Reframing Paul: Conversations in Grace & Community (Paperback)

~ (Author) "THE PRESUMPTION THAT A PURER REALITY LAY SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN IN EVERYDAY LIFE colored the ideas and social life of Paul's day..." (more)
Key Phrases: popular intellectualism, social shame, honorific inscriptions, Edwin Judge, Grand Rapids, New Testament (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Greco-Roman world was shaped by ideals and abstract ideas. The apostle Paul left them behind. But they continue to shape evangelical teaching and practice.

This picture contradicts the common impression of Paul as an abstract theologian, someone who wrestled with deep theological doctrine while hovering six feet above everyday reality. But in fact, it was the philosophers of Paul's day--and even some of Paul's Christian opponents--who traded heavily in abstractions, one-way rhetoric and top-down hierarchies while depreciating the currency of everyday reality. By contrast, Paul the tentmaker was a conversationalist of God's Good News, a storyteller of Jesus Christ, an apostle who walked the avenues and back alleys of everyday reality. His passion was for communities of grace and conversation where the new reality of Christ was explored and embodied within the daily messiness of life.

Reframing Paul unveils this Paul in his original context and invites us to engage him in new terms. Courageously it draws Paul into vital conversation with contemporary evangelicalism. This is a book for those who wonder why people leave churches for alternative spiritual paths--and who may even be tempted to do so themselves. More than anything, it's for those who wonder what's gone wrong and want to learn from Paul how the church can be an attractive community of transforming grace and conversation.

"If you are concerned about the way the Bible is sometimes taught today, and sense that something is not quite right with some parts of evangelicalism, this is the book for you! Carefully researched and penetratingly argued, Mark Strom brings Paul, his culture and the contemporary church into dynamic and unsettling conversation. He shows that too much that goes on among conservative Christians reflects the attitudes and practices of the culture of Paul's day rather than of Paul himself." Robert Banks, director and dean, Macquarie Christian Studies Institute, Sydney, Australia

"In Reframing Paul, Mark Strom brings Paul's writings back in touch with life as he intended. In doing so, Strom challenges much contemporary theology and church life. Interpreters of Paul and those interested in the future of the evangelical church need to read this important and engaging book." Tremper Longman III, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College

"Mark Strom's presentation of Paul is a service to anyone interested in the New Testament, for it clarifies Paul's message by putting it into its setting and gives one readable access to Paul's world. His critique of the evangelical church is challenging . . . . Important reading for those interested in understanding Paul and must reading for those thinking about how to do church in our contemporary world." Peter H. Davids, theological educator, Innsbruck, Austria

"This wide-ranging book includes an extensive reading of ancient sources and their best commentators, hermeneutical considerations on how to relate Paul's grappling with his setting to our analogous settings today, and a challenge to today's church to rethink our values and models in light of Scripture. Strom challenges us to ask ourselves whether the way we've always done things is the only (or even a correct) biblical way-a challenge we need to always readily consider." Craig S. Keener, professor of New Testament at Eastern Seminary

About the Author

Mark Strom has a masters degree in Old Testament and hermeneutics, and a Ph.D. focusing on Paul and contemporary evangelicalism. He uniquely integrates his knowledge of Paul with his marketplace vocation as a business consultant in Australia. He is also the author of The Symphony of Scripture (IVP).

Product Details

• Paperback: 255 pages
• Publisher: InterVarsity Press (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830815708
• ISBN-13: 978-0830815708
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #562,216 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars challenging if not comfortable, June 12, 2001

By	Stephen Love (New South Wales, Australia) - See all my reviews

Reframing Paul in my opinion is a good book - not a 'nice' or 'comfortable' book, but one worth reading, especially if you aspire to having a "Berean" spirit -which implies a willingness to have your ideas about the New Testament (NT) and church challenged. But there is also comfort in this book - it gave shape to my increasing unease (over the last ~ 15 years) about the gap between what the NT seems to say - and what we do, and assert as 'biblical'. I no longer feel quite as alone.

But the book is not easy going in some places (unless you are skilled in reading Graeco-Roman philosophy/history). Someone suggested to me this reading plan: " Read chap 1, then 18, then skip 2-3 (or even 2-5), read the rest (feel free to skip around) and come back to the early ones last. They are important context setting, but a bit tough".

But where to from here? The book does not offer easy solutions. (As a former Australian Prime Minister said: "Life wasn't meant to be easy" ;-) By the way, I admired the author's transparency/willingness to be vulnerable. I think that adds to the book. A book read by humans - a book written by a human.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reframing Evangelical Practice?, June 12, 2001

By	Tim Adeney (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

Mark Strom has written a critique of much current evangelical practice. He outlines the world Paul operated in, a world where elitism and abstraction ruled, he then shows how the apostle Paul challenged this world. His critique is that, ironically, much contemporary evangelical practice more closely resembles the world Paul was challenging than Paul himself. A challenge worth sitting up and listening to.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Towards Authenticity, January 3, 2001

By	Michael Stucki (Aliso Viejo, CA United States) - See all my reviews

The book's editorial reviews as given above are accurate. It's a great read from someone who obviously has immersed himself in the scholarly works involved in the ongoing conversation to more authentically rethink Paul. As such, it'll prove useful to those, among others, asking the honest, painful, and soul-searching questions about what living Christianity in our day might look like. The author not only provides a stimulating, thought-provoking analysis of Paul vis-a-vis the "philosophers", but also like his name's-sake doesn't hesitate to show his own 'scars'. In it we find fine scholarship and compelling personal disclosure - tough minded, tender hearted.