Today, author Jason A. Staples responds to a review of his book Paul and the Resurrection of Israel. In his response, Staples challenges Gerald McDermott’s characterization of the book in last month’s article “Paul Against the Jews?”

For further reading: James R. Wood initially reviewed Staple’s book for the magazine in “Paul’s Ethnic Gospel,” calling it “The fruit of painstaking exegetical labor and theological attentiveness, the book stands as arguably the most consequential contribution to Pauline studies since John Barclay’s Paul and the Gift.”

When confronted with the American political binary, some Christians say it is best to eschew both left and the right and choose instead a “third way.” And yet this “third way” is by nature a reaction to the first two ways, Peter J. Leithart writes today. Christians are free to open up “other ways” of responding to societal challenges that transcend left, right, and “third.” “Christians should embody a different way altogether, one that’s not defined by the contingent, fluctuating contours of American politics,” he writes, pointing to Catholic Social Teaching and the thought of Oliver O’Donovan.

For further reading: The efficacy of the “third way” approach has aroused contention in the past few years. Throughout his ministry, Tim Keller advocated that Christians remove themselves from the culture wars and instead embrace a nonpartisan “third way” of allegiance to Christ. In 2022, James Wood explained in “How I Evolved on Tim Keller” how he, as a “fanboy” of Keller, began to question if this evangelistic and political framework “would provide sufficient guidance for the cultural and political moment,” given that Christianity is facing a more hostile culture than Keller did during his most active years. Aaron M. Renn explained this shift in “The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism” (February 2022).

The article ignited fierce debate, including accusations that Wood was trying to baptize Trumpism. Associate editor Justin Lee came to Wood’s defence, writing in "Takeaways from the Debate over Tim Keller’s ‘Third Way’” that Keller’s approach worked only because “it was a brilliant strategy for evangelizing a culture intoxicated by the idea of its own universality. But time has revealed liberal universalism to be a parochial delusion.”

Upcoming Events

• November 2, 2025: A Night of Poetry with Ben Myers | New York, NY. Register here.
• November 3, 2025: The 38th Annual Erasmus Lecture: In Praise of Translation | New York, NY. Register here.
• November 11, 2025: Lecture at the University of Dallas | Irving, TX. Details coming soon.
• January 9, 2026: Second Annual Neuhaus Lecture at the New College of Florida | Sarasota, FL. Details coming soon.

Until next time.

VIRGINIA AABRAM

Newsletter Editor