‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ (Galatians 3.28) The revolutionary writings of St Paul have had an incalculable impact on Western history, and continue to influence directly the two billion Christians living today. Written by a world authority, this brief history begins by assessing what we know about Paul’s life and letters, and his impact on the Roman world of the first century. It concludes by highlighting the key elements of Paul’s thought and considering their consequences as they have played out over two millennia. ‘Packed with knowledge and insight, this brilliant little book offers a remarkably rich, nuanced, and readable introduction to the Apostle Paul and his legacy through the ages.’ David G. Horrell, Professor of New Testament Studies, University of Exeter.
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Summary: A very brief intro to Paul.
These short guides are both really helpful and difficult to write and write about. They assume some, but not too much familiarity with a subject. If you have no understanding, they probably are too advanced. And if you have a lot of understanding, these types of books probably will not be all that interesting.
Mostly I picked this up because it was on sale and because I wanted to read Barclay's Paul and the Gift, which yet again I heard some bible/theologian people on twitter talking about as one of the best books of theology of the past decade or so. (It is also on sale for Kindle and even a better deal at less than a penny a page.) I have a pretty good understanding of Paul, I read NT Wright's biography of Paul fairly recently and I have read a number of other books as well. I thought this would help introduce me to how Barclay thought about Paul, and I think it did a bit.
It is short, less than 100 pages and in that short page span, Barclay gives a brief bio, a discussion of what books he likely wrote, and how Paul influenced later Christian history, especially Augustine and the reformers. That is a lot to cover.
If I had to recommend a single book on Paul to a layperson, this would be on the list of books that I would consider, but I would probably rank Wright's higher because I think it was more thorough to introduce the many issues of Paul. This one is certainly a good short intro, but maybe too short for many
