Well obviously he doesn't really eat babies, but you'd think that he was guilty of a heinous crime on a similar scale given the inexplicably (to my mind at least) negative reaction that some sections of the Christian community have to some of his work, or to the 'New Perspective' on Paul in general.

Ok, so some aspects of the NPP challenge traditional Reformed readings of Paul - but why is it such an unpalatable outrage to consider that perhaps when Paul (first century Jew) wrote about justification, election, works, and final judgement he didn't mean exactly what Luther (16th Century German Catholic) et al understood him to mean 1500 years later? Perhaps I've missed something, but the paranoia and hand-wringing surrounding NTW and some of his work just seems a little bewildering. I saw this posted on a blog recently:

"...any accommodation with those who promote the “New Perspectives on Paul” is nothing short of “redefining what it means to stand right before God.” Justification becomes something that happens in the future and is dependent on our works...the works of these theologians are overly complex, and [it] seems it simply isn’t possible to popularise their teaching...theology should be capable of a simple explanation that even a child can understand, whilst, of course, it can also be explored and discussed at much greater levels of complexity...it is highly suspect that many of these writers constantly claim that their critics simply cannot understand them: “It smells of gnosticism, that is, having a secret knowledge available only to a few.”

[the] doctrine —[of] the sufficiency of Scripture — is undermined by those who propagate the “New Perspectives on Paul.” This is because there is almost a recreation of a “priestly class.” Ordinary believers are told they can only understand the Scriptures if they read the complex writings of certain scholars. This is...counter to the view that Scripture, whilst benefiting from careful study and scholarship, is also simply understood by ordinary people [...] this process is almost a reversal of the Reformation — “We might as well become Roman Catholics..."

That's right folks, the NPP will turn us all into biblically ignorant Roman Catholic Gnostics and perhaps even reverse the reformation! Oh, the horror!

(perhaps someone should have told Peter that Paul's writings were designed to be understood by children )

Next:

• N T Wright causes crops to fail
• Chickens confronted with images of Steve Chalke stop laying eggs
• James Dunn unmasked as agent of Opus Dei
  
• Puritan mob lay siege to Durham Castle
• Sun darkens, Moon does not give light