GALATIANS
A new perspective in Christianity and Judaism
By Peter Barnes. Evangelical Press. 370 pages. £18.95
ISBN 0 85234 626 6
We are indebted to EP, and to Peter Barnes in particular, for this excellent commentary in the EP Studies series.
One might ask: why another commentary on Galatians? For one thing, many of the classical commentaries will not have had to deal with ‘the New Perspective’ as set out by E.P. Saunders and developed by James D.G. Dunn and N.T. (Tom) Wright. The introductory section, which takes up the first 43 pages, deals with, among other matters, this erroneous understanding of Paul’s doctrine in a very accessible way. The three areas of interest are Sin and the Works of the Law, The Atonement, and The Nature of Justification by Faith. Such lines as, ‘the approach by Wright leads him to marginalise the book of Galatians …’, and the conclusion that, ‘…in the end, [the New Perspective] is a kind of Christianised Judaism’, show clearly from what perspective Barnes is writing.
