with universal sinfulness in chapters 1–3; justification by faith in chapters 4–5; growth in sanctification in chapters 6–8; the problem of Israel and God’s sovereign election in chapters 9–11; and practical Christian living in chapters 12–15. While many scholars do realize that such a perspective is unrealistic, since Paul was not the initiator of the Western tradition of reflective abstract theology that we often make him out to be, most alternative readings of Romans remain largely the same. Paul