. In this provocative book, Ann Jervis shines a light on the temporality of Paul’s conception of union with Christ. She challenges established explanations (especially the overlapping ‘two-age’ hypothesis) and asks penetrating questions about our assumed temporalities and whether Paul shared them. The result is a bold and stimulating thesis with far-reaching implications for many aspects of Pauline theology.”