My review of
Ware, James P.,The Mission of the Church in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians in the Context of Ancient Judaism (Supplements to Novum Testamentum 120
Leiden: Brill, 2005)
have now been published on SBL's Review of Biblical Literature.

The author of this well researched and engaging volume presents here an extensive study of the role of Paul’s churches in his mission commitment, asking, What role did Paul envision his churches as having in the advancement of the gospel? This topic has received little attention in recent New Testament research, and while some recent studies argue that Paul expected individuals to be engaged in mission, the remaining question still is: did he expect his congregations themselves as such to be obligated to spread the gospel? It has been argued that Paul nowhere explicitly commands his congregations to spread the gospel, or exhorts his churches to engage in mission activity. Ware, on his part, however, suggests that in his letter to the Philippians, Paul reveals an unusual level of interest in the preaching and promotion of the gospel by his communities.
Concerning Philo, the author deals with Philo on pp. 131-142, focused as ‘Conversion of Gentiles.' According to my reading, "I wonder if his strong focus on conversion of gentiles and mission has sometimes led to a somewhat narrow selection and reading of texts: Considering his use of material from Philo, I do think there are some issues here he should have considered more thoroughly. ‘Messianic’ texts as Vita Mosis 1:289-290; Praem 91-97 and 163-172 receive only a brief reference in a footnote, and the important issues of particularism and universalism are hardly dealt with at all."

The rest of the reviwew is available here.