Dr. Das has been listed among twenty-five leading Pauline theorists of the last century in the textbook Perspectives Old and New on Paul. Another recent text, Approaches to Paul, devotes a section to his work. He represented one of the schools of Pauline studies in Perspectives on Paul: Five Views (Baker, 2020). He wrote the essay introducing the undisputed Pauline letters in the Oxford Handbook of Pauline Studies (2022).
He has authored several books with leading publishers in biblical studies: Solving the Romans Debate (Fortress, 2007), Paul and the Jews (Hendrickson, 2003), Paul, the Law, and the Covenant (Hendrickson, 2001), Galatians (808 pages, Concordia Academic, 2014), and Paul and the Stories of Israel: The Grand Thematic Narratives of Galatians (Fortress, 2016). He co-edited and contributed to The Forgotten God: Perspectives in Biblical Theology (Westminster John Knox, 2002), and Scripture, Texts, and Tracings in Romans (Lexington/Fortress Academic, 2020), Scriptures, Texts, and Tracings in 2 Corinthians and Philippians (2022), and Scriptures, Texts, and Tracings in Galatians and 1 Thessalonians (Lexington/Fortress Academic, 2023). He has written the Contextual and Critical Commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Cascade), which should appear in 2025 or 2026, and is contracted for the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary on Romans (Lexham Press). Mohr Siebeck in Tübingen, Germany is contracted to publish a collection of his essays titled Paul and the Law: Gentiles and Jews. His Remarriage in Early Christianity (Eerdmans, 2024) was recognized by the American Library Association as a Choice 2024 Outstanding Academic Title.
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At a time when ‘subtexts’ and ‘implicit narratives’ are all the rage, Das insists on some core scholarly virtues: rigorous method, unforced exegesis, and the careful weighing of evidence. Although many of the hypotheses he tests come up short, Das’s argument is not simply negative. His many fruitful suggestions, alongside his wise words of caution, deserve careful attention from all readers of Galatians.
The majority of Das's book contains a careful and insightful interpretation of central Pauline texts on the law. The exegesis is lucid, well-argued, and wonderfully conversant with modern scholarship. Das is not satisfied with traditional or newer conclusions, but re-examines the textual evidence carefully to discern what Paul says. Even those who disagree with Das will have to reckon with and respond to his reading of the evidence.
By focusing on the apocalyptic dimension of Paul’s thought, Das makes Paul’s argument in Galatians accessible to a new generation of Christians by showing that the fundamental issue underlying the dispute between Paul and the rival missionaries was not works righteousness but what happened in Christ: the Christ event was not an event of the old age but the beginning of a new age that requires a corresponding change in one’s life.
