HarperCollins Paul: A Biography

Informative of the backgrounds surrounding Paul’s conversion and later on what drove his conviction.

This is a superb new book which comes from the man generally acknowledged to be the leading living New Testament scholar, Tom Wright. It’s in many ways a culmination of his vast life's work in theology, much of which looks at Paul’s writings. Devotees of Wright will recognise many of his previous themes. Now however he has recast his great theological scholarship on the Pauline epistles into a biographical form. It is more accessible and somewhat less lengthy than the more specialist works and designed for the general reader, a category I certainly include myself in, rather than the specialist theologian. It is still pretty long (500 pages plus) and in places it is a little repetitive: the editing of a second edition could be enhanced. Where Wright succeeds brilliantly is a picture of Paul as a human being. We can tend to see him as primarily a theologian, even an ivory tower dweller, but the book brings out his much broader background - a businessman, a student, a traveller, a Roman citizen, a teacher. A man of energy, drive and great courage, who could at times argues Wright, also be bossy, experience depression and need affirmation from his congregations. Perhaps most importantly he places Paul at the intersection of Greek, Roman and Jewish life which enables us to see Paul much more as his contemporaries would have seen him. It is a world which is profoundly different to ours for truly “the past is a different country they do things differently there” and Wright is excellent at bringing that out. For example “ today religion...designates a detached area of life, a kind of private hobby for those who like that kind of thing, separated by definition from politics and public life, from science and technology. In Paul’s day “religion” meant almost exactly the opposite”. Wright, as you would expect from someone of his depth of scholarship is brilliant at looking at many aspects of Paul’s life and times that we might overlook. He points out for example that in Athens Paul was not in a university debating chamber but something much nearer to a courtroom and that he was dangerously close to the same charge that had led to the death of Socrates. Want to know how Paul probably proved he was a Roman citizen? Or what being a tent maker was really like as a job? Did you know that the debate about who was a Jew and who not, was key in part because Jews enjoyed an exemption from the general demand to worship Caesar and as result were looked on as virtually atheists? He is also very insightful about Paul the embarrassed fund raiser or Paul the opinionated shipping expert - this book humanizes Paul, brings him down from some theological Mount Olympus. Of the three great systems of thought listed above it is Paul the Jew that comes out most strongly. Wright makes a whole series of suggestions as to OT passages that inspired Paul - Ezekiel’s vision of the heavenly throne-chariot on the road to Damascus, for exampole. By stressing the Jewishness of Paul he underlines the errors of the c19th German liberals who sought to do the exact opposite - to lever Paul out of his Jewish background. This Damascus road experience was hardly a religious conversion in the modern sense, argues Wright - “not for one second did Paul cease to believe in the one God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob...what drove him forward was the belief that Israel’s God has done what he always said he would....that Temple and Torah themselves were not the ultimate realities but instead glorious signposts pointing forward...to Jesus”. And that additionally all humans and not just Jews could be set free to worship the one God. And what was Paul pointing to about Jesus? Wright is surely right when he says that Paul wasn’t telling people how to live or how to get to heaven but that the crucified Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. On the issue of what faith in the Messiah means - a burning one if you follow the ‘new perspective on Paul ‘ debate, if you’ve never heard of it don’t worry - Wright seems to hedge his bets. He asks himself the question “ is it justification by loyalty?” and seems as far as I can tell to answer “on balance, no”. He says the Greek word ‘pistis’ which we translate into English as ‘faith’ “also has overtones of faithfulness...and loyalty....that as well as belief there is the commitment that accompanies genuine belief that Jesus is the worlds sovereign. " This sounds to me a sensible place to rest but does leave a number of loose threads which minds of greater theological heft than mine will no doubt seek to untangle further. My only caveat is that Tom Wright in places seems to love to set up and then knock down evangelical straw men. Just to take a few examples - is Western Christianity really like Plutarch being about “leaving the wicked realm of space and time and matter to find a way to heaven from which pure souls have been temporarily exiled?” Are there really Christians who think being a Christian is 100% individualistic and zero about being part of a community? Do some Christians really think “the gospel is all about inner feelings and not at all about outward actions?” And for the early Christians was what happened to people after death “unimportant, a mere interim”? So while there are occasional axes being ground this should not detract from what is a brilliant book. Like all Wright’s writing one might not agree with everything but he certainly makes you think and strongly defends many orthodox positions, not least that the epistles were all written by the man himself. In fact he skillfully traces how he thinks Paul’s circumstances and chronology - which he adapts somewhat to include an Ephesian imprisonment - shaped each of the books. The only ones he struggles to fit into his scheme are the Pastorals. Wright deliberately avoids any application as to what Paul might have made of the church today -hopefully this might be his next book! This books succeeds because it humanizes Paul, explains his contract, even his inner thought patterns. The result is that we again realize that Paul, like all the Bible writers, was a real person pointing us to a real God.

I highly recommend this book. Compared to Wright's other theology books this is much more accessible. He follows Paul's journey from what we know from his letters and Acts and cautiously speculates about what we don't know, filling in from other historical sources. The man Paul comes alive in these pages, which in turn makes his letters so much more approachable. Put in their contexts, much of what seems cryptic to the lay person in Paul's letters suddenly starts to come together.

This is an incredible book. I have grown up reading the Bible as a Christian believer. Still, I always wondered who the person behind so many letters in the New Testament was (who caused Christianity to develop, spread and flourish behind Jerusalem). This was precisely the message of Jesus, who wanted Christianity and the Word of God to spread in the Jewish and Gentile communities. This book is well-researched by the best person in the field. I am sure Professor Tom Wright has spent much of his life researching Paul. This book not only allowed me to live with St Paul in the 1st Century but also helped me realise the determination and hardship that have gone into the spread of Christianity and the preservation of the originality of Jesus Christ’s messages (Word of God). This was the foundation for the development of civilisation (e.g. welcoming both Jews and Gentiles to the word of God, providing opportunities for females, providing education for both genders, helping the poor and disabled, healing the sick and disabled, helping slaves, etc.). I highly recommend this book to everyone. I have a few minor comments: It would be interesting to learn, for instance, about the people Paul was speaking to at Antioch. Were they only Jews and Greeks? I am sure there were other nationalities. Also, I believe using "Turkey" to describe the 1st-century event is not appropriate (it was better to use the names used in the 1st century, as Turkey did not exist until the 15th century, and Mongol arrivals in the Middle East began in the 13th century). Finally, I believe that the events on the Damascus road changed Paul’s faith instantly as Jesus appeared to him, and I don’t think Paul had any doubt from then onwards about Jesus, who was the living God. Thank you for this excellent book.

Paul is so fascinating and yes divides opinion still today. A passionate deep thinker and troublemaker. A zealous energetic man. A man who has a way with words. Yet when we are introduced to him he Is also a persecutor of the followers of the Way, the followers of Jesus. He was driven and fervent in everything he did, but his “epiphany” on the road to Damascus when he met the risen Jesus renewed and transformed him. He was resurrected. Wow! I think Paul is a bit like marmite; you either love him or you don’t. Perhaps spread thinly he’s just about palatable but Paul was a man who rarely (lets say never) did things half heartedly. With Paul you got it all. He was a man dare I say (just like David) after Gods own heart. So it was with great excitement when Igot my hands on Tom Wright’s new biography on Paul this year. Useful as a doorstop (you are warned!) but this examination of Paul the man and his times is thrilling, heartwarming, vibrant, fascinating, illuminating and quite frankly brilliant. Paul is passionate. Paul like Jesus was a Jew. Paul like Jesus suffered both physically spiritually and mentally. Paul changed the world by spreading the Word; the Good News of Jesus Christ to all. By his arguments, his discussions his public speaking, his actions, his love to all- gentile, Jew, Roman, slave, rich man or poor, woman or man, Paul transformed hearts and minds and ultimately people’s souls. I argue he still does today through the remnants of his letters,and of Luke’s portrayal of him in Acts. No doubt about it Paul was a complex man. Highly intelligent, fervent but tempered by and through God’s love. He modelled what Jesus taught by loving and serving God with all his heart all his mind and all his strength and also ultimately his life. Writing as Tom Wright rather than N T Wright means that this is a portrait of a man and his times made understandable to everyone and anyone. In other words you don’t need a theology degree! I read it every morning in bite sized chunks and would recommend it to anyone who wants to delve into Paul, the society and cultures he lived in and what motivated him. He speaks to us today just like Jesus still does. A compelling portrait; Paul the Apostle was and continues to be a fascinating compelling man.

There have been many previous biographies of Paul which range widely in both side and authority...from the 400 page plus-like this one-to the slim and from the scholarly to the popular.Tom Wright is amongst our leading contemporary Pauline scholar-indeed the dust cover,beneath the title,quotes Newsweek's calling him "The world's leading New Testament scholar". However many of his prolific writings are addressed to the non specialist reader. We probably have more solid information about Paul than any other biblical figure.but it is still tiny if compared to that available to recent biographers of 20th century figures...e.g. Stalin or FDR.This is so even for those like Wright who are willing to draw on Acts and the debated epistles. What is unusual is that he draws on his huge biblical and historical learning to suggest possible material to fill some of the gaps.Just one example:when he treats Pauls speech in Athens he says that,if you read aloud the version in Acts,it only takes minutes,,,,,but Paul probably took hours! He then suggests what might have been there....but because of his knowledge of the period,and the writings Paul certainly,or at least probably, knew they are never words no 1sr century Jew could have uttered. Rigorists may object to this technique but I believe most readers,from experts to beginners,wiilenjoy and gain much ftom this excellent book.