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Title: Paul Apostle of the Heart Set Free by Frederick Fyvie Bruce ISBN: 0-8028-4778-1 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: January, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent book on a compelling subject
Comment: The title accurately describes what Paul saw himself as trying to do and be. F.F. Bruce is a scholar who has written a book that is available to the common man who wants to delve into this brilliant man from 2000 years ago. There is enough scholarship to satisfy the scholar and enough plain spoken insight to satisfy anyone else. A great book on this subject.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent portrayal of all aspects of the apostle Paul
Comment: This is the only book written exclusively about Paul that I have read and the only one that I think I will for quite some time. When I began my search for a good biography of the life of the apostle Paul I spent many hours sifting through editorial reviews all claiming strong accolades for each book I ran across. I eventually bought this one if nothing else than lack of desire to find "the one." Ironically, I think I did.
Bruce's portrayal of Paul is full and complete, covering the span of his life as well as the history, culture and geography of its setting. Each chapter is neatly categorized under numbered main ideas while still expounding a full thesis throughout. The design, as well as the content, of the book is superb.
I was concerned that I would not be able to find a book on Paul that combined both literary criticism and scholarship with a moderate to conservative outlook on Christianity in general. My concerns vanished after the first few chapters and I began to see the scope of Bruce's writing. Perhaps the most gripping aspect of the book is Bruce's ability to present Paul as a real person instead of merely an iconoclastic image of a legend. By combining both scholarship and straightforward hermenuetics the apostle springs to life as a threefold person, for Paul was a man of heart, mind and action and no element is neglected at the expense of the other. The reader is allowed to glimpse at Paul's personality as an audaucious and perhaps blunt individual who nevertheless is steadfast in his determination to complete the mission given to him by the risen Christ. Paul's heart is clearly seen in his interaction with is fledgling congregations while his mind is picked at for the tremendous ideas and thought he developed that affected the rest of christendom.
In short, I was more than satisfied enough with this book that I have found no need for another for a while. I would recommend this book to conservative evangelicals looking for an adequate description of Paul's life, thought and activity.
Rating: 4
Summary: Free
Comment: The book, Paul, Apostle of the Heart Set Free, written by the evangelical, conservative biblical scholar, F. F. Bruce, is a summary study of the life of Paul. Bruce writes from a conspicuous learned background, yet his voice is elegant, discernible, and vivid. A book like this is the yearning of every student of biblical studies, particularly those with moderate to conservative beliefs and not always in agreement with the liberal, school of history approach taken by other books of this genre. Bruce is concise, comprehensive, and enjoyable. The book is a collection of writings by Bruce, some from as early as 1969, while much Bruce apparently wrote new when publishing the book in 1977. He ties them together very well, with only a minimum of repetition. One exception is the often repetitious analysis of Paul's Roman citizenship and it significance. Some chapters at first disappointed me with the shallow treatment of a topic, but I was usually relieved when finding a more fully developed examination of the same topic in a later chapter.Bruce relies heavily on the book of Acts, whose historical value, in characteristic conservative fashion, he generally accepts unquestionably.
One objection I have to Bruce is that he does not allow for a Hellenized Paul. Bruce argues firmly the Paul was a "Hebrew born of Hebrews." On page 43, and 127, Bruce argues that Paul's Judaism was free from Hellenistic influence, from which Paul had been sheltered since childhood. Several other studies have shown that Judaism, and particularly Pharisaism, was significantly influenced by Hellenism during the second temple period, despite their attempts to resist it. The Greek language and traditions were hybridized with local cultural environments. The effect of this influence can be seen in the vocabulary, concepts, metaphors, and cultic acts from the Greeks which appear in much of the New Testament. How could a person such as Paul, who was born in a Greek-speaking city, educated in and communicated in Greek, pretend to be uninfluenced by Hellenism? Similarly, Bruce often refers to Christ as Jesus of Nazareth; on page 56, he says that Jesus "emerged from obscurity of his home in Nazareth." On page 47, he calls him "A visitor from Galilee." I sense that his emphasis is that Nazareth, and all of Galilee, was thought of as the rural backwoods of Palestine, a view that has come under recent challenge. If Bruce sees Paul without Hellenistic influence, he surely does not allow for a Hellenized Christ. But new excavations at Sepphoris and Tiberius portray a different picture of first century Galilee, one that is far more cosmopolitan and Hellenized. Bruce puts great emphasis on Paul's Pharisaism and the importance of the Pharisee in first century Palestine. The power and influence of the Pharisees on Judaism during the time of Paul is not as clear as Bruce infers. Josephus, himself a Pharisee and predisposed to bias, tells us little of them from the start of Herod's rule until the revolt in 66 C.E. Pharisaic practice and beliefs of were, until recently, based on view that Pharisaism dominated pre-70 C.E. Judaism, and that post-70 C.E. rabbinic literature accuracy reflected the earlier practices.
I feel Bruce does not emphasize as much as he should the conflict between Paul and James the Righteous, brother of Jesus. I do not feel the antagonism between Paul's "Gentile Mission" and James' "the Jerusalem Church" is adequately covered. Acts may not tell the whole story about these relations; more from Pseudoclementines on this subject would have been welcomed. Overall, I feel this book is admirable. It is a good treatment of Paul's life and work. I especially like the early chapters on the historical background of the world in which Paul lived. I found Bruce's occasional criticism of Bultmann's views throughout the book interesting, and wished Bultmann was alive to rebut them. I enjoyed the subtle humor, it made the book more readable.
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Title: New Testament History by F. F. Bruce, F.F. Bruce ISBN: 0385025335 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 15 March, 1983 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Theology of Paul the Apostle by James D. G. Dunn ISBN: 0802838448 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: November, 1997 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
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Title: Dictionary of Paul and His Letters/a Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship by Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, Daniel G. Reid ISBN: 0830817786 Publisher: Intervarsity Press Pub. Date: November, 1993 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
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Title: Paul & His Letters by John B. Polhill ISBN: 080541097X Publisher: Broadman & Holman Publishers Pub. Date: August, 1999 List Price(USD): $34.99 |
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Title: The Message of Acts in the History of Redemption by Dennis E. Johnson ISBN: 0875522351 Publisher: P & R Press Pub. Date: January, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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