Paul Books

The Gospel According to St. Paul: Meditations on His Life and Letters

Carlo Maria Martini

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Gospel according to St. Paul 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Cardinal Martini has provided a special meditation on St. Paul especially useful for the Holy Year dedicated to St. Paul. I have enjoyed many of Cardinal Martini's books over the years.

Book Review 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A helpful resource into the writings of the "Apostle to the Gentiles." Useful as an introduction.

Excellent meditations on the life and works of St Paul 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The collection of talks were written for monthly gatherings of young adults when Cardinal Martini was in Milan. It is an excellent starting point for further reflection and meditation on the figure of Saint Paul and his written legacy to the Church. You can tell that Cardinal Martini is not simply presenting a "paper" on Saint Paul, but is guiding the listener into prayer with him. I plan on using this resource as an introduction to Bible study on St Paul for young adults.

A small book every Catholic should read 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This short book by Cardinal Martini gives a great analysis that brings to life both Saint Paul's conversion and evangelization struggles and through specific verses of Paul's major letters, an explanation of the evangelization problems he faced and how he dealt with them. The selected verses provide good meditative examples, explaining Paul's intent and specific teachings to correct the problems arising in the formation of these new church communities. A great examination of the problems that faced the growth and evolution of the new church with explanations and reflections that are highly relevant today.

What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?

N. T. Wright

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great Explanation and Defense of New Perspective 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book is a well written explanation and defense of the New Perspective on Paul. Wright breaks down Paul's theology in a way that makes sense of his background as a first century Jewish Pharisee. He indeed shows that Paul's theology is not a new faith as a mixture of Judaism with Hellinism, but rather it is Jewish to the core reshaped and redefined around Jesus of Nazareth, who showed himself to be the very face of Israel's God. I think he does a good job of demonstrating that Second Temple 1st century Judaism was not a religion of self-help morality, but rather it's obsession with the Law was more or less an ethnocentric way of keeping the covenant all to themselves.

From all of this stems Wright's view on justification and the righteousness of God. As a North American Protestant/Evangelical, many of the people with whom I have discussed this issue completely reject and condemn it right from the beginning. But I don't see things that way. I believe that Wright's view of justification is a completely valid and biblical view to hold. And honestly I hold almost the same view of justification (I don't know all the intricacies of his view, therefore I say 'almost'). His basic argument is that justification in Paul's law-court language has nothing to do with how a person "gets saved" but rather is the declaration that a person "is already saved". He seems to distinguish between regeneration (the new birth) and justification (and rightfully so), however most Protestants, especially those of the Reformed tradition do not. To sum it up, Wright believes that justification is God's present declaration that someone is part of the covenant family in anticipation of the future declaration of vindication.

From this issue, Wright tackles the issue of the righteousness of God. Most Protestants, especially Reformers hold to the doctrine of imputation. That is the actual righteousness of Jesus is somehow transferred to the believers "account". In light of Wright's defense of his view of justification imputation is simply not needed. It's not only not needed but there does not seem to be ample biblical support for the doctrine, which Wright demonstrates in the classic proof texts of the doctrine. Instead of the righteousness of God being something given to the believer, it is actual God's own righteousness, his justice towards his covenant. Wright defends this notion beautifully from historical 1st century Judaism and the Old Testament itself.

I highly recommend this book.

Editorial Review:

N.T. Wright, a world authority on the life and letters of Paul, responds to A.N. Wilson's claim that it was Paul and not Jesus who founded Christianity. He delivers a devastating critique, contending that Paul was a faithful witness and herald of Jesus Christ.

Paul: A Man of Grace and Grit (Great Lives from God's Word, Volume 6)

Charles R. Swindoll

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Paul: A Man of Grit and Grace 1 out of 5 stars.
7 of 21 people found this review helpful.

The author is probably a great guy personally, but his writing falls very short. The book does not even address Paul's views on the role of women, or on homosexuality--two areas where people of our times need guidance. It seems as if the author wanted to be "politically correct" and not offend anyone.
He doesn't even address, with any authority, the conflict between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark. He just basically says they should have worked it out. I was completely disappointed in the book.

Yo, Dear consumer, Fellow 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

oh yeah, this book is wonderfull. Turned me into something like a Pauline. It gives great illustrations and its quite a good read; what I really got out of it was how Swindoll shows you a real person. Not just Paul the Apostle, not just him as one of the sons of judaism of that time, no beyond that. The man that we read about that filled his letters with so much understanding and knowledge, to be flesh. You read this book and I guarantee you, it will change how you look at him and Christ, and especially what kind of peoples Christ uses. from a man you read of in Acts through Philemon as a character into a man that struggled with his faith and had to take a shower at the end of the day just like all of us. Oh yes, it is really great, I encourage anyone to tear into this mug, and I hear its one of many books- so I really am encouraged to pick up one of Swindoll's other books. Hes a magnificent writer. 5 starsies all the way.

Editorial Review:

Paul's life was never dull. First appearing in the New Testament as a violent enemy of Christ, Paul later went on to not only put his faith in the risen Lord but to pen thirteen letters of the New Testament--in the midst of being beaten, shipwrecked, snakebitten, imprisoned, and chased out of town. Let Charles Swindoll be your guide as you travel down the road to Damascus with Paul and discover the passion for Jesus that drove this hero of the faith.

Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series)

Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent Reference for Modern Pauline Scholarship. 5 out of 5 stars.
13 of 14 people found this review helpful.

`The Dictionary of Paul and His Letters' is a superb reference source if your primary objective is the study of Paul's writings. As a one-volume source, unlike, for example, the six volume Anchor Bible Dictionary, it is a far less expensive reference of all Pauline issues on your desk. For most people, the very best aspect of the volume is its dedication to contemporary scholarship. This focus has many good points and a few problems.

The only problem I see with its `contemporary' focus is that some important works on Paul may not cited. This is only a theoretical concern, as my biggest fear, that the article on `Mysticism' would not refer to Albert Schweitzer's important `The Mysticism of St. Paul', but it does.

On the other side of the coin, all major articles include generous bibliographies to both books and articles in English, German, and French. I find no references to Italian articles, but if there were important articles written in Italian, I believe they will be here.

While some major Pauline scholars such as Ed Sanders and N. T. Wright are missing from the list of contributors, there are many authorities that do weigh in. Foremost among these are James Dunn, F. F. Bruce, and David Wright. There are over a hundred contributors, so I'm certain I'm unfamiliar with many major authorities. From what I know, the credentials of the contributors are impeccable.

While I learned early in my elementary school years that an encyclopedia was always a good place to start a research project, it was often not enough for first class work, but there were always things an encyclopedia could do which no other reference could do quite as well. And, this volume does a great job on those tasks.

First, as already mentioned, it has great bibliographies on all major articles. My only complaint is that since all the entries run together (no break to a new line when beginning with the author's name), the bibliographies are hard to read. I commonly miss an important reference when my aging eyes skip over the lines just a bit too quickly.

Second, the text has superior cross-referencing. Every time a word or phrase is used which is itself the subject of an article, the word or phrase is asterisked. I don't recall that even the mighty Encyclopedia Britannia did so well in cross-referencing. I know the Britannia's bibliographies were not nearly as good.

Third, there are lots of useful articles with information you simply don't find anywhere else, at least not with a certain amount of luck. Two examples stand out. The first is a list of Pauline colleagues, all those co-workers mentioned in Acts and in Paul's own letters, with indications of their roles. The second is the list of Old Testament citations in Paul, divided by those where the quote from the Septuagint is exact and those where the quote is paraphrased. Most of this is reprinted from classic papers on the subject, primarily by E. E. Ellis.

There is one area where one needs to use additional references. While there are excellent articles on each of Paul's letters, they do not constitute complete exegeses of the letters. Fortunately, again, the bibliographies offer excellent lists of full commentaries; however, they are not complete and they are limited to `modern' exegeses. The bibliography on Romans, for example, does not include either N. T. Wright's very long commentary in `The New Interpreter's Bible' or references to classical commentaries such as those by Martin Luther or John Barth. Second, I would not entirely trust the information here on very early Judaism, for example. On the other hand, long general articles about, for example `Law' are extremely good guidance on research on this subject going back over 100 years.

This book will not replace more specialized works, but it will do an excellent job of helping you find and understand the mountain of scholarly research on Paul from the last century.

Editorial Review:

Designed to bring students, teachers, pastors and general readers up-to-date and up-to-speed, this dictionary presents more information than any other single work, dealing exhaustively with Pauline theology, literature, background and scholarship.

To Live Is Christ

Beth Moore

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Awesome writer 5 out of 5 stars.
24 of 24 people found this review helpful.

I first became aware of the vibrancy of Beth Moore's teachings at my church's women's group. What an awesome teacher of God's word she is,and this book did not disappoint me. Beth takes a look at the life of Paul, from his birth, conversion from a zealous Jew to a humbled Christian, and the missionary journeys he undertook in Christ's name and brings them to life on these pages. She has a way of pondering aspects of the biblical narratives that really open one's eyes, and gives you a depth and breadth and taste of what life might have been like for the apostle Paul that one normally wouldn't realize, and then encourages and challenges us to live our lives for Christ in similar ways. I did not read this book in one sitting, but read a little every day, and came away delighted to have "tasted" each morsel she offered. I love Beth Moore's devotion to the Lord, and she has inspired me.

Editorial Review:

In To Live Is Christ, best-selling author Beth Moore travels on a spiritual odyssey through the life of one of Christianity’s most fervent journeymen, the apostle Paul, tracing his story from childhood to martyrdom.

Proclaiming his faith as a benchmark in New Testament Scripture, Beth writes, "I have accepted many of Paul’s words as a personal challenge. ‘I want to know Christ’ has become my plea. ‘To live is Christ and to die is gain’ has become my hope. And to borrow his words once more, ‘Not that I have already obtained all this . . . but I press on.’"

Paul’s undying passion for Christ continues to inspire and challenge those with a deep spiritual hunger for the things of God. Readers will be greatly refreshed by the obvious mercy of God that causes those who have failed him to repent and serve him wholeheartedly and effectively.

Paul Apostle of the Heart Set Free

Frederick Fyvie Bruce

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Wow, this book is great 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful.

I'm about half way thru this book. It is filled with info you need to know: the history of the early church; Roman politics, laws; what the Sanhedrin could/could not do; political/theological battles between the Pharisee and the Saducees; politics of Stephens death; theological dilemma of Paul (pre Damascus) if Jesus was the Messiah yet was crucified/hung on a tree; development of the early Christian theology. Every page has something intensely interesting to we Christians. Really makes Acts come alive. Really helps illuminate some of Paul's writings when you understand what was going on at the time and why he was defending himself at times. Exciting, interesting, keep your bible open and be ready for an adventure.

Bruce - Distorting the life of Paul 2 out of 5 stars.
9 of 15 people found this review helpful.

Paul, Apostle of the Heart Set Free, by F. F. Bruce is a well known work on the life of the Aposlte Paul and his contribution to the New Testament. It appears to derive its title from 2 Cor 3.17. Bruce has the following quote on page 21: "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there the heart is free." This is the first of many problems with this book. It is not an accurate quote of the verse which actually reads: "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."(NASB). I checked other versions and was unable to find one which translated the verse as quoted by Bruce. In fairness Bruce did not cite the version he quoted (in my opinion that is another failure on his part) so he may have the quote correct, but misquoting, or failing to provide a reference for a quotation this important at best demonstrates inattention to detail and at worst deliberate modification. This is unfortunate as I approached this book with a fair degree of anticipation. I was looking forward to learning about Paul and his influence on the early church.

For me, the fatal flaw in the book occurs on page 188 where Bruce writes:
"To keep the whole law was no easy task, but it was not impossible. The rich man who assured Jesus that he had kept all the commandments of the Decalogue from his youth was no hypocrite, and no more was Paul when, looking back on his earlier life from the perspective of twenty to thirty years' Christian experience, he says that "as to righteousness under the law" he was "blameless" (Phil 3.6),"

Fundamental to the need for the cross is the fact that no one can live a blameless life ...a life without violating the law. If it was possible to do so, even for one person, then Jesus did not need to die on the cross for our sins. Bruce appears to strike at the heart of this fundamental doctrine of Christianity. I disagree with Bruce on this. [Strike one]

On page 340, while recounting the story of Eutychus from Acts 20.9, Bruce says of this account that Eutychus was not dead but merely knocked unconscious by the three story fall and far from performing a miracle, Paul merely revived Euthychus "(perhaps performing some form of artificial respiration)". This statement severely troubled me as I tried to remember, without success, if Bruce had mentioned any miracles in the preceding 328 pages. I disagree with Bruce's conclusion on this event. [Strike 2]

Then on page 373 commenting on Acts 28.3-6, Bruce comments in a footnote that there are no poisonous snakes on Malta today and goes on to cite W. M. Ramsey suggesting that the snake Paul encountered was not poisonous either. Based on his comments regarding this and the incident with Eutychus I do not think that Bruce believes that miracles are possible. I disagree with Bruce on this item. [Strike 3]

I am not a new Christian. I have been studying the Bible and reading related books for 30 years. Much of the information in this book is, of necessity, based on speculation by the author. For that reason, the author must have the trust of the reader. When the author betrays either bias or error regarding facts which I as the reader have knowledge of, he loses credibility to be trusted in correctly relating information which I do not know. Well footnoted garbage is still garbage. The problems cited above are not a complete list of the issues with this book. However, they are sufficient for me to go against the majority opinion. Based on the above I believe this book to be an unreliable source of information.

Editorial Review:

This is a biography of Paul by one of the foremost Pauline scholars of our time. While Bruce's primary concern is to portray the life of the apostle Paul, he also examines the main themes of Paul's thought, set in their historical background and illustrated from his letters.

What Paul Really Said About Women: The Apostle's Liberating Views on Equality in Marriage, Leadership, and Love

John T. Bristow

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Incredible 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I cannot say enough about the insight this book contains to clarify some of those things that we sort of 'knew to some degree all along', but didn't have enough background to really be able to explain clearly from a biblical standpoint. This book is not some propaganda...it is insight to the original context and language of the writers, things that are all but lost in our shallow English language and Westernized culture. A must, especially for ministers. No room for male supremacy here.

A Godsend!! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Truly an illuminating book on what Paul REALLY said about women! I can't recommend this enough. It will change what else you've read and been told about Paul. When viewed in the context of the times and using original language it makes ALL the difference in the world. Thank you, Dr. Bristow!

As has been mentioned in previous reviews here: Paul wasn't a male chauvanist. My apologies too, Paul. ; )

Editorial Review:

A challenge to the traditional understanding of St. Paul's epistles and sexism in today's church.

In Search of Paul: How Jesus' Apostle Opposed Rome's Empire with God's Kingdom

John Dominic Crossan, Jonathan L. Reed

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Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

John Dominic Crossan, the eminent historical Jesus scholar, and Jonathan L. Reed, an expert in biblical archaeology, reveal through archaeology and textual scholarship that Paul, like Jesus, focused on championing the Kingdom of God––a realm of justice and equality––against the dominant, worldly powers of the Roman empire.

Many theories exist about who Paul was, what he believed, and what role he played in the origins of Christianity. Using archaeological and textual evidence, and taking advantage of recent major discoveries in Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Syria, Crossan and Reed show that Paul was a fallible but dedicated successor to Jesus, carrying on Jesus's mission of inaugurating the Kingdom of God on earth in opposition to the reign of Rome. Against the concrete backdrop of first–century Grego–Roman and Jewish life, In Search of Paul reveals the work of Paul as never before, showing how and why the liberating messages and practices of equality, caring for the poor, and a just society under God's rules, not Rome's, were so appealing.

Readers interested in Paul as a historical figure and his place in the development of Christianity

•Readers interested in archaeology and anthropology

The Life of St. Paul

Lawrence Boadt, Linda Schapper

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Paul and His Letters

John B. Polhill

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Objectively Paul 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This author does a tremendous job of evaluating others hypothesis. The argumentation is very plain spoken. The reading can be a bit thick at times. Great book for reference library.

Editorial Review:

Except for Christ himself, no figure has been more influential in the history of Christianity than the apostle Paul. And yet his remarkable life remains shrouded in mystery. In this probing new book, John B. Polhill scrapes away the myths about this great man and uncovers the truth of his life and thought.

Using Acts, the Pauline epistles, and reliable traditions from non-canonical sources, Polhill weaves together the remarkable story of Paul's transformation from persecutor to persecuted, producing a dynamic account of his entire ministry. By placing each of Paul's letters in its proper historical context, Polhill brings new light to these foundation stones of the Christian faith. He follows Paul from his early years in Tarsus and Jerusalem to his imprisonment and eventual martyrdom, painting a detailed, comprehensive portrait of Paul that will serve as an indispensable resource for students, teachers, and pastors alike.