Paul5204

You all might like the late Mr. Maccoby because you can you use him to disregard anything that that other Paul wrote, but he simply does not understand (a) Christianity and (b) that other Paul. So his analysis and criticism are something next to worthless.

Paul5204

P.S. You might try reading Neil Elliot's "Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle."

Layman

James D. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle.

An in depth discussion of Paul from the "new perspective." An excellent work, with considered approaches to such topics as Paul's views on grace, law, and the resurrection.

Jerome Murphy O'Connor, Paul: A Critical Life.

A great book that covers a lot of ground in a more concise manner. Though a Catholic Priest, O'Connor does not hesitate to follow the path his studies take him. I especially found his discussion of Colossions to be helpful.

F.F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free.

A conservative classic. And, perpsective aside, for good reason. Bruce knows the material and does an excellent job of placing Paul in his environment and following him through is travels. Very useful for getting a foundation for Paul's life, though other works approach theological issues in greater detail.

Ben Witherington, Jesus Paul and the End of the World and The Paul Quest.

Jesus Paul and the End of the World is an interesting exploration of Paul's views on the "end times." The Paul Quest is a good overview of Paul's relationships with Judaism and the Roman world is helpful. I was a little disappointed because I expected it to be more like his The Jesus Quest, which responded point-by-point to modern perspectives on the historical Jesus. The Paul Quest is not so organized. One feature I found especially interesting was his discussion of Acts' relationship with Galatians.

John B. Polhill, Paul and His Letters.

As the title suggests, this book focuses on Paul's relationship with the letters traditionally ascribed to him. I have not finished reading it, but am happy with my purchase.

N.T. Wright, What Saint Paul Really Said.

Wright goes on the offensive against several recent treatments of Paul. Or at least that is how the book has been explained. It was not as direct as I had expected. And it is not an overview of Pauline thought. But what it is outstanding at is explaining how Paul's view of the divinity of Jesus meshes with first century Judaism. Another book that does not focus solely on Paul but nevertheless spends much time on him and his view of the divinity of Jesus and first century Juduaism is Richard Bauckham's God Crucified.

Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, Daniel G. Reid, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters.

A great resource on any conceivable issue about Paul. Gathered together are leading scholars who have contributed articles in their area of expertise. Question about the Mystery Religions? Check out David E. Aune's article on Paul and Greco Roman religion. Wonder if Paul really wrote Colossians? Check out the article on Colossians by P.T. O'Brien. Want to know the chronology of Paul's life? There's a good piece by Loveday Alexander.

David Wenham's Paul and Jesus and Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity.

These two books explore the relationship of the teachings of Paul with those of Jesus (gleaned from the gospels). Follower of Jesus is more in depth, whereas Paul and Jesus is a broader effort.

Honorable mentions.

E.P. Sanders, Paul

Perhaps the shortest book devoted to Paul by a leading scholar. Cheap and well worth it. Sanders is one of the top scholars on Paul and he distills his knowledge and arguments very well in this small booklett.

David Trobisch, Paul's Letter Collection.

Focuses on when Paul's letters were first edited into a collection and by whom. Concludes that it was likely Paul who first gathered his letters together and edited them.

Brad Young, Paul the Jewish Theologian

Focuses on Paul's relationship with Jewish thought. Does a good job of showing how even Paul's Christian theology is grounded in Jewish thought and tradition.

John McRay, Paul: His Life and Teaching

A conservative approach to Paul. Pretty standard, though his discussion of the Jewish and Pagan views on cosmology was particularly informative.

Finally, no exploration of Paul should be limited to overviews. Paul left behind more writings than any New Testament figure. Indeed, any early Christian writing until, possibly, Ignatius. In any event, a study of Paul should include books devoted to each of his writings. I have found the following to be well done and helpful in my studies:

C.K. Barrett, The First Epistle to the Corinthians

James Dunn, The Epistle to the Galatians,

Ben Witherington, Grace in Galatia

Ben Witherington, Conflict and Community in Corinth

Joseph Fitzmyer, Anchor Bible Commentary,Romans

Javaman

Paul and Jesus were Jews. I double-dog dare you to start a thread about how Maccoby's "analysis and criticism are something next to worthless" What's important to note about Maccoby is that he does understand Judaism to include the writings and teachings of its sects.

Layman

As opposed to understanding Paul based on his own autobiographical statements and those of his contemporary, the author of Acts?

Or Josephus? Josephus tells us Pharisees believed in the broader "Old Testamant", the oral law, angels, and the resurrection. So did Paul of course.

Paul also marks time by Jewish holidays and even uses a traditional pharisiac analogy to describe the resurrection (Compare 1 Cor. 15:39-49 with b. Sanh. 90b). Paul is also very familiar with Jewish haggadic tradition (Compare 1 Cor. 10:1-5 with Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities x.7; Sukka 3a-b, cf. 11d-b; Taanit 9; and, Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 45B.i). Seems rather unlikely for a wannabe.

Unfortunately Maccoby is forced to rely on much later writings like the Mishnah, stuff by the Ebionites, and even Psuedo-Clementines (fifth century!) to reconstruct what kind of Jew Paul should have been like if he really were a serious Jew. Of course, since Paul's first letters were written more than a decade after his conversion, we should not be surprised that they are not the exact writings of a Pharisiac Jew. Rather, they are the writings of a first century Jewish who converted from Pharsiac Judaism--though with some strong continuities.

More balanced, and less conspiritorial, treatments of the subject of Paul's Jewishness are available:

W.D. Davies' Paul and Rabbinis Judaism;
Martin Hengel's Judaism and Hellenism;
Brad Young's Paul the Jewish Theologian;
Jerome Neyrey, Paul, in Other Words: A Cultural Reading of His Letters;
Alan Segal's Paul the Convert;
Samuel Sandmel's The Genius of Paul; and,
E.P. Sanders' Palestinian Judaism.

Naked Ape

If you are interested at a different perspective on Paul (as well as Jimbo Christ and the Essenes) I recommend Robert Eisenman's JAMES THE BROTHER OF JESUS.

J. P. Holding of Tektonics fame just hates the guy, his rating is two thumbs down with the caption "Weirdos Love This Stuff", see his review. Please turn off your irony meter before reading the following quote from that review: Is it just me or could this double as a review of the entire Tektonics site, if you replaced "Robert Eisenman" with "J. P. Holding"?

Call me contrary, but if this wingnut does not want anyone to read this book, I think that this is a sign that we all should.
Poke around the Tektonics site a little and I think you will also be convinced that "good sense" and Mr. Holding are not on speaking terms.

Cheers,

Naked Ape

jbernier

Paul among the Postliberals, by Douglas Harink.
Harink provides a good survey of certain key issues in contemporary Pauline studies and investigates how Paul and Pauline thought is popping up in contemporary theology. I do not agree with everything he says but he certainly gave me a new perspective on Paul.

Toto

Paul Among the Postliberals by Douglas Harink (Associate Professor of Theology at The King's University College, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)

Rick Sumner

I'd give this one a miss, actually. I found it to be too short, and often more than a little dry.

Skip Paul in favor of the work you suggested below, E P Sanders' Paul and Palestinian Judaism. The father of the "New Perspective" puts forth an excellent (and in my opinion largely successful) effort to place Paul in context.

One may also be interested in www.thepaulpage.com: A webpage "Dedicated to the New Perspective on Paul." As well as an excellent collection of online resources, it also contains many book reviews, which may be useful in the search for reading material on the matter.

Regards,
Rick Sumner

Crisor

Thanks for the list so far. Seems I got a bit of reading to do. Someone should email Kirby and tell him to add a new section to the list for others who might be interested in the subject.