oops

"The supposed legalistic Judaism of scholars from Weber to Thyen (and doubtless later) serves a very obvious function. It acts as the foil against which superior forms of religion are described. It permits as Neusner has said, the writing of theology as if it were history. One must note in particular the projection on to Judaism of the view which Protestants find most objectionable in Roman Catholicism: the existence of a treasury of merits established by works of supererogation. We have here the retrojection of the Protestant-Catholic debate into ancient history, with Judaism taking the role of Catholicism and Christianity the role of Lutheranism." E.P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, 57

I cannot tell you how often I have thought about and taught Judaism as a works based religious system in which God was remote and salvation was determined by an accounting of merit. An obviously inferior religious system that was surpassed by Christianity, a religion in which salvation was by grace alone and not something one could earn by meritorious observance of the Law, and whose chief privilege was the nearness of God. To realize how much of that which I regarded as fact, or even historical reality, was really the interpretation of a few scholars whose work I have never read but whose interpretation became widely accepted as the "standard view" is unsettling to say the least.

The church will always struggle to be pure theologically but the least her people can do is to strive to not teach as doctrine the tradition of scholars (or worse: pop-Christian books/music/culture). This is especially important for those to whom the task of communicating doctrine has been entrusted. No one is up to the task but the least one can do is commit themselves wholeheartedly while trusting the Spirit to correct any errors or overemphasis in future generations.