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Title: Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity? by David Wenham ISBN: 0-8028-0124-2 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: April, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.57 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Compelling Technical Polemic
Comment: I found Wenham's argument more compelling than I had expected. The data he surveys on the connectin between Paul and the gospels is far more exaustive than the dozen+ other books I looked at on the general topic of Paul's Chritology combined and is generally well structured. My main critique is of his strategy of lumping evidence of widely varying likelyhood. This resulted in very thin allusions coinciding with strong cases. On the whole though, it is a well put together volume andworth the pages.
Rating: 4
Summary: Outstanding presentation of Jesus and Paul
Comment: This book is a comprehensive presentation of the teachings of Paul and Jesus from the New Testament. I liked the way the various concepts were presented and analyzed. For a scholarly book, it is written in an easy to read fashion that contains enough detailed information for the theological scholar and is easily followed by the layperson. The book basically blows the doors off the theological theory that Paul was unaware of Jesus and created his own version of Christianity.
The book is outlined in such a way that many concepts which are presented by both Jesus and Paul such as the Kingdom of God, the Christian Community, and the essentials elements of who Jesus was and claimed to be, are compared, contrasted and dissected against each other. The result is that the author demonstrates that the absurd theories about Paul being unaware of Jesus life and teachings are unfounded.
It is clear after examining the evidence that Paul was presenting the message of the Gospel, and was in fact a follower of Jesus Christ and not the founder of a new Gnostic religion. If you have heard these theories and are curious, please read this book.
Rating: 4
Summary: A compelling case for Paul as a follower of Jesus
Comment: David Wenham answers the question posed in the title of his book by affirming that Paul was a follower of Jesus and not some sort of founder of a new religion. The opening chapter, entitled "Introducing the Question", was helpful in that the author was forthcoming about his methodologies and biases. No scholar is "completely un-biased", and Wenham deserves credit for sharing the path his argument will follow before blindly leading his reader down it.
A convincing argument is made that Paul was aware of far more details of Jesus' life than for which he is often credited. Wenham tries to avoid what he calls "parallelomania" which is the overzealousness of some scholars to find connections between Paul and Jesus in places where they don't actually exist. Some skeptics may find Wenham guilty of what he claims to avoid, but I believe the vast majority of his arguments are highly probable.
Wenham groups the connections between Paul and Jesus in degrees of probability. For example, the "highly probable" category includes Paul's knowledge of the Last Supper, resurrection appearances, Jesus' teaching on divorce and others. His next category is simply labelled "probable" and contains such things as Paul's awareness of the baptism of Jesus, the commissioning of Peter, and many more things. He then moves to connections which he considers to be merely "plausible", and believes Paul's awareness of the Sermon on the Mount, parables of the prodigal son and vineyard tenants, among several other items, fall into this category.
By using degrees of probability, I think Wenham safely avoids the charge of "parallelomania". He doesn't use statements such as "Paul must have known X". Instead, he uses terminology like "Paul probably knew X" or "It is very likely that Paul was aware of X". Taken as a cumulative argument, Wenham's case is highly persuasive. The one shortcoming I found with this book was that Wenham fails to adequately interact with those who would say that Paul was the founder of Christianity. Its apparent that Wenham is more than able to meet the task, so my assumption is that he wanted to focus on developing his case without constantly being sidetracked by the need to refute his opponents. If the book is ever revised, it would be great to see him address this issue. Doing so would make this an absolutely perfect book.
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Title: What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity? by N. T. Wright, Tom Wright ISBN: 0802844456 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: June, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, 3) by N. T. Wright ISBN: 0800626796 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.00 |
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Title: Paul Between Damascus and Antioch: The Unknown Years by Martin Hengel, Anna Maria Schwemer, John Bowden ISBN: 0664257364 Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press Pub. Date: May, 1997 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Paul and Jesus: The True Story by David Wenham ISBN: 0802839835 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: The New Testament and the People of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Vol 1) by N. T. Wright ISBN: 0800626818 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: September, 1996 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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