The quest for Paul's gospel

the long version

Douglas Campbell gives a clear account of why much current description of Paul's theology, and of his gospel and of his theory of salvation, is so confused. After outlining the difficulties underlying much of the current debate he lays out some basic options that will greatly clarify the debate. He then engages with these options and shows how one offers far more promise than the others, sketching out some of its initial applications. Campbell then shows in more detail how another option -- the main alternative, and the main culprit in terms of many of our difficulties -- can be circumvented textually, in a responsible fashion. That is, we see how we could remove this option from Paul's text exegetically, and so reach greater clarity. Finally, he concludes with a 'road-map' of where future, more detailed, research into Paul needs to go if the foregoing strategy is to be carried out thoroughly. Campbell believes that by utilising this strategy Paul's gospel will be shown to be both cogent and constructive.