Written by: host
4/16/2009 7:00 AM 

Two of my favorite books to read with small groups of adults are Borg and Crossan's The Last Week and The First Christmas, so I was thrilled when I first heard they were writing a book on Paul. Those books, of course, benefit from having narratives (albeit multiple ones) around which to structure the book. Doing so with Paul's letters is much more difficult, even when using Acts as a template of sorts. The lack of a narrative structure makes The First Paul somewhat more difficult to read than those two books, but it is still exceptionally readable without getting bogged town in technicalities.

At the outset, the authors discuss the four Pauls in the New Testament - the "radical" Paul (writer of the 7 letters accepted as his own - Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, 1 Thess., Galatians, Philippians, Philemon), the "reactionary" Paul (writer of 1 and 2 Timothy and and Titus), the "conservative" Paul (writer of the disputed letters of Ephesians, Colossians, and 2 Thess.), and the Paul of Acts. Primarily, they are interested in the "radical" Paul, tracing how his message later became muted or changed entirely by the later "Pauls." They also provide very helpful biographical analysis about Paul and historical details about the Roman world in which he lived, including some particularly interesting insights into his missionary strategy.

Anyone who has taken a good college or seminary course on the New Testament will be familiar with at least some of the material throughout The First Paul, but what is especially strong (and mostly new to me) was their continuing emphasis upon the radical Paul, who criticized Roman imperialism. Essentially, the authors make a very believable case for a Paul who strongly critiqued the Imperial theology and domination system of Rome and preached an entirely different message.

That's a theme which is common in most contemporary works on the historical Jesus, and it's what captured my own attention. Suddenly, phrases of Paul's works took on an entirely new meaning for me, as one-by-one they walk the reader through Paul's theology. Among the phrases and concepts explored anew are: slavery; patriarchy; Paul's "thorn in the flesh"; "grace and peace"; "Lord Jesus Christ"; "Christ crucified"; "foolishness/wisdom"; "Christ died for us"; "justification by grace through faith"; "the righteousness of God"; "raised with him"; "in Christ"; and many others. Virtually all of these can and have been interpreted in many ways, but they each have a very different meaning when one uses the "lens" of Roman imperial theology to interpret them.

It is hard for me to raise many criticisms about The First Paul. Their arguments are lucid and entirely believable, the book covers wide territory without becoming too lengthy (230 pages, 7 chapters plus an epilogue), and it will make a superb book for small groups or classes to read together and discuss. Those who dislike Paul for one reason or another as well—as those who think they know his writings well—will likely come away with a very different view of him.

That said, given the extraordinary popularity of the first two books in this series, I'm simply stunned that HarperOne couldn't bother to include some discussion questions for each chapter at the end of the book. Additionally, a measly six end notes are included, leaving the reader who wishes to do further study little to go on. (Fortunately, they do include a 4-page index of scriptures cited in the book.) Those aren't minor quibbles; I expect more of these two eminent scholars, who both have written on this subject before (particularly Crossan) and have been active participants in the Living the Questions video series.

Hopefully, someone will soon develop and post online a series of discussion questions for the book eventually, but even without them groups will have no trouble finding much to talk about as they read through the book together, and every Christian educator should read the book too. For me, it's a book that will certainly take its place on my "Favorite Books" bookshelf (after I re-read it, so that I can begin to more fully absorb its treasures.)

~ Tim Gossett

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