Paul and Time: Life in the Temporality of Christ Hardcover - 2023

From the rear cover

"Jervis's startling proposals require and repay careful attention by all serious students of Paul's letters."

This major contribution to an ongoing debate about Paul's theology suggests that Paul thought not in terms of two ages but in terms of life in this age or life in Christ.

"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."
--Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Princeton Theological Seminary (emerita)

"The problem that 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."
--Matthew V. Novenson, University of Edinburgh

"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."
--Susan G. Eastman, Duke Divinity School (emerita)

"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!"
--Philip G. Ziegler, University of Aberdeen