Synopsis
There were four different portraits of Paul in the early church: the non-authoritarian Paul of the great Letters, the authoritarian, misogynist Paul of the Pastoral Epistles, the frenetic missionary who single-handedly introduced Christianity to the Mediterranean world, and the proto- Gnostic Paul of Marcion and the Gnostic commentaries on Paul s letters. Which is the real Paul? The Christian church opted for the Pastoral Epistles, and so read Paul letters through that lens. But that image has become so problematic in the modern world that many contemporary readers are either put off by Paul or simply ignore him. But was Paul really such a frightful figure? In providing a fresh reading of Paul s authentic letters, the SV translators have attempted to liberate his words from those of Augustine, and later Martin Luther, who used Paul to cover their own guilty consciences. This Augustinian-Lutheran tradition of interpreting Paul s discourses about justification by faith as a way of dealing with their own sense of moral failure, for instance, represents but one way of translating Paul s letters. The Greek of Paul s writings can be understood rather differently so that Paul s message is not about personal guilt, but about the trustworthiness of God, and Jesus courageous faith in God as a role model for others. This is how Paul s letters are translated in this book. Here readers will encounter a very different view of Paul and his message.
Review
A magnificent book! The authors, four Jesus Seminar Fellows, combine their brilliant scholarship with a clear and readable prose to present Paul s thought to our day with a vibrant freshness. In the process they free Paul from the creeds and doctrines that have for so long distorted his message. This is the best book on Paul I have ever read. --John Shelby Spong, Episcopal Bishop Emeritus of Newark, New Jersey
Were the 13 letters in the New Testament ascribed to Paul s hand really written by Paul? Even in the letters that can be considered his, are there interpolations from a later hand that changed them significantly? In this brilliant new translation and introduction to Paul and his writings, the translators all fellows of the Jesus Seminar of scholars concerned with biblical authenticity attempt to answer these questions and to provide a dynamic rendering of Paul s letters that takes account of the mythic register of his language and the rhetorical flourishes of his style. They conclude that the extant authentic Pauline letters are 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Philemon, Philippians, and Romans, and these letters were likely written around the middle of the first century. In addition, the translators point out interpolations from later hands in the authentic letters, such as 1 Corinthians 13 (the famous love chapter). The translators arrange the letters in the chronological order in which they were most likely written. Given the exalted status of Paul and his writings, this exceptional new translation is sure to shatter some views of Paul s letters. --Publishers Weekly
In The Authentic Letters of Paul, Dewey, Hoover, McGaughy, and Schmidt have given us one of the most deeply satisfying Christian reads of recent time. Paul and Pauline literature have rarely been so accessibly, judiciously, and cordially presented as they are here, much less so beneficially. This is a work to be savored and pondered, employed, shared and, ultimately, praised. --Phyllis Tickle, Publishers Weekly
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