Firth Lecture 2018 Part 1 - Professor John Barclay

In his book, Paul and the Gift (2015) John Barclay presented a fresh reading of grace and gift in Paul's theology, studying it in view of ancient notions of 'gift' and shining new light on Paul's relationship to Second Temple Judaism. For Paul, 'gift' or 'grace' or 'favour'- centres on divine gift-giving which, Barclay says, is focused and fulfilled in the gift of the Christ. In this video, Barclay gives us an insight into his thinking on Paul and provides us with a new appraisal of Paul's theology of the Christ-event. Barclay then relates this reading of Paul to the situation of Christians today asking the question about the nature of altruism.