Reading Romans through the Centuries: From the Early Church to Karl Barth

The volume is rich and substantial. It begins with Gerald Bray’s account of Ambrosiaster and his commentary in which the influential ideas of massa damnata and substitutionary atonement are mixed with Eastern ideas of the human race sharing the natural death but not the guilt of Adam. Bray has obviously worked closely with the text of this commentary and knows it well. However, it is not entirely clear from this account whether his preference for the Western reading of Rom 5:12 (“death reigned over those whose sins were like the sin of Adam”) had anything to do with a parting of the ways between East and West in the person of Ambrosiaster. Some guidance toward useful secondary literature would have been welcome. Christopher Hall explains that John Chrysostom’s theology made sure that grace never overrode human freedom, although without going into much detail. The point is that there is grace not to sin with our choosing. The Parable of the Prodigal Son in which the son chose to return is set against any “predeterminist” view of the message of Romans. This treatment does not really convince me of Chrysostom’s theological skill, but the presentation is comprehensively done. [Full Review]