| Summary: | Presents the claims that the early Christians interpreted the Old Testament by means of 'charismatic exegesis' and that this prophetic activity can be detected in Paul's handling of Old Testament scripture in romans 9-11.
Taking up the positions of Eduard Cothenet and E. Earle Ellis that early Christian prophets did charismatic exegesis, the writer defends that claim and examines Romans 9-11 to determine whether and where charismatic exegesis took place. In the course of the first three chapters he surveys the scholarly discussion on early Christian prophecy, exegesis in late Second Temple Judaism, and charismatic exegesis. In chapter four, form, content, and function criteria are developed and applied to four passages of the Habakkuk Pesher from Qumran. The writer concludes that charismatic exegesis is present in each of those four passages. In chapter five, Romans 9-11 is divided into six passages where exegesis occurs and these are subjected to the three criteria established in chapter four. In five out of the six passages in Romans 9-11 all three criteria support the claim that charismatic exegesis was practiced by Paul. The exceptional passage, Rom. 10:1-13, lacked the necessary confirmation of charismatic form. The writer identifies emphatic forms analogous to legei kyrios which signal charismatic exegesis: "this (is) the word of promise" (9:9), "she was told" (9:12), "Isaiah cries out" (9:27), "as Isaiah foretold" (9:29), "Isaiah is so bold as to say" (10:20), "What does the oracle say to him?" (11:4), and "I want you to understand this mystery" (11:25). As to content shifts, the writer uses only tendentious variants from the LXX which made Paul's application of the texts appropriate to his argument (function). Dealing with Israel's election and the Gentile inclusion made it necessary for Paul to base his argument on scripture. The crowning revelation of the prophet Paul (Rom. 11:25) was supported by the citation of scripture. The writer refrains from claiming charismatic exegesis in several widely variant citations and rejects the use of the demonstrative pronoun (claimed by Ellis) as a charismatic form introducing the citation of scripture. However, he concludes that Paul performed charismatic exegesis, and this result supports the claim that Paul was a Christian prophet.
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