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Title: Paul: The Mind of the Apostle by A. N. Wilson ISBN: 0-393-31760-9 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: April, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.94 (33 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Great research. Take conclusions with 2 grains of salt
Comment: Wilson does an incredible job of recreating Paul's world to help the reader understand Paul's struggles with the times and people of the 1st century. However, he really should have refrained from making educated guesses in an area which he clearly has no clue - theology. Although Wilson paints a picture of Paul as a fanatic, what also came through, for me, was that he was undoubtedly one of the greatest minds that ever lived. At Wilson's recommendation, I read Paul's letter to the Romans, and if Paul was a fanatic, he was a truly inspired one. Although I do not agree with most of Wilson's conclusions, his research supports my own conclusion, which I came to before reading the book, that Paul was responsible for the spread of Christianity. I recommend this book to those who already have faith in Jesus and are not easily swayed by unfounded arguments of others.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Fascinating Study of the Early Christian World
Comment: This is a fascinating study of the early Christian world, a period of time in which "Christianity" emerged from the struggles within the early Jewish Jesus-movement. Wilson's writing is effortless and his depiction of Roman and Jewish culture is insightful. Those who believe that Christianity is the religion Jesus founded will not agree with much of what Wilson has to say (or modern scholarship for that matter!), but for those seeking an understanding of how various strands of religious thinking took form following the death of Jesus, this is a book well worth reading.
I would say that the subtitle is a little out of place because the book is not really about "the mind of the apostle." This is something that we can never hope to grasp, and Wilson acknowledges as much in his book. But a coherent picture of who Paul was and what he was all about does emerge from its pages. The book clearly sets him in opposition to James and Peter and the Jerusalem Jesus-movement and clearly details Paul's unique (although unintended) contribution to the birth of Christianity. It is hard to put the book down.
Rating: 3
Summary: Wilson--The Ramblings of the Writer
Comment: Wilson approaches his biographies of Paul and Jesus from a somewhat conflicted perspective. He wants to be very skeptical of the conclusions of modern Christianity, yet he isn't sure whether Acts and the Synoptics are complete fiction or literal truth. He seems to careen from one extreme to another throughout the book. He'll cite a passage from Acts as if it were literal history to cast doubts on one of Paul's Epistles. Two pages later, he'll do the opposite. At the end of the book, you're left scratching your head. Does Wilson think the entire New Testament is literal truth or sophisticated mythmaking? Or does he favor some parts over others? Also, it is interesting to read an author who is both skeptical of the New Testament and of other skeptics. For instance, most modern critics of the New Testament accept the existence of Q. Wilson practically dismisses it out of hand. Also, Wilson seems nearly completely ignorant of the findings of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi library.
All that said, I enjoyed reading this book. I was entertained by trying to figure out what Wilson's intended message was.
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Title: Jesus : A Life by A.N. Wilson ISBN: 0449908070 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 31 August, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wisdom Literature by Roland E. Murphy ISBN: 0802839657 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Letters of Paul: Conversations in Context by Calvin J. Roetzel ISBN: 0664257828 Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Doors to the Sacred: A Historical Introduction to Sacraments in the Catholic Church by Joseph Martos ISBN: 0764807188 Publisher: Triumph Books Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: St. Paul Versus St. Peter: A Tale of Two Missions by Michael Goulder ISBN: 0664255612 Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press Pub. Date: January, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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