LOVE SECHREST argues that for St Paul, adopting Christianity involved a change in his racial identity. She looks at questions about what ancient Jews and Christians meant by “race”. She explores old and new models of ethnicity, and uses them to examine Paul’s changing self-identity. A Former Jew is in the series Library of New Testament Studies (T. & T. Clark, £65 (£58.50); 978-0-567-46274-9).
In the same series is Niko Huttunen’s Paul and Epictetus on Law: A comparison. The author shows how important Stoicism was in Paul’s context, and how his ideas were affected by it as well as by the Torah. He does not seek to deny serious Jewish influence in Paul’s thinking, but to show how other philosophies of the time also played a part in it (T. & T. Clark, £60 (£54); 978-0-567-07439-3).
A third book argues that gender, ethnic, economic, and religious identities influence one another and the collective Christian identity as they interact. “All of You are One”: The social vision of Gal 3.28, 1 Cor 12.13 and Col 3.11, by Bruce Hansen, focuses on three biblical passages, given a chapter each; another chapter is on reading Paul ethnically (T. & T. Clark, £60 (£54); 978-0-567-13604-6).
Tom Wright’s For Everyone series of commentaries is accompanied by a growing number of study guides. The format provides, for each passage to be studied, an introduction, opening questions, study questions, and ideas for prayer. Suggestions are given for individual or group use. Ephesians (978-0-281-06177-8) is written with the help of Lin Johnson; 1 Corinthians (978-0-281-06176-1), Matthew (978-0-281-06179-2), and Philippians (978-0-281-06226-3) with Dale and Sandy Larsen; John (978-0-281-06225-6) with Kirstie Berglund; and 1 & 2 Timothy & Titus (978-0-281- 06182-2) has additional material by Phyllis Le Pau (SPCK, £4.99 (£4.50) each).
There are two sets of Bible studies in In the Beginning was the Word: Group Bible studies on the Gospel of John, one on the “I am” sayings, and the other on the seven signs. All were first written by seven different people, led by Gerald West, for the 2008 Lambeth Conference, and have been revised for publication (SPCK, £9.99 (£9); 978-0-281-06168-6).