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126 pages

English

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Paul has provoked people as much in recent times as he did when he was alive. Some regard him as a pestilent and dangerous fellow. Others think of him as the greatest teacher of Christianity after Jesus himself.

In this book, leading theologian Tom Wright focuses on key areas of Paul's teaching, helping us to understand what he was doing and saying. He sweeps away the confusion of much modern theology to uncover the real man and his message.

What St Paul Really Said is a book for all who want to weigh the evidence before making up their minds on the vital questions surrounding Paul. Equally it is for those who want to know what his message might mean for us today.

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Christian theology

Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	SPCK Publishing
Date de parution	21 novembre 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780745958675
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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What St Paul Really Said
A cogent exposition of Paul s central teaching on the person of Christ.
Times Literary Supplement
A well-informed and readable exposition of the more modern approach to Paul.
The Tablet
The persuasiveness of Dr Wright s book rests on his close reading of Pauline texts.
New York Times
A stout defence of the orthodox view.
The Guardian
I heartily recommend [this book] to anyone interested in Paul.
Alice Thomas Ellis, in The Express on Sunday
For Keith Sutton
TOM WRIGHT
What St Paul Really Said
Copyright 1997 Tom Wright
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A Lion Book an imprint of Lion Hudson plc Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England www.lionhudson.com ISBN: 978-0-7459-3797-7 (print) ISBN: 978-0-7459-5867-5 (epub) ISBN: 978-0-7459-5866-8 (Kindle) ISBN: 978-0-7459-5868-2 (pdf)
First edition 1997 10 First electronic edition 2011
All rights reserved
Cover image: Paul Preaching in Athens by Adolph Spangenberg von Gustav
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Contents

Cover

Praise

Dedication

Title Page

Preface

Chapter 1 - Puzzling Over Paul

Chapter 2 - Saul the Persecutor, Paul the Convert

Chapter 3 - Herald of the King

Chapter 4 - Paul and Jesus

Chapter 5 - Good News for the Pagans

Chapter 6 - Good News for Israel

Chapter 7 - Justification and the Church

Chapter 8 - God s Renewed Humanity

Chapter 9 - Paul s Gospel Then and Now

Chapter 10 - Paul, Jesus and Christian Origins

Annotated Bibliography
Preface

Paul has provoked people as much in the twentieth century as he did in the first. Then, they sometimes threw stones at him; now, they tend to throw words. Some people still regard Paul as a pestilent and dangerous fellow. Others still think him the greatest teacher of Christianity after the Master himself. This spectrum of opinion is well represented in the scholarly literature as well as the popular mind.
The Anglican approach to Paul, classically, has been cool and dry. We don t want to be too enthusiastic; that might make us a trifle too Protestant. We don t want to be too condemning; that might look too Catholic. We don t want to take his every last word too seriously; that would be too conservative. But nor do we want to dismiss him out of hand; that would be far too liberal. We normally settle for a few favourite passages, a few desert island texts (such as 1 Corinthians 13, which is about as popular as 1 Corinthians 11 is unpopular), a few favourite themes (such as being in Christ , which can be stated so vaguely as to support almost any theological scheme), and perhaps a favourite epistle (quite possibly Philippians, because it s short, clear, and happy, unlike 2 Corinthians, which is perceived as long, tortuous, and gloomy - a good preparation for Lent, which is where it comes in the lectionary. Oh, and it has two chapters about money, which makes us embarrassed).
I have lived with St Paul as a more or less constant companion for more than twenty years, and I have come to find all these approaches thoroughly unsatisfactory. Having written a doctoral dissertation on the letter to the Romans, a commentary on the letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, and a monograph on Paul s view of Christ and the law - not to mention several articles on various passages and themes within Paul s writings - I still have the sense of being only half-way up the mountain, of there being yet more to explore, more vistas to glimpse. Often (not always), when I read what other scholars say about Paul, I have the feeling of looking downwards into the mist, rather than upwards to the mountain-top. Always I am aware that I myself have a good deal more climbing yet to do.
The present book is therefore something of an interim report, and an incomplete one at that. My large volume, in which I hope to do for Paul what I have tried to do for Jesus in Jesus and the Victory of God (SPCK and Fortress, 1996), is still in preparation. But I have lectured on certain aspects of Paul s thinking in various places over the last few years, and several of those who heard the lectures have encouraged me to make them available to a wider audience. I am very grateful for the invitations to give the Selwyn Lectures in Lichfield Cathedral, the Gheens Lectures at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, the Prideaux Lectures at Exeter University, and some guest lectures at Asbury Seminary, Kentucky and at the Canadian Theological Seminary in Regina, Saskatchewan. My hosts were enormously hospitable, my audiences enthusiastic, and my questioners acute and probing, on each of these occasions. I am deeply grateful.
In pulling these various lectures together into a single whole, I am very conscious that there are large swathes of Pauline thought still untouched. This book is not, in other words, in any sense a complete study of Paul. It does not attempt even to be particularly balanced . What it does attempt to do, however, is to focus on some key areas of Paul s proclamation and its implications - including some not usually noticed - in an attempt to uncover what St Paul really said at these vital points.
A few notes about some basic matters. There has been endless debate as to how far the Paul of the letters corresponds, or does not correspond, to the Paul we find in the Acts of the Apostles. I shall not engage in this debate here, though my analysis of what Paul was saying at key points in his letters may eventually turn out to have some bearing on the issue. Likewise, people still discuss at length whether Paul actually wrote all the letters attributed to him. Most of what I say in this book focuses on material in the undisputed letters, particularly Romans, the two Corinthian letters, Galatians and Philippians. In addition, I regard Colossians as certainly by Paul, and Ephesians as far more likely to be by him than by an imitator. But nothing in my present argument hinges on this one way or the other.
Apart from a few essential notes, I have not attempted to indicate the points at which I am building on, or taking issue with, colleagues within the discipline of Pauline studies. The detailed foundations of my argument can mostly be found in my own various published writings. These, and other works which may be helpful for further study, are listed in the bibliography. Scholarly colleagues will realize that the present work is not attempting to be a learned monograph; non-scholarly readers will perhaps forgive me my occasional forays into what seem to me, though they may not to them, necessary diversions and complexities.
After the work on this project was more or less complete, there appeared (in a review copy, sent to me at proof stage) a new book by the English journalist, novelist and biographer A.N. Wilson. He revives the old argument that Paul was the real founder of Christianity, misrepresenting Jesus and inventing a theology in which a Christ figure, nothing really to do with the Jesus of history, becomes central. Since this theory turns up regularly in one guise or another, and since what I wanted to say in this book anyway forms the basis for the reply I think should be made, I have added at the end a chapter dealing with the whole issue, and with Wilson s book in particular. There are, of course, plenty of books that deal with this issue at great length, and I shall not attempt to duplicate their discussion.
The Bishop of Lichfield, the Right Reverend Keith Sutton, invited me to give the Selwyn Lectures in which some of these ideas had their first public airing. His support and friendship since my move to Lichfield have been a key element in my being able to continue with research and writing despite the demands of a busy Cathedral. His own example of Christian missionary work, and of bearing with joy the sufferings which come through it, have been to many of us a clear signpost to the reality by which Paul lived and of which he wrote. This book is dedicated to him as a small token of the love and gratitude which my family and I feel.

Tom Wright
Lichfield
Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, 1997
Chapter 1
Puzzling Over Paul

According to the Acts of the Apostles, Paul warned his converts in Asia that the path to the kingdom of God lay through many persecutions. Had there been any doubt on the matter, his own life would have been quite sufficient to show them what he meant. Threatened, attacked, misunderstood, shipwrecked, criticized, mocked, belittled, ridiculed, stoned, beaten, abused, insulted; that was his regular lot. Finally, perhaps the unkindest cut of all, he was canonized by the later church, thus enabling later readers to accuse him of posturing to gain power. (The church, however, has often made calling him Saint Paul an excuse for failing either to understand him or to imitate him.)
I sometimes wonder what Paul would say about the treatment he has had in the twentieth century. Plus a change, plus c est la m me chose , perhaps - always assuming that by now he would have added French to the impressive list of languages he already spoke. His fate in this century has been not unlike his fate in his own day. Nobody who wants to think about Christianity can ignore him; but they can, and do, abuse him, misunderstand him, impose their own categories on him, come to him with the wrong questions and wonder why he doesn t give a clear answer, and shamelessly borrow material from him to fit into other schemes of which he would not have approved. And when people proclaim most loudly that they are being Pauline, that the great apostle is their real guiding star, then we find often enough that they are elevating one aspect of his thinking above all the others, so much so that other aspects, for which he was equally concerned, are left to one side or even outrageously denied.
Often, as with the riot in