St Paul was a master theologian, but not academic based in a reputable university. With the Jewish roots and moving to the new horizon of Christ, he was passionate in his exploration into the deeper dimensions of the gospel in relation to a group of congregations, particularly a group of house churches in Rome. He was convinced that a clear self-understanding of the fundamental dimensions of the gospel on the part of Christians would make a credible appeal to the outsiders. In a nutshell, a God-centred, Christ-minded, and Spirit-led life cannot spread its fragrance without authentic efforts making an appeal to contexts such as India. The author with an awareness of the multireligious context of India and long experience of interreligious dialogue have collected in this book the insights from his reading of the Romans with passion and engagement. The reflections and insights are fresh with an Indian flavour. It is a modest contribution to a plethora exegetical and theological studies of Paul’s masterpiece epistle to Romans done mainly in the West.

Contents

Foreword
Preface

Part I: Introduction

1. Significance
2. Authenticity and Textual Integrity
3. The Original Context
4. The Indian Context

Part II: Themes, Sections and Comments

1. Opening Address and Greetings (1:1-7)
2. Thanksgiving and Preamble (1:8-17)
3. God’s Universal Witness, Human Sinfulness and God’s Judgment (1:18-2:16)
4. The Law and Circumcision of Jews and God’s Justifying Grace for All (2:17-3:31)
5. Abraham’s Faith as a Pre-Cursor (4:1-25)
6. New Life in a New Man (5:1-21)
7. Old Life in Sin and New Life in Christ (6:1-23)
8. The Nature and Function of Law and the Human Predicament (7:1-25)
9. The Spirit of God and Christian Life (8:1-17, 26-30)
10. Present Suffering and Future Glory (8:18-25, 31-39)
11. Proper Attitudes towards Jews and their Religious Tradition (9:1-11:36)
12. Christian Life and Service in Community (12:1-21)
13. Christian Attitudes to Rulers and Authorities (13:1-7)
14. Living with the Law of Love and Full Alert (13:8-14)
15. Being Non-Judgmental about Eating Habits and Living for Christ (14:1-23)
16. Building a Healthy Faith Community (15:1-33)
17. Closing Greetings, Warning and Doxology (16:1-27)

Core Bibliography

The Rev. Dr. Israel Selvanayagam, from the Church of South India, has been on the teaching staff of three theological Colleges in India and three in England. He was the principal of two of them. Currently, he is a Methodist minister in the multireligious city of Leicester, UK, trying to establish fruitful relationship between four churches and neighbouring religious communities and organisations of interreligious dialogue. Though Dr. Selvanayagam developed expertise in Religions (Hinduism in the main) and interreligious dialogue, from the beginning of his Christian life the Bible has been his passion. Impressive number of his publications, both in Tamil and English, testify to the fact thathe has maintained interaction between reading the Christian scripture and understanding people of other religions for mutual benefit. In this line the Christian World Imprints has been privileged to publish his most recent book, Reading the Bible with Passion and Engagement: Notes for 100 Bible Studies (2023).