Includes bibliographical references and indexes

The conversion of the imagination : Scripture and eschatology in 1 Corinthians -- "Who has believed our message?" Paul's reading of Isaiah -- Psalm 143 as testimony to the righteousness of God -- Abraham as father of Jews and Gentiles -- Three dramatic roles: the law in Romans 3-4 -- Christ prays the Psalms : Israel's Psalter as matrix of early Christology -- Apocalyptic hermeneutics : Habakkuk proclaims "The Righteous One" -- The role of Scripture in Paul's ethics -- On the rebound : a response to critiques of echoes of scripture in the letters of Paul -- A hermeneutic of trust

"The Conversion of the Imagination contains some of the best work on Paul by New Testament scholar Richard B. Hays. These essays probe Paul's approach to scriptural interpretation, showing how Paul's reading of the Hebrew Scriptures reshaped the theological vision of his churches." "Hays's analysis of intertextual echoes in Paul's letters has touched off debate among Pauline scholars and made more recognizable the contours of Paul's thought. These studies contain some of the early work leading up to Hays's seminal Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul and also show how Hays has responded to critics and further developed his thought in the years since. Among the many subjects covered here are Paul's christological application of Psalms, Paul's revisionary interpretation of the Law, and the influence of the Old Testament on Paul's ethical teachings and ecclesiology."--Jacket