Customer Reviews

The Theology of Paul the Apostle (New Testament)

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This is a wonderful summary of Paul's theology written by a prominent New Testament scholar. I have been waiting for a recent book on Paul's theology that combines solid content with readability and clarity. I finally found it in this book! Dunn embraces the "new perspective" on Pauline studies on the gospel and the law. Nevertheless, a traditionalist would still find Dunn's views thought-provoking. I also like this book because it is so user-friendly and well-organized. Dunn organizes each chapter by topics (e.g. "God and humankind," "the gospel of Christ," " the process of salvation," etc.) and it is easy to follow. I highly recommend this book to layreaders, serious students, and scholars alike. It is a must for those who wish to read and understand more about Pauline theology!

The depth of scholarship in this work is stunning - Dunn is a master of his field. But the true value of this work lies in its closeness to the text - it will have you diving for Paul's letters again and again. His systematic approach is well conceived and structured; he is careful never to over-conclude or run ahead with an argument: this work is clearly the product of careful laboring over the texts, with secondary sources used purely as aids, not drivers of discussion.

From the start his insights are profound, such as his observation that for Paul, 'sarx' (flesh) is very much an ethnic designation, and it is never directly blamed as a source for sin in Romans 7. The book leaves room for as much agreement or disagreement as you care to share - merely engaging with Dunn's arguments and analysis is the most rewarding exercise for truly encountering Paul that I have ever come across. I have never come across a book so erudite at reading between the lines of Paul, and investigating his unstated assumptions about God and humanity.

Take up this magisterial work - but keep your Bible, and preferably a notebook, close at hand: this is no mere rehearsal of the standard debates about Paul, but an earnest and scholarly attempt to make sense of a grand tapestry - an attempt which respects the fact that Paul wrote with a genius that has stupefied two millenia of great minds.

I think this is a truly exceptional work, from which I have gathered many valuable insights. I feel that it has been a valuable addition to my collection and well worth the money. Dunn presents a scholarly, detailed (and theologically unbiased) study into the writings of Paul.

He is able to tie up a lot of "loose ends", and make many theological connections which might be elusive to the average bible-reader (like me), revealing what he sees as a stable foundation of Paul's theology. It is well organized and annotated, making for easy topical study.

Just note that this is not an orthodox Christian book, although Dunn always treats the Scriptures and the subject matter with a great deal of care and respect.

This is a wonderful summary of Paul's theology from a prominent New Testament scholar on Pauline studies. I've always wanted a recent work on Paul's theology that combines detailed, informative content with clarity. I have found it in this book. It packs a lot of information and yet it is clearly written and understandable for the lay reader, seminary student, and scholar alike.

Incidentally, Dunn embraces the "new perspective" on Paul and the Law. However, a traditionalist in Pauline studies will find Dunn's views thought-provoking.

I also liked this book because it is very user-friendly. The chapters are organized by topics ("Prologue," "God and Humankind" "The Gospel of Jesus Christ" " The Process of Salvation" etc.) and it is very easy to follow. The reader will also be impressed with the extensive bibliography that Dunn includes at the very beginning. For any student and reader who desires to understand Paul's theology, this book by Dunn is a must! I highly recommend it.

Do not let the size of this volume intimidate you. Dunn's work is extensive, and yet friendly to the newer Bible student and the experienced scholar alike. Rather than a commentary of all the letters, Dunn has painstakenly reconstructed for us the mind of the "renegade" rabbi from Tarsus by logically compliling the various topics Paul dealt with.

One small point of interest I personally was glad to see was his explaination of the "corporate" church and sheds light on the overly debated predestination issues of the Calvinist and Arminians, which I think both camps miss the whole point of what "election" means. But Mr. Dunn does not spend a lot of time arguing with other scholars, which is also refreshing.

I plan on buying more of his work based on this book.

This is the standard introduction to Paul's theology. Using the template of Romans, Dunn lays out clearly Paul's theology from the rest of his letters in a way that makes for ease of reference. His clear writing style makes this book commendable to college-age students, but his profundity makes it valuable to the most experienced scholar.

This work has some rather stunning insights. For instance, Dunn's thesis that the invitation for those who are in Christ to die Christ's death rather than Adam's clarifies and encapsulates Paul's thought on one of the biggest questions any religion is called upon to answer. That is Dunn at his best, so far in the book as I have gotten.

Dunn is the man who coined the phrase "The New Perspective on Paul" so obviously his work is sympathetic to what may more appropriately be termed a new perspective on Judaism. Thus, those among us who admire reformation theology will have a few axes to grind with this work. But I am yet to find a topic in which he is as unfair to those with whom he disagrees as they are as a rule to him and his views.

Unlike his contemporary N.T. Wright he does not see the "story" of Israel as the overarching category for interpretation, so his work is a bit more atomistic and less likely to find a totally unified theological construction. But unlike some others, he does not see contradiction everywhere he looks in Paul's writing. He accomplishes this admirable feat by not confusing Paul's metaphors with irreducible truth.

This is one of the few books that I have purchased that I wish I had in hardback (or better yet on my computer). I expect to wear at least one copy out in the course of completing my doctoral dissertation.

If you are at all acquainted with trends in contemporary theology, exegesis and research on the historical Jesus, you probably know that there has been a huge effort in these areas to present Jesus as a Jew, which means that most of the time he is presented as an eschatological prophet with a more or less overt political agenda. Now in Dunn's book you will find something similar, but this time it is Paul who becomes the 'victim' of this process of Judaization. If I had to summarize the thesis of this ponderous treatise on Pauline theology I would say that Paul was a Jew and that he remained a Jew in his theology. This means among other things that he never taught that Jesus was God.

The book is highly readable with little technical jargon and high-strung phrases, but people who don't have a thorough knowledge of Paul will find to their annoyance that most of the time Dunn doesn't quote in full the passages he is analysing. So keep your Bible on hand to check all the references and read them carefully before you turn to Dunn's comments.

The author gives one a good and very practical overview of all the major themes of Pauline theology with chapters on "Justification by faith" (the longest one), "The Pre-existent Christ", "Jesus the Man" (on the relationship between Paul and the pre-resurrection Jesus), etc. The hot topic of the divinity of Jesus, for which I basically bought the book since I am extremely interested in Christology, is also discussed, but Dunn's comments are very simple and short: the whole analysis covers less than two pages and the conclusion is that Paul was a thorough Jewish monotheist who did call Jesus "Lord" but din't teach that he was God the Son. There is also a lot of emphasis on Adamic theology: the approach that sees Jesus primarily as the "New Adam". It is for example in the light of Genesis and Adam that Dunn explains the meaning of the hotly debated Christological hymn in Philippians 2.

I would say that while it is certainly useful to have a book that covers the whole range of Pauline theology, "The Theology of Paul the Apostle" failed to meet my expectations on several accounts. My main criticism is that what Dunn has to say is most of the time quite unoriginal and even trite. The topics are all of them quite conventional: I would have loved a chapter on Pauline ecology or some other less obvious aspect of his thinking, more on mysticism, but Dunn's approach is very rational and mainly sociological in its thrust. The tone and style is thoroughly academic and on sensitive issues Dunn keeps a low profile and is always soft spoken: don't expect vitriolic tirades à la Robert Eisenman!

Many of the author's comments are fuzzy and strangely unconclusive. He also seems eager to present a picture of Paul which is free of error and contradictions. There is no critical assessment of Paul's arguments, the whole analysis is purely descriptive and strictly theological with very little biographical material (people who want to read about Paul the man should not order this book). There are lots of linguistic explanations, which are certainly enlightening, but after understanding the meaning of the terms used by Paul, one expects something more, and this is what Dunn fails to provide in my view in many cases. A basic knowledge of koine Greek, while not indispensable, will help you better understand some of the chapters in this book.

I like the book, it is practical, but on the whole I didn't learn much from it and it is quite insipid. It lacks teeth.

This is an amazing study of Paul's theology that exceeds the bar of scholarship and applicable insights. Dunn has poured into this book an abundance of research that is conveyed in simple, explainable terms so that this book is helpful for academic research and the layperson who wants to better understand Biblical theology or investigate specific topics. The book is well organized so that readers can easily track down particular subjects. It is also so well-done that one can also find him or herself reading it through. This is a book that I recommend every serious Christian adds to the shelf.

This a great scholarly work. It addresses the historical societal conditions of the time of writing, and addresses Pauline metaphors in their original context. Perccieved contradictions reconciled. A great help.

This is the most complete and thought provoking study of St. Paul, his Theology, and the Theos that shaped him I have found. It is written in a manner that can be followed from point to point, which is no small task considering the depth and breadth of the subject. I would recommend it to any student of the New Testament.