MyrnaMinkoff

Hi-

I've spent the last few months reading and re-reading the NT, and I really, really hate Paul. Misogynist, homophobic bastard.

Anyway, the point of my post is to ask if anyone knows of additional resources on Paul--Web sites, books, etc.--that might be useful to my study. I've worked on compiling a sort of life history/beliefs type thing on Paul, but since I have very little free time it'd be easier to read an already-written compilation (hee...and I'm lazy).

Thanks-
Brooke

wade-w

I think you will probably get more complete and detailed information on this topic in the BC&H forum.

Layman

The best little, almost tiny, book on Paul by a distinguished scholar is probably E.P. Sander's "Paul."

MyrnaMinkoff

Thanks for properly relocating my post, wade. I wasn't sure where to put it.

And Layman, I appreciate your help. I'll try to find that.

So, again, thanks all around!
-Brooke

Toto

There's a website Paul on Paul, with a lot of useful links and discussion.

Also textweek has links to resources, based on particular references to the Bible. The page on Acts has a lot of links on Paul.

Paul: A Very Short Introduction can be ordered from Amazon, or you can read some sample pages there and decide if you want to buy it.

I would recommend Hyam Maccoby's The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity, (although I don't agree with everything in it). If you are near a Barns and Noble, they have a number of remaindered copies at a reasonable price.

You should be aware that some scholars think that the commands in Paul for women to keep silent in church were added by later church leaders.

Rick Sumner

I was really unimpressed with this. Too much "short" and not enough "introduction." So unimpressed, in fact, that I forgot I'd read it until I followed your link to Amazon.

If you're going Sanders, go Paul the Law and the Jewish People, which I've only recently finished or Paul and Palestinian Judaism, which, being something of a mark for Sanders, I thoroughly enjoyed, though it's a lot more Palestinian Judaism than it is Paul.

Another recommendation that I only recently finished would be J G Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle. I think Dunn's book would be better appreciated if the Sanders is read first, however.

And another, which I haven't read, is Justification and Variegated Nomism (2 Vols) ed. D A Carson et al.. Again, I haven't read it, but it's been emphasized to me by more than one person that I should reserve judgment on Sanders, Dunn and the so-called "New Perspective" (that really isn't anything all that new) until I've read it.

Regards,
Rick

Yuri Kuchinsky

Dear Brooke,

Most of what you see under the rubric "the 7 authentic letters of Paul" wasn't really written by Paul. This whole area of scholarship is mostly pseudo-scientific.

The picture of the Historical Paul that you typically see in mainstream NT journals is completely unrealistic and is basically fraudulent. This Historical Paul is a self-contradictory impossibility.

In any case, much of this has already been discussed on this Board before.

All the best,

Yuri.

CX

I'd recommend Michael Goulder's "St. Peter Vs. St. Paul: A Tale of Two Missions."

offa

Toto,
You should be aware that some scholars think that the commands in Paul
for women to keep silent in church were added by later church leaders.

The verses about the woman preacher are below and Paul told her to shut
up. Is this where later church leaders added that women should keep
silent?
ACT 16:16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel
possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought
her masters much gain by soothsaying:
ACT 16:17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men
are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the
way of salvation.
ACT 16:18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned
and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus
Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

SLD

I really liked, A. N. Wilson's, Paul, The Mind of The Apostle

IIRC, it was a bestseller several years ago. Wilson goes into great detail about ancient life and ways of thinking that are quite fascinating. It was one of the books that led me farther away from Christianity, along with, as previously mentioned, Hyamm Maccoby's, "The Mythmaker, Paul and the Invention of Christianity". Both have honored places on my bookshelf.

SLD