Confessing Evangelical

In his lecture, The Paul of History and the Apostle of Faith, NT Wright at one point discusses the tendency of theologians and other Christians to project contemporary debates and disagreements onto the struggle between St Paul and first-century Judaism. He argues that:

The tradition of Pauline interpretation has manufactured a false Paul by manufacturing a false Judaism for him to oppose. Nor, it appears, is this a chance mistake. It seems to be a subtle variation on the theme of seeing one’s own reflection at the bottom of a deep well.

The classic example, Wright argues, is the projection of the Reformation divide between Catholic and Protestant back into Galatians. But he cites other examples: for example, the German idealists "cast Paul and the Jews in the roles of pure spirit and outward religion", while the likes of Bultmann saw in them "the contrast of authentic existence and the anxious struggle for self-understanding and self-justification".

What made me laugh was Wright's witheringly accurate observation that:

English evangelicals have tended to see the Jews as the establishment figures, the liberal or high-church bishops and theologians, with Paul as the evangelical underdog who wins through in the end, while (of course) keeping his nose clean from charismatic excesses within his own camp.

Very funny, and completely spot-on. I for one have to plead guilty to falling into that trap on many occasions.