Customer Reviews

Paul between Damascus and Antioch: The Unknown Years

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The title of this book, "Paul Between Damascus and Antioch", is a little misleading. This book is not nearly as much about Paul as it is about earliest Christianity.

Hengel explores the first 15-20 years of the Christian movement in great detail. Unlike many scholars today, Hengel gives the book of Acts a great deal of respect as a reliable source of historical information for this era. This aspect was refreshing.

Unfortunately, I did not come away from this book with the belief that I had learned much of anything about the person of Paul. However, I did learn a great deal about the Christian movement in the 30's and 40's C.E.

A basic knowledge of Greek vocabulary would be beneficial to the reader of this book, but its certainly not necessary. You can know nothing of the Greek language and still learn much.

A much superior book on Paul is by F.F. Bruce entitled, "Paul - Apostle of the Heart Set Free".

Dr. Martin Hengel is currently the top NT historian alive in the eyes of many NT authorities. Here he is at his best. This rich treatment of Pual's early history as a convert has already made a huge impact on Pauline studies around the globe. Hengel's capacity to surface an authentic sketch of earliest Christian history and issues related to first century Judaism sets the standard for leading edge NT scholarship. I recommend this book very highly for anyone serious about the subject matter.

Greek language skills are recommended, but perhaps not necessary.

This book was apparently written in German and then translated into english. And it certainly reads as clearly as any instruction manual transled from Japanese. After struggling through the first chapter, I just put it down.