In Praise of the Inexpressible: Paul's Experience of the Divin - Softcover

Paillard, Jean

9781565637344: In Praise of the Inexpressible: Paul's Experience of the Divin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1565637348 ISBN 13: 9781565637344

Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004

For creative insight, for iconoclastic rhetoric, and for hard-fisted theological reasoning, scarcely any Christian literature, canonical or otherwise, measures up to Paul’s letters to the first churches.

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From the Inside Flap:

"For too long, [however,] . . . Paul has been . . . judged by scholars and laity alike as quarrelsome, arrogant, and intolerant. In Praise of the Inexpressible [paints] a three-dimensional portrait of Paul, whose life and thought from Damascus onward were permeated with theological ineffability and wonder. Sensitively and sensibly, Paillard [highlights often overlooked] motifs that are indispensable in understanding Paul. Like Jacob’s wrestling with his divine opponent, Paul’s years of silence after his encounter on the road to Damascus, his sighs and groans too deep for words, his being caught up into the Third Heaven, and his eulogies to God’s mystery, wisdom, glory, revelation, and Spirit enabled Paul both to formulate and proclaim the gospel, and to be transformed by its mystical depths. Paillard’s great learning and R. J. Erickson’s fine translation from the Swedish rescue Paul from arid scholarly rationalism."
—James R. Edwards, Professor of Biblical Studies, Whitworth College

"While we usually think of Paul as a hard-nosed, articulate and highly verbal debater, never at a loss for words, in this fascinating little book Jean Paillard awakens us to another aspect of the Apostle. For Paul is at the same time one who knows that the reality he has encountered in Christ is in fact beyond words. There are experiential, mystical, and emotive elements in Paul's theology that are transcendent in character and that can only be expressed in allusive language. Paillard explores the evocative images Paul uses to describe the indescribable. This marvelous and rewarding book will draw the reader into an appreciation of the beauty, the glory, and the mystery of Paul's Christianity. Here is a book for all who want a glimpse of the transcendent that lies behind the mere words."
—Donald A. Hagner, George Eldon Ladd Professor of New Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary

About the Author:

Jean Paillard is a Dominican father and teaches New Testament at the Stockholm Theological Institute. He has received many distinctions for his work as an author and for his biblical research.

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