Divine Conflict and the Divine Warrior: Listening to Romans and Other Jewish Voices (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament, 2. Reihe, 507)

In this study, Scott C. Ryan situates Paul's letter to the Romans as one voice among a number of Jewish voices that frame God as a divine warrior. He first investigates motifs related to divine conflict in Exodus 14-15, Amos, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel 7-12, along with 1 Enoch, Psalms of Solomon, Wisdom of Solomon, the War Scroll, and 4 Ezra. The author then places Romans in dialogue with the works of Paul's predecessors and near contemporaries. When Romans and these Jewish texts are placed alongside one another, Paul emerges as a writer who participates in Jewish divine conflict traditions. The apostle maintains Israel's eschatological hope in a warring deity even as he modifies that image in light of God's action in the Christ-event.