Getting "Saved": The Whole Story of Salvation in the New Testament. Edited By CHARLES H. TALBERT and JASON A. WHITLARK.

This volume of 12 essays—seven of which have previously been published—is devoted to the soteriology of the New Testament from a post-Sanders perspective. That is to say, the authors seek to answer two related questions: (1) how is post-conversion faithfulness understood by various New Testament writers and (2) do these writers move beyond covenantal nomism to a ‘new covenant piety’ (p. 3). The reader will discover a more or less homogeneous answer to the former question and an affirmative answer to the latter. The first four essays belong to a section on the Pauline corpus. Talbert begins with a republished essay on the so-called New Perspective on Paul. He contends that ‘works of the Law’ cannot be reduced to boundary markers, that even covenantal nomism is legalistic when seen in its eschatological framework, and that Paul’s anthropology was thoroughly pessimistic. Furthermore, Paul opposed legalism and synergism—he argues both were well represented in Paul’s day—and that divine indwelling (e.g. ‘being clothed’, Gal. 3:27) enabled the believer to live a faithful life of discipleship. In the second essay, also republished, Whitlark argues that χάρις in Ephesians does not include the idea of reciprocity so common in the ancient Mediterranean world, where a gift assumed an obligation to ‘repay’ the gift with loyalty. Instead, the author of Ephesians, like Philo, believed that ongoing obedience to God could be found solely in God’s conferral of χάρις: ‘Piety in Ephesians seems to be reliance upon God for continual supplies of χάρις and not repayment for χάρις already received’ (p. 56). Talbert then turns to the soteriology of the Pastoral Epistles. He argues that the use of exempla—virtues in others that are worthy of imitation—serve as a ‘catalyst for good performance’ (p. 67) and enables post-conversion faithfulness. Whitlark concludes the Pauline section with an essay from his monograph on Hebrews (to be sure, he does not suggest Paul was its author). On his reading, the author of Hebrews urged the auditors to persevere in their faith by attaching themselves to Jesus’ high priestly ministry of the new covenant (e.g. Jeremiah 31).

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