Customer Reviews

The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church's Conservative Icon [With Earbuds] (Playaway Adult Nonfiction)

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4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

For anyone wanting to read a nice introduction to the radical Paul of the New Testament, this is the book to go to.

Crossan and Borg do a fine job showing Paul's clear teachings about equality and his counter-empire ideas, and show explicitly where Paul and Acts are at odds. The commentary on the book of Philemon is well done and in-depth. However, it would have been nice to see a much more comprehensive look at the rest of Paul's writings. But that didn't seem to be the purpose of this book; Crossan and Borg are simply painting a picture of Paul's theology, not providing insight into every detail.

I have to say, though, that the chapters on the cross and "salvation by grace through faith" were, unfortunately, pretty weak. Frankly, it's going to take a lot more than two chapters containing a select few passages from Romans and 1 Corinthians to "dismantle" the idea of substitutionary atonement and salvation as simply a post-mortem "salvation" from divine punishment. There are better, more comprehensive, books out there, though, on Paul's theology of "Christ crucified" (see J. Denny Weaver, Stephen Finlan, etc.). The two chapters dedicated to the cross and salvation just didn't make a well-reasoned argument (in my opinion), partly because of the lack of time Crossan/Borg spent looking at Paul's words (though, I should say, I agree with most of their conclusions).

I'd definitely recommend this book to any Christian, or to anyone interested in the apostle Paul. But, don't expect an in-depth, exceptionally convincing look at Paul's theology; rather, expect a sometimes persuasive, sometimes lackluster, brief and easy-to-read portrait of the man who claimed to see Jesus on the road to Damascus.

Whenever Borg and Crossan get together, it is worth paying attention. These two scholars are best known for their work on Jesus, but this new venture into Pauline scholarship is very good. The build on the premise that, in the New Testament, we have the Radical Paul (of the Corinthian letters, Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians and Philemon). Then there is the Reactionary Paul (letters written by others--basically the Pastorals) and the Conservative Paul (Ephesians, Colossians). This distinction helps a great deal in understanding the movement in how Paul is read in the New Testament.
They present Paul as a Jewish Christ mystic who lived with a profound sense of oneness with God. They go through the writings of Paul and show how his message changes on various specific themes (from radical to reactionary and Conservative)like slavery, crucifixion, justification.
Jesus is Lord (ch. 4) is especially helpful, where they develop Roman Imperial theology of "Religion-War-Victory-Peace" and show how Paul responds to this in his own theology of Jesus.
But my favorite in this book is ch 5 "Christ Crucified". This treatment of Paul's theology is some of the best available for the lay person who cares about how we talk about salvation. They deal carefully with several popular explanations of the death of Jesus, demonstrating difficulties in how these themes deal with the theology, then offering a more positive, comprehensive understanding (that makes good sense).
In my judgment, these two chapters are worth the price of the book. These two men develop and excellent theology of Paul in language that can be understood, with an affirmation of faith that is very helpful. They have the ability (and the faith) to acknowledge problems in the popular theology of our day, but they move beyond criticism to develop positive, helpful explanations that allows the reader to build and strengthen their own faith.
Only one criticism. For this reader, the final chapter read as though they were up against a deadline and had to rush through this final discussion. It did not have the depth and quality of the rest of the book. However, having said that -- this is a book of high quality that will be helpful for any more progressive, thinking Christian who wants a better, more holistic understanding of Paul.

After reading Garry Wills' book What Paul Meant along with a couple of works by Bart Ehrman, I was really anxious to read The First Paul. I am very glad that I purchased the book for it has given me a detailed look at an apostle that I really did not understand.

As stated in the book, half of the New Testament concerns Paul or was written by Paul. Paul matters. As a believer who engages in critical thinking, I appreciated the authors doing all of the heavy lifting for me. As a "thinker" I could never reconcile the views that Paul held regarding slavery, women, etc. The authors explained this in a very straight-forward way and the `scales' have now fallen off my eyes.

Explained from the perceptive of historical context, it was very easy for me to see that, yes, there were three Pauls. One real - two pretenders.

The radical (and real) Paul wrote:
* Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians and 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians and Philemon (which the authors break down verse by verse)

A person or persons calling themselves Paul wrote the pastoral letters:
* 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus.

A majority of scholars "dispute" the authorship of:
* Ephesians, Colossians and 2 Thessalonians

The detailed analysis of who, where, why and what certainly provides a non-contradictory view of the apostle Paul compared to the chaotic mess I have struggled with in the past. I also greatly appreciated the mind picture of the set of concentric contextual circles. It was very helpful in providing context for the writing of Paul.

While I have mentioned only a few of the highlights in this book, rest assured that it contains a plethora of entertaining and enlightening facts.

I hope you find this review helpful.

Michael L. Gooch, Wingtips with Spurs: Cowboy Wisdom for Today's Business Leaders

This outstanding book gives us a new understanding of Paul based upon his authentic letters. To understand Paul, we must remove him from the church and Christendom which came about centuries after his death and place him in his own world which was the imperial Roman Empire of the first century. We must also remove him from the controversies between Christianity and Judaism and the Protestant Reformation and the Roman Catholic Church which neither existed nor could have been foreseen in Paul's world. Throughout the years, letters have been attributed to Paul which he didn't write. Paul's witings have been distorted by the likes of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin to promote their own agendas, to empower Christendom, and to create their own doctrines.

This book also blows apart the absurd notion that Paul was a pro-Roman antagonist of the Jewish Jesus movement. The authors make it very clear that Paul was a faithful witness to Jesus and everything he stood for.

The authors demonstrate that Paul's authentic letters are directly opposed to writings which were written later and falsely attributed to him which promote a church hierarchy, condone slavery, and give women a secondary status. Paul's ideal community which he referred to as "the body of Christ" whose members were "in Christ" was an egalitarian community where there was "neither slave nor free, Jew nor Greek, male nor female". In Paul's authentic letters everyone was referred to as "brother" or "sister", women were allowed to teach, and no member should be a slave or own a slave. He also refers to The Lord's Supper as a communal meal and scolds those who humiliate the poorer members by not sharing food. He also scolds freeloaders who don't work to help support the community.

In Paul's authentic letters we hear repeated reference to Christ crucified, God raising Jesus from the dead, and Jesus as Lord. These words, which today seem so mundane, had serious political overtones in Paul's world. The fact that Jesus was executed on a Roman cross was crucial to Paul because it identified Jesus as a rebel against Rome. God's vindication of Jesus by raising him from the dead was, to Paul, a victory of God's kingdom over the Roman Empire. By declaring Jesus as Lord and saviour, titles reserved for Caesar alone in Paul's world, Paul was directly challenging Caesar's legitimacy. These are words and ideas that would get you killed in Paul's world.

In 1 Corinthians, when Paul disparaged the "wisdom of the world" and "the rulers of the world that come to nought...who crucified the Lord of glory" who else could he have been speaking about except the Roman Empire and Caesar? To Paul, the "flesh" was not simply the human body but the corrupt and unjust system he lived under. When Paul spoke of God's grace freely given to all, he wasn't simply referring to post mortem heavenly rewards but of justice and equitable sharing of God's resources on earth.

Paul, like Jesus and those who knew him, believed he was living in the end times with the imminent return of Jesus. He believed that the process had already started with the resurrection of Jesus. He could not have foreseen the birth of a Christian empire some 260 years after his death nor can he be blamed for the atrocities committed by that empire.

Paul ended his life ignominously as a victim of Caesar Nero in Rome. He never got to see the kingdom he envisioned on earth but, through it all, he remained a faithful witness to Jesus.

I am a 72 year old left brain engineer. I have been reading the Bible since I was a teenager. I have always found it to be a difficult read, and I have often looked to handbooks (e.g. Halley's Bible Handbook, etc.) and church study groups for guidance. More often than not the handbooks and study groups were based on traditional literal interpretations that were theologically complex and did little to clarify the meaning in a way that "rang true" for me. It wasn't until I read Marcus Borg's "Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time" and "Reading The Bible Again For The First Time" that I gained a deeper understanding of what Jesus was proclaiming and what it meant to live as a Christian.

His books got me started on the trail of other authors including NT Wright (Simply Christian, etc.), John Dominic Crossan (In Search of Paul, etc.), Gary Willis (What Jesus Meant, etc.), C. S. Lewis (The Screwtape Letters, etc.), Huston Smith (The Soul of Christianity), Elaine Pagels (Beyond Belief), and Eugene Peterson (The Jesus Way). I have also read authors who are to the far right and to the far left of these. The authors I have mentioned I believe to be thoughtful scholars who are civil, refrain from acrimony, are true to their beliefs, and present a meaningful range of beliefs.

However, of all of the authors I have read Marcus Borg "rings most true" for me, and his latest book with Crossan, The First Paul, is no exception. It presents thoughtful discussions that distinguish and contrast the various letters attributed to Paul in their historical context. The authors provide thought provoking (for me compelling) arguments for what "Christ Crucified" and "Justification by Grace Through Faith" mean for us today. It is a great read for anyone who wishes to explore a fresh perspective on traditional Christian doctrine.

My first observation is that the book is very readable. I'm tired of reading books where you have to read and re-read pages just to get an idea of where the author is going. This book seems to put its message in layman's terms and that was a comfort. I came away angry when it was pointed out how Paul's message was manipulated after his death to bring it in line with the policies of empire and paternal societies. The book clearly points out how the latter letters attributed to Paul are actually anti-Pauline in content. This is definitely a book I plan to read again.

Who is Paul? And who is the Jesus he preached? For many Christians, Paul is "The Apostle," whose message of radical equality before God and "in Christ" has been distorted to support ecclesial agendas. Scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan delve deeply into Paul's letters to uncover his actual message, which was a challenge to the imperialistic pretensions of the Roman empire of his day, and to all empires up through the present day. The authors also delve into another of Paul's enormous contributions -- the recognition that in Christ, all are equal. Taken literally, not watered down and temporized, this teaching has enormous power and far-reaching implications. Not only would following this teaching change many social relationships, but it has an effect on those human powers that seeks to divide humanity in order to foster purely human agendas. In God's eyes, we are one. Any church or human agency that teaches otherwise is not doing his work.

Crossan and Borg relocate Paul into his first century context. He is a Jew, not an anti-Jew, living under Roman occupation that proclaims Caesar as Lord, and as the bringer of peace through military victories. Against this, Paul proclaims Another as Lord -- not a conqueror, but a non-violent criminal executed by human imperial power -- Christ. The political implications of this Pauline proclamation are clear. God, in raising Jesus from death, has decisively sided with the weak, the powerless and the poor. This is not only a religious proclamation, but a political and social one. And it aligns Paul not only with stance of Jesus against systems of domination, but with the best of the Hebrew prophetic tradition as well.

Contemporary Christians, especially those in America, have worked hard to make Jesus and Paul into advocates for American-style free market capitalism and domination of foreigners. Borg and Crossan clearly imply that Paul would no more have supported US imperialist hegemony than he would have supported Rome's. Jesus is Lord, not Rome, not America, not the Reich and not any kind of system that exalts some human beings at the expense of others.

Borg and Crossan support the mainstream idea that Paul did not write all the letters attributed to him. They believe that others wrote in his name, supposedly a common and accepted practice at the time. In this, they don't go as far as Bart Ehrman, who convincingly called these non-Pauline letters "forgeries" whose purpose was to blunt and even reverse Paul's meaning. Indeed, those who have read other books by the two authors will note that Borg and Crossan are wonderful complements -- Catholic Crossan punching up some of Protestant Borg's cautions, and Borg taming some of Crossan's bomb-throwing style. But while Borg and Crossan are squarely in the middle of scholarly consensus about Paul's writings, they dig down farther than may authors to a level that makes Paul more immediate and more coherent.

The authors also attempt to take a new look at Paul's teachings about atonement and sacrifice. Here they are only partially successful. They attempt to show that Paul's understanding of Christ's sacrifice was not that Jesus died for our sins instead of guilty us. They try to show that Paul intended Christ's atonement as participatory -- that Christ died to show us a new way of living, not to take our place as the target of God's wrath. While I like their reading, I am less than convinced that this is what Paul himself had in mind. Likewise for their attempt to redefine Paul's attacks on homosexuals. They didn't spend enough time discussing what homosexuality meant in Paul's day, and how it differs from our contemporary attitudes toward sexuality. I'm still searching for a more solid approach to both the atonement and the homosexual questions, but I think that Borg and Crossan point the way.

"The First Paul" is a book that has deeply affected me and broadened my understanding of Paul, Jesus and their message of liberation. It is a must-read for any Christian who struggles with removing the overlays of piety that have hidden the real social revolutionaries who are the heart of our faith. While imperfect and incomplete, it will rock or world, if you let it.

Like many religious people, I've always had a hard time rectifying the bible and the gospels with Paul. Paul always seemed to be saying things without any sort of real justification and many of the people around me seemed to be Paulines, not Christians!

But this book by Borg and Crossan truly made Paul speak in a way that seemed coherent to the larger work of the Bible, in particular the New Testament. Paul is still Paul - warts and all, but for the first time Paul made sense. Not in a strained, 'let's try to make this consistent somehow' that is so much of Christian Theology but in a deep way. I found myself liking and thinking on Paul's thought and message a great deal away from this book and I know my understanding of Christianity has changed for the better.

It's a beautiful, short, transformative work. I'd suggest it to anyone. If you can't stand to think that we may have been wrong, traditionally, than you may not like this. But if you think we can always learn more, and always come back and see something with new eyes - it's a great place to start.

I read the Kindle edition - very well done.

Wonderful, logical, thorough review of Paul's writings in the New Testament. I had read the New Testament a few times recently, and heard very good commentary on Paul from a local pastor. Perhaps I like this book because I have similar beliefs, re-inforced all the more by the strong writing and analysis of the two wonderful historians, wonderful Christians, Borg and Crossan.

I have also read some reviews by people who "distrust" Marcus Borg. They advise Evangelicals to steer clear of it. Why ? Possibly they are afraid the thoroughness and rigor of the author's work will make it more difficult to retain Evangelicals to listen to the gently twisted Bible they are given by those who don't want a thinking congregation. A group to be manipulated by politics rather than be allowed to be unafraid and expect to help make life here more like a Kingdom of Heaven, than one to support lifestyles of the rich and famous, of which they will never be a part.

In believing and emphasizing the literal Old Testament, Evangelicals are being led to actually reject the Jesus of the New Testament, and support those who rejected Jesus and demanded his execution.

This book could change that congregation the most. The 2nd Coming, is the real baptism and personal change from within which makes a true Christian. Read the New Testament a few times, then read Borg and Crossan. You won't need anything more. "The Rapture", will be fellow congregants who expect this life to be one in which Jesus would be proud of every one of us, that we make life here better.

I would encourage people to read this book, it is well written and one get's to know the man as he really was. So much has been written about Paul by different authors but none can compare to this one, it lays Paul bare and really is very interesting reading from start to finish.