Customer Reviews

Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians (New Testament for Everyone)

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Tom Wright (aka N T Wright)is the most insightful and unique conservative scholar to come along. He has shared with us his great gift of, not only his theology, but his whimsical writing, anectdotes, story telling and of course the most important of all correct interpretion of the text itself. Wright is not only a theologian, but is as much a historian. I recommend the entire everyone series from him. You will not regret buying these easy to read, entertaining, and remarkably insightful books.

When it comes to interpreting Galatians Wright is right on. He recognizes the problem in Galatia not to be Law verses Grace (categories of the reformation), but rather table fellowship or in other words who is accepted into the family of God and who is not? Who do we eat with? Wright shows the opponents of Paul to be those who had said that Paul, who is not really full Apostle, has missed it by not telling the Galatians that they needed to be circumcised along with faith in Jesus as Messiah in order to be full fledged members of the family of God. Paul argues for his full Apostleship and challenges the notion of circumcision as a badge of fellowship. Galatians moves from the idea of circumcision to faith as the true badge as demonstrated through baptism and the Holy Spirit as the seal on the deal and not any works of the flesh.

Wright also deals responsibly with First and Second Thesalonians, giving good, though not exhaustive interpretations of some very difficult passages that deal with the parousia appearing or coming of the Lord. It is refreshing for me to see someone who does not take the Left Behind rapture theory deal adequately and responsibly with 1 Thessalonians 4:13 and following. He also does a good job with "the man of sin" of 2 Thessalonians. Perhaps (for me personally at least) the most important thing the Church can hear from Wright's comments has to do with the call to holiness. Wright sees Paul as calling upon Christians to live life as thinking of themselves as always being in the Temple or in the presence of the Lord.

It is hard for me to remember when I have used the above words to describe a book. Reading in this area for me is an exercise in the historical investigation of the early Church and Roman antiquity. I have "no dog" in the theological fights that propel much of the discussion of the early Church history and Biblical commentary. Therefore, Tom Wright would not normally be on my list of scholars to read. He is the Bishop of Durham in the High Episcopal Church of England. He is after all a believer in the divinity of Jesus as a matter of faith and grace. I picked this book up as I was under time pressure to prepare for a discussion on Galatians. I already had books by Esler and Nanos on Galatians and a commentary by J. Louis Martyn, as well as, "The Galatians Debate" which is edited by Mark Nanos. That amounts to in excess of fifteen hundred pages of tough scholarly reading on the book of Galatians.

However, this short one hundred seventy eight page book would have to do. And what a surprise it was. First of all I concluded that Wright is a scholar of the first rank. Second, I very much like his rejection of the "Lutheran" Paul which has infected so much writing over the last few centuries. Third, I was amazed at the relatively simple translations done by Wright that seemed to convey the message of the epistles under consideration with extreme clarity. And lastly, the book conveys a well established understanding of these epistles as internal documents of early Church history. It is this reader's opinion that the epistles of Paul have far more to say about the history of the early Church and the person of the historical Jesus than is normally granted.

Wright's "new perspective" stance on Paul allows for a reconciliation of Paul and the Jerusalem Church headed by James the relative of Jesus. It becomes clear that Paul's message about Jesus was known and accepted by James. If one fails to engage New Testament writings as a strong source of information about the early church and the historical person of Jesus, then one's understanding of that history will remain skewed. One star was deducted for a lack of ultimate depth. Many of the more complex and troubling issues about these epistles have been avoided by Wright. However, that in no way denigrates the value of this book. It is accessible to the general reader, and any open minded person will find much of value here. N. T. Wright may just be the best conservative scholar working in this area at this time. I shall be reading more of his work and recommend this book highly to all but the most advanced students of the epistles of Paul.

N.T. Wright is among the very best Biblical scholars in the world. His genius is evident in how clearly he brings Paul's letters alive for us today. Rememnber, this stuff isn't rockewt science and the enduring truth of Paul's theology and counsel has always been meant for EVERYONE.

These series of books by Tom Wright is an excellent easy to read and understand study of scripture. I've done several of the books and they're all filled with anecdotes and enlightened commentary.

Revd. Wright is one of the best of the advocates of the New Perspective on St. Paul and his insights on these letters area happy corretive to several centuries of erroneous interpretation. This book is accessible to the educated layman and pastorally helpful. Highly recommended.

For those unfamiliar with Wright's "______ for Everyone" series, they are a series of commentaries on the New Testament books by Bishop Wright based on his extensive historical scholarship. He provides his own translation (based on his study of the source languages) which is a very engaging paraphrase. The text is divided up into chronological topic-based segments, followed by a 2-3 page sermonette/commentary based on that section.

This volume covers the books of Galatians and First and Second Thessalonians.

Wright's exposition helps the reader to see how Galatians was written as a part of the early church's sorting out the relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians. Paul establishes the doctrine that Gentiles do not have to receive circumcision and follow the Torah in order to be accepted into the fold. In the process, Paul uses many illustrations of the law and its purpose, as a babysitter to take us to the time of Christ.

1 and 2 Thessalonians are written by Paul to encourage a Gentile church that Paul was concerned about, and answer some questions on sex, money, and death which they conveyed through Timothy. Paul's answers establish some of the earliest written doctrine on what happens to believers after death. Unlike many of Paul's letters which contain corrective admonition, Paul has praise and encouragement for the Thessalonians.

This volume gives valuable overview and insight into these short but important books.

Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians by Tom Wright. Bishop Wright, Anglican Bishop of Durham, has given us an outstanding review of the theology of St. Paul. He includes his own translation of the text as he writes. He is very insistent on always translating the Greek word CHRISTOS with the meaning that the word had for all of the Jewish Christians of the first century and, as they began to enter the Church, the meaning that the Gentile Christians also accepted--MESSIAH. JESUS CHRIST WAS NOT THE SON OF MARY CHRIST AND JOSEPH CHRIST. CHRISTOS MEANT "THE ANNOINTED" AND TRANSLATES THE HEBREW "MESSIAH" WHICH ALSO MEANS "THE ANNOINTED". A SIGNIFICANT INSIGHT.

Paul for Everyone series has been such a blessing for the average layman who wants practical information/ideas rather than scholarly work.