In Chapter 13, we find what Scott characterizes as one of America’s great “prop Bible verses.” St. Paul talks about respecting authority, and emphasizes that God is in control. 

Nostra aetate

St. Paul attempts to define Israel and address the issue of those in the Jewish community who have not accepted the Messiah. Scott warns that these chapters of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans have been at the root of antisemitism. 

The Spirit of the Liturgy by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

We’re opening the comments for each episode of this season of Sunday School.

Please, share with us any questions you may have about St. Paul and his letter to the Romans. We’ll bring a few of your questions to Scott in the final episode of this season.

If you have a question you would rather not share publicly, please email our producer Kate Olivera at kolivera@pillarcatholic.com

Scott continues to address JD’s questions about Romans 5:20— and the relationship between law and sin. 

In these chapters, St. Paul continues to build his argument about God’s faithfulness, using the stories of Abraham and the Exodus. He presents Abraham as a shared father in faith— to both Jewish Christians and the Gentiles. St. Paul also writes that Jesus Christ restores our proper relationship with God, ourselves, our neighbor and creation.

JD wrestles with Romans 5:20, and St. Paul’s reflection on the relationship between law and sin.

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Venerable Pierre Toussaint

Camp Wojtyla

An Environmental Ethic for the End of the World: An Ecological Midrash on Romans 8:19-22

Scott talks with JD and Kate about the first chapters of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, in which Paul writes about the universality of sin and the wrath of God.

- The Apostle Paul, c. 1657 Rembrandt

Righteousness of God = God’s faithfulness to his covenant promises— not only to Abraham, Moses and Israel, but to the whole of creation

Works of the Law (Works) = All the markers that, under the Mosaic covenant, designated membership in God’s covenant family (e.g, circumcision, kosher/dietary laws, Old Testament feasts, Sabbath observances) In short, the book of Deuteronomy. 

Faith = baptism

Salvation = being a part of the covenant family

Scott begins this new season about St. Paul’s letter to the Romans at the very end— chapters 14-16. In these “so what?” chapters, St. Paul answers the question at the heart of the letter— can God be trusted? 

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Reading Romans Backwards: A Gospel of Peace in the Midst of Empire by Scott McKnight

JD Flynn and Scott Powell are back in the classroom— with special guest, Pillar producer Kate Olivera— to talk about the Book of Romans. This week, Scott talks about St. Paul and the nature of letters. 

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The lives of the Twelve Caesars by Suetonius