Final Paper

The final paper has been submitted for the class and can be downloaded:

Narrative Theology and Paul’s Letter to the Romans

I welcome critiques and thoughts. I hope to do further study in this area in the future.

Summary and Suggestions for Further Study

     Much information has been presented about the underlying narratives in the book of Romans.  What has been said should be regarded as explorations into the narrative character of Romans, rather than definitive statements about how Romans should be understood.  The essence of what is being claimed here is this: Romans can best be understood when one reads it in light of the grand Trinitarian narrative of Scripture which underlies everything that Paul says, because the reality and power of Romans lies not in propositional statements, but in the missional story of God that began in Genesis and continues in the church today.

With that being said, there are many areas left unexplored and undeveloped.  Some of them are vitally important to this effort to read Romans in a way that is faithful to the text and sensitive to the underlying concerns of Paul.

1. Work needs to be done on how particularly the underlying narrative of Romans is decidedly Trinitarian. 
2. I hinted at several times the way in which Romans should be read as the community of faith.  Along with integrating the narrative with the Trinity, the basis for community in the Trinity should be explored in Romans.
3. The missional theme of Paul’s life should be explored along with the missional nature of the entire Biblical story. 

Those three points could have been developed more in my study, however, this is merely a preliminary exploration into this area.  The model suggested by the diagram above should provide a foundation to build from, so that further study can be done to understand how Romans aids the church in fulfilling her role in the missional story of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.