D A Carson on hilasterion

Forensic justification...

This has made for interesting listening today. Carson is passionate and entertaining and obviously a very gifted exegete and theologian. He is exploring the 'New Perspective on Paul', which I suspect I will be covering at college this term. Carson is often at polite loggerheads with NT Wright and so he rather presses upon my feelings of British pride. I have always rather admired Tom. Carson and Tom are contemporaries - whilst Tom was at Oxford, Don was at Cambridge.

Carson speaks ,in an earlier lecture, about how Tom was very reformed in his theology in the eighties but is not so much now. He goes on at the end of this lecture to declare a belief in the idea that unfortunately, Tom casts ecclesiology above soteriology.Of course, I now need to go and listen to some of Tom Wright's stuff, I guess.

For Carson, there is very much the propitiation of God's wrath in Romans 3. Propitiation and not expiation. C H Dodd's analysis is not rated.

Carson speaks admirably on justification through faith available to all. He also makes our status as sinners very clear. Sinners saved, moreover. He talks about the language of redemption and explains neatly the buying back of slaves in the Old Testement. He also shows how our evangelistic image, of the judge taking upon himself the punishment he has dished out to the perpetrator, is rather flawed.

He asks us all to be aware of debate and become Bereans in our own studies of the scriptures.

He is very funny at the end when he answers questions explaining Paul's change of methods. Carson the drinkless! You'll have to listen to know what I am talking about.

So I wonder if Tom Wright and DA Carson will metaphorically be at war in my classroom this term. Can anyone recommend any real beginner resources so that I might start on each side of the debate with a simple text? I already have a copy of a brochure called 'The Justification Debate', which should start me off.