Wright,Campbell,and the Four Beasts from the Sea

Abstract

Having studied with both N.T. Wright and Douglas Campbell, and not least because both are now ‘caught up’ in an apocalyptic standoff, it seemed desirable to lay bare the basic philosophical presuppositions and hermeneutical commitments which undergird and animate their continued disagreements over various issues in Pauline theology. In the following article, both serious and somewhat playful, I have considered four issues of hermeneutical and theological significance—indeed, foundational significance—in the debate between Wright and Campbell. These issues do not fundamentally concern the construal of entire Pauline letters or even Paul’s historical context. Rather, they involve the philosophical presuppositions of history and theology and the relationship between them.