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Introducing Paul: The Man, His Mission and His Message

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Pope Benedict XVI declared 2008 to be the "Year of The Apostle Paul" in celebration of the apostle's 2000th birthday. Coming to terms with the theology expressed in the letters of Paul has kept theologians and pastors busy for nearly two millennia now.

Michael Bird's new book, Introducing Paul: The Man, His Mission and His Message (IVP, 2009) is a wonderful introduction to the Apostle Paul that manages to be both brief and substantive. Some books on Paul focus on the theology of the apostle expressed in his letters. Others provide a biographical look at the apostle's life and missionary journeys.

Introducing Paul combines the best of these approaches. Bird delves into Pauline theology, the specific letters, the story of Paul's life. And he accomplishes these tasks in less than 200 pages.

Bird is careful to read Paul in his own historical context. Many times in the book, he insists that we first realize that Paul's letters are not written to us, even if God intends that the letters be for us. If we are to understand Paul rightly, we must read him in his own context.

"If the Paul we claim to know looks and sounds a lot like us, then that is probably a good indication that we do not know him as well as we think we do. There is always a temptation to recruit him to our cause, to make our enemies his enemies, our beliefs his beliefs... If we can be mature enough to let Paul be Paul and treat his letters as windows into his world rather than as deposits of theological dogma, then we stand a chance of meeting him anew, letting him speak for himself in his language, on his terms and for his purposes." (12, 13)

Bird starts off by talking about Paul the man. He focuses on five important aspects of the story of Paul's life: the persecutor of the church, the greatest missionary who ever lived, a world-class theologian, a pastor with a heart for the church, and the martyr who died for his faith. Bird describes as a "maverick."

Bird spends a good deal of time recounting Paul's conversion experience. He argues for continuity in Paul's thought after coming to faith in Christ. Against some scholars who argue for late-life shifts in Paul's theology, Bird believes that his theology remained generally stable from conversion until his martyrdom. The conversion experience is central for understanding Paul:

"This encounter with the risen Jesus had an enormous impact on his continuing religious experience of God, on his missionary drive and upon his theological reflection about God, Israel, Torah and salvation. That grace-event killed Saul the Pharisee and birthed Paul the apostle." (37)

From there, Bird spends considerable time familiarizing his readers with "the stories behind the Story." In order to properly understand Paul, we must know the stories about God and creation, Adam and Christ, Abraham and Israel, Jesus and the church. These worldview stories provide frameworks into which we can fit the letters of Paul.

After he sets up the historical framework, he then launches into a chapter that gives a brief overview of the historical circumstances, original audience, and basic theology of each of Paul's letters. In a single chapter, Bird successfully surveys all of the letters.

What makes Bird's contribution especially timely is the way in which he weaves together old and new perspectives on Paul. He has great appreciation for N. T. Wright and for other New Perspective authors; yet he affirms the traditional view of imputation of Christ's righteousness:

"Although no text explicitly says that Christ's righteousness is imputed to believers, nonetheless, without some kind of theology of imputation a lot of what Paul says about justification does not make sense...imputation is the integrating point for a variety of ideas in Paul's letters." (97)

Bird attempts to do what many believe is impossible: incorporate the best aspects of the New Perspective within a largely traditional Reformed framework.

Some of Bird's views are unconvincing. I disagree with his take on Romans 7. Likewise, though Bird does not advocate egalitarianism or complementarianism, he clearly leaves the egalitarian option open.

I was also disappointed to not see any discussion at all about the inspiration of the Scriptures or at least the inspiration of Paul's letters (which is ultimately the reason we should pay attention to what Paul says). Theories of inspiration seem to be assumed in this book rather than stated. Perhaps treatment of this subject is missing due to the brevity of the book.

But overall, Introducing Paul serves as a wonderful introduction to Paul's theology. It covers the relevant material in a way that is easy for the reader to understand, and it provides a good overview of the main issues in Pauline studies.

Introducing Paul is my first encounter with Michael F. Bird. I must say that I was very favorably impressed. He is a good writer. His writing is easily understood. His style is comfortable to me.

Bird takes Paul, studies his life, writings, backgrounds, travels, and theology. That could make for boring reading, or very interesting reading. It would be difficult to fall anywhere between the two. Thankfully, Bird made this interesting.

Bird's approach to Paul is relatively conservative, for which I am grateful. While he does not pretend to give us a complete biography, he shows us that we can all learn more about Paul's life. Bird's coverage of Paul's intentions, missionary work, and writings are good, too.

I was especially grateful for the overview of Paul's theology. Bird did a good job with that as well as the rest of the book. While this is not intended to be a systematic theology based upon the Pauline corpus, it is none the less a good overview of what Paul had to say.

The one drawback I saw was regarding Paul's views of roles of women. I believe Bird could have gone further and stated Paul's teaching a little more plainly.

As a whole, this book is a five star book. It takes a large, difficult subject and presents it in a concise, accurate, and interesting manner.

I recommend it to all Christians.

Michael Bird's Introducing Paul (IVP in England used the whimsical title A Bird's Eye View of Paul for this same volume there) is a great little introduction to Paul's life and thought. In this short book, obviously intended as a college or seminary text, Bird covers the necessary ground for an intro, dealing with matters of upbringing and training, Paul's conversion, his literary legacy, the important components of his thought, and his ethics and spirituality. Bird's coverage of these areas is uniformly well written and up to date, reflecting the latest issues and advances in scholarship without giving over to a faddish interpretation of the apostle. One leaves the pages understanding the contested ground but at the same time having a well-grounded understanding of Paul's theology that reflects both the best of the historic interpretations of Paul and some important modifications and improvements from the "new perspective."

Bird does a great job of situating Paul in his second-temple Jewish context, and notes how the Old Testament and Judaism provide the important seedbed and framework for his thought, while also noting the role of Rome in his thinking.

Bird's book is my favorite introduction to Paul that I have so far encountered. He straightforwardly deals with the important issues, he gives solid background and well-reasoned and balanced conclusions, all the while inviting the reader into Paul's rich and gospel-focused world. An extremely good book; thanks Mike.

This review originally appeared on [...]on 7/27/09.

Thanks to Adrianna of IVP for a review copy of this book.

Michael Bird is a rising young voice amongst New Testament scholars. An Australian by birth who now teaches in Scotland, he has made himself notable for good scholarship, offering mediating positions between debating parties and blogging (over at Euangelion, which we have linked to the right). In some senses, he's rare in the world of Bible scholars, particularly in two ways: he avoids idiosyncrasies (i.e., he doesn't seem to have an axe to grind) and he's fairly funny. Both of these points come up in this book.

Introducing Paul is an excellent and compact guide to Paul and his letters, or as the subtitle states, "The Man, His Mission and His Message." The back cover of the book purports to aim for "beginning students and laypeople," an audience Bird seems particularly suited for. His discussion is in depth enough to get past the surface level and to the heart of the issues, but not bogged down in details to the point of obscuring the message of Paul.

Bird introduces Paul using five dominant images: persecutor, missionary, theologian, pastor and martyr. One comes away with the understanding that Paul was not merely a dogmatic theologian looking to wield his authority, but rather a church planter and pastor who eagerly sought the health of his churches. His theological work was intended to serve and strengthen the church.

There are a number of good points to highlight from this book. Included is a chapter on the gospel and its terminology, as well as Greco-Roman uses of those same terms to give the reader an idea of how words like "gospel" or "savior" would have been understood in Paul's day. This point has been made by many scholars, of course, but Bird actually puts quotations from ancient writings to make his point. Bird gives a brief overview of the "stories behind the story," dealing with Abraham, the church, Israel, etc. I could see bits and pieces of various scholars throughout this chapter, but it was presented in a fresh way that made it enjoyable to learn all over again.

On the debate over justification (most popularly in the Piper vs. Wright showdown), Bird notes that "imputation" is never explicitly stated in Paul but it is an undeniable extension of what is clearly taught, namely "incorporated righteousness" (to use Bird's term). Bird also allows a greater place for the resurrection of Jesus than many evangelicals, who often relegate it to "proof of what God did on the cross" (p166). The "wretched man" of Romans 7 is not Paul as a Christian, but rather written from the point of view of a "pre-Christian." There were even moments of personal conviction in this book, especially in his chapter on "gospelizing."

There are, of course, areas where I was not in full agreement, though they were few and relatively unimportant. I noticed some grammatical issues, such as a relative clause that stands alone as a sentence. Which is poor English. Paul wasn't referring to offending people when he warns against causing someone to stumble in 1 Corinthians 8 (p152). Paul is actually talking about leading a brother or sister to act against their conscience, and therefore sin.

While I greatly appreciated the emphasis on the Greco-Roman background of certain terms in Paul, as noted above, I couldn't help but wonder if the Old Testament could have received more space. After all, didn't Isaiah have something to say about the "good news" of salvation? Old Testament references are offered in the helpful chart on pages 87-88, but the Greco-Roman parallels receive paragraphs instead.

A subsection specifically designated for the Holy Spirit would have been helpful, too. It's not that I disagreed with what Bird had to say about the Holy Spirit, but the references were scattered throughout the book. Since there is no subject index, one couldn't simply look there to find the references; nor is there anything in the bibliography that stood out as a book dedicated to the subject (Gordon Fee, anyone?). But the main reason I point this out is because of the book's intended audience. Sure, scholars know where to look in this book to find out what Bird thinks of Paul's view of the Holy Spirit. They've read widely enough on the subject that they know the types of places that scholars will place the discussion. But the audience of this book is "beginning students and laypeople." These are the kinds of people who will want to find a quicker route to what they're looking for, but will come up disappointed. It's a shame, too, because Bird has a strong grasp of Paul's view of the Spirit, who is active in more ways than many Christians think.

But those points should not detract from the high regard I have for this book. Bird has a done a remarkable job of making Paul make sense. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't do well to read this book, which hits its target audience very well. I also think that anyone preaching or teaching on Paul's letters ought to read this book to help them place each letter in the context of Paul's life and ministry.

I couldn't recommend this book highly enough. Bird has a wonderful gift for communicating difficult concepts in an enjoyable -at times witty- manner, but still serious enough given the subject matter. Bird, like Paul himself, is not content in the ivory tower, but seems to have the goal of helping build the church. If we can hear Paul's message in our time, the church can only more faithfully reflect the image of Christ. Michael Bird helps us hear Paul's message.

Ministry in the image of God is a very beautiful and inspiring book to read. I would recommend it to anyone who is doing some ministry work now to read it.

I learned a lot from this little gem of a book, but at times found it to plod along. Still recommend both for long-time scholars as well as novices.

One of the most influential apostles was Paul; to know him is to know early Christianity. "Introducing Paul: The Man, His Mission, and His Message" is a biography of Paul the apostle and seeks to blend his life's story with his teachings. Author Michael Bird offers much that should educate and inspire readers about this vitally important historical figure. A collection of lessons through life, "Introducing Paul" would be well considered for inquisitive Christians everywhere.