When in Romans: An Invitation to Linger with the Gospel According to Paul - Paperback

by Beverly Roberts Gaventa (Author)

2020 Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies

When reading the book of Romans, we often focus on the quotable passages, making brief stopovers and not staying long enough to grasp some of the big ideas it contains. Instead of raiding Paul's most famous letter for a passage here or a theme there, leading New Testament scholar Beverly Roberts Gaventa invites us to linger in Romans. She asks that we stay with the letter long enough to see how Romans reframes our tidy categories and dramatically enlarges our sense of the gospel.

Containing profound insights written in accessible prose and illuminating references to contemporary culture, this engaging book explores the cosmic dimensions of the gospel that we read about in Paul's letter. Gaventa focuses on four key issues in Romans--salvation, identity, ethics, and community--that are crucial both for the first century and for our own. As she helps us navigate the book of Romans, she shows that the gospel is far larger, wilder, and more unsettling than we generally imagine it to be.

Front Jacket

When reading the book of Romans, we often focus on the quotable passages, not staying long enough to grasp some of the big ideas it contains. Beverly Roberts Gaventa invites us to linger in Romans so we can see how Paul's most famous letter reframes our tidy categories and dramatically enlarges our sense of the gospel.

"Anyone who has difficulty imagining that a book on Paul's Epistle to the Romans could be a 'page-turner' should read this one. Beverly Roberts Gaventa's prose is compelling, her insights on Romans are startlingly original, and her ability to show us in Paul's letter 'the gospel in its vastness' is simply breathtaking. This book is to be savored."
--Thomas G. Long, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

"There are many books on Romans, but none quite like this one. Steeped in learning but accessible to a broad spectrum of readers, written with pastoral insight and welcome flashes of humor, here is a gift to Christians and inquirers alike. Gaventa invites us to enter the grand metropolis that is Romans, wander in its streets, relish its conversations, and be made new by its radical Lord."
--Susan Grove Eastman, Duke Divinity School

"Beverly Gaventa has produced that rarest of books, combining careful, exquisite scholarship with her eye for humanizing, delightful detail. Her writing is both sophisticated and accessible as she tackles Paul's complex notions of individual and cosmic salvation. I am one of those Gaventa identifies who, more frequently than I like to admit, opted for the Gospel reading rather than grappling with Paul's sometimes tortured logic. Looking back, I would have loved turning to When in Romans."
--John M. Buchanan, former editor and publisher, The Christian Century

Back Jacket

Using contemporary cultural illustrations from sources as varied as Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life and Bruce Springsteen's 'Land of Hope and Dreams, ' Beverly Roberts Gaventa delightfully clarifies Paul's complex message in Romans. In beautifully written prose that is as compellingly clear for the novice as it is exegetically convincing for the scholar, Gaventa reminds us of the cosmic, liberative power of Paul's message. Here is that book of uncommon quality: easily accessible and utterly indispensable. Reading Romans today? Start here.
--Brian Blount, Union Presbyterian Seminary

"This is a book the church has long needed. Professor Gaventa pulls back the thin veneer of familiarity to introduce us to the high drama in Paul's Letter to the Romans. Her writing is both scholarly and accessible, ancient and contemporary, theological and pastoral."
--M. Craig Barnes, Princeton Theological Seminary

"From the beginning of the Christian era until the present day, Paul's Letter to the Romans has been the source of revolutionary rethinking. Nowhere do we come closer to the radical heart of the gospel. The universal and cosmic notes of the Pauline symphony are sounded in this book by one of our most esteemed interpreters of the apostle's letters. Beverly Gaventa has written a book for ordinary parish clergy and laypeople that is fun to read and full of spicy references to popular culture, and that will jolt readers into a new appreciation for the great apostle and his unique place in the history of Christian theology."
--Fleming Rutledge, author of Not Ashamed of the Gospel: Sermons on Romans and The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ

"No one makes Romans come alive quite like Beverly Gaventa. In this highly accessible but provocative book--aimed at a wide Christian audience--she challenges our domesticated construals of Paul's gospel with a vision of God's comprehensive saving agency. If the starting point and the primary subject matter of the letter is not us but God, we are suddenly liberated from our excessive anxieties about ourselves, the church, and 'ethics.' Here are 3-D lenses to see Romans, the gospel, and the reality of God's grace, power, and mystery in a new and exciting way."
--John M. G. Barclay, Durham University

"When in Romans is deceptively accessible and lighthearted, so that readers are not immediately aware of being drawn into deep and rewarding engagement with Paul's complex text. But once inside and grappling with its intricacies, they are led securely through by Beverly Gaventa's experienced and unfailing judgment."
--Carolyn Osiek, RSCJ, Brite Divinity School

Author Biography

Beverly Roberts Gaventa (PhD, Duke University) is Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. She is also Emerita Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. Gaventa served as president of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2016 and is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including Our Mother Saint Paul, Mary: Glimpses of the Mother of Jesus, and commentaries on 1 and 2 Thessalonians and Acts. She received the Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies in 2020 for her long and distinguished contribution to New Testament scholarship, to the discipline and academy through a range of positions of responsibility, and for her mentoring of younger scholars.