Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series) [Hardcover]

Gerald F. Hawthorne (Editor), Ralph P. Martin (Editor), Daniel G. Reid (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 1993

The Dictionary of Paul and His Letters is a one-of-a-kind reference work. Following the format of its hightly successful companion volume, the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, this Dictionary is designed to bring students, teachers, ministers and laypople abreast the established conclusions and significant recent developments in Pauline scholarship. No other single reference work presents as much information focused exclusively on Pauline theology, literature, background and scholarship. In a field that recently has undergone significant shirts in perspective, the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters offers a summa of Paul and Pauline studies. In-depth articles focus on individual theological themes (such as law, resurrection and Son of God), broad theological topics (such as Christology, eschatology and the death of Christ), methods of interpretation (such as rhetorical criticism and social-scientific approaches), background topics (such as apocalypticism, Hellenism and Qumran) and various other subjects specifically related to the scholarly study of Pauline theology and literature (such as early catholicism, the center of Paul's theology, and Paul and his interpreters since F. C. Baur). Separate articles are also devoted to each of the Pauline letters to hermeneutics and to preaching Paul today. The Dictionary of Paul and His Letters takes its place alongside the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels in presenting the fruit of evangelical New Testament scholarship at the end of the twentieth century--commited to the authority of Scripture, utilizing the best of critical methods, and maintaining dialogue with contemporary scholarship and challenges facing the church.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

On the heels of its successful Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (1992), Inter-Varsity presents this companion volume on Paul and his writings. It is a collection of 200 well-written, thorough, and informed articles on Pauline themes from Abraham to justification to wrath; epistles, as well as relevant critical and background issues such as Hellenism; social-scientific research; and the canonicity of the epistles. Among the members of the international team of 108 contributors are prominent contemporary evangelical scholars. Several of them have written extensively elsewhere on the topics they present here (James Dunn on Romans, F.F. Bruce on Paul in Acts, and Ben Witherington on Christology). The scholarship evident behind the articles is not presented at the expense of readability. Thus, this work is accessible to both scholarly and lay readers. Highly recommended for all seminary libraries and for academic and public libraries where there is sufficient interest.
- Craig W. Beard, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham Lib.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1067 pages
• Publisher: IVP Academic; First Edition edition (October 28, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830817786
• ISBN-13: 978-0830817788
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.1 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Religion

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for the beginning Paul scholar, October 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series) (Hardcover)

More of an encyclopedia of Paul's letters. All the important issues in Paul's letters are listed encyclopedically in this book. The articles' authors have looked at all the popular, scholarly and important commentaries, and have lined the commentators up on either side of every little minute Pauline controversy. Not sure where you fall on a matter of interpretation? This book will summarize the positions, their supporters, and tell you where to find the supporters' books. And even if you're not trying to determine what a specific text means, it's at least an interesting read to see where modern commentaries are taking modern Christianity.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference for Modern Pauline Scholarship., January 18, 2007

By 

B. Marold "Bruce W. Marold" (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series) (Hardcover)

`The Dictionary of Paul and His Letters' is a superb reference source if your primary objective is the study of Paul's writings. As a one-volume source, unlike, for example, the six volume Anchor Bible Dictionary, it is a far less expensive reference of all Pauline issues on your desk. For most people, the very best aspect of the volume is its dedication to contemporary scholarship. This focus has many good points and a few problems.

The only problem I see with its `contemporary' focus is that some important works on Paul may not cited. This is only a theoretical concern, as my biggest fear, that the article on `Mysticism' would not refer to Albert Schweitzer's important `The Mysticism of St. Paul', but it does.

On the other side of the coin, all major articles include generous bibliographies to both books and articles in English, German, and French. I find no references to Italian articles, but if there were important articles written in Italian, I believe they will be here.

While some major Pauline scholars such as Ed Sanders and N. T. Wright are missing from the list of contributors, there are many authorities that do weigh in. Foremost among these are James Dunn, F. F. Bruce, and David Wright. There are over a hundred contributors, so I'm certain I'm unfamiliar with many major authorities. From what I know, the credentials of the contributors are impeccable.

While I learned early in my elementary school years that an encyclopedia was always a good place to start a research project, it was often not enough for first class work, but there were always things an encyclopedia could do which no other reference could do quite as well. And, this volume does a great job on those tasks.

First, as already mentioned, it has great bibliographies on all major articles. My only complaint is that since all the entries run together (no break to a new line when beginning with the author's name), the bibliographies are hard to read. I commonly miss an important reference when my aging eyes skip over the lines just a bit too quickly.

Second, the text has superior cross-referencing. Every time a word or phrase is used which is itself the subject of an article, the word or phrase is asterisked. I don't recall that even the mighty Encyclopedia Britannia did so well in cross-referencing. I know the Britannia's bibliographies were not nearly as good.

Third, there are lots of useful articles with information you simply don't find anywhere else, at least not with a certain amount of luck. Two examples stand out. The first is a list of Pauline colleagues, all those co-workers mentioned in Acts and in Paul's own letters, with indications of their roles. The second is the list of Old Testament citations in Paul, divided by those where the quote from the Septuagint is exact and those where the quote is paraphrased. Most of this is reprinted from classic papers on the subject, primarily by E. E. Ellis.

There is one area where one needs to use additional references. While there are excellent articles on each of Paul's letters, they do not constitute complete exegeses of the letters. Fortunately, again, the bibliographies offer excellent lists of full commentaries; however, they are not complete and they are limited to `modern' exegeses. The bibliography on Romans, for example, does not include either N. T. Wright's very long commentary in `The New Interpreter's Bible' or references to classical commentaries such as those by Martin Luther or John Barth. Second, I would not entirely trust the information here on very early Judaism, for example. On the other hand, long general articles about, for example `Law' are extremely good guidance on research on this subject going back over 100 years.

This book will not replace more specialized works, but it will do an excellent job of helping you find and understand the mountain of scholarly research on Paul from the last century.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Complete abbreviated Paul, August 6, 2003

By 

KENLLL "THINKER" (San Jose, Ca United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series) (Hardcover)

A great introduction to Paul and Pauline studies. This book will give you an informed introduction to many of the Pauline perspectives. A most worthwhile read. Concise, easy to read, with a conservative scholarly bent, but also fair in its assesment of current scholarship. Highly recommended for the christian thinker who recognizes the need to stay informed. As with the other volumes the bibliography is one of the real values of this dictionary. Your money is well spent on this book. A real value! Pastor Ken