Seven new forthcoming titles from biblical and religious scholars explore the life and writings of the Apostle Paul, the most studied figure in Christianity after Jesus. His epistles, or letters, predate the Gospels and his writings had an enormous influence on Christian doctrine. Religious publishers recognize Paul as a continuing source of study, with books filling the shelves each year on Jesus’ most important early disciple, who is widely recognized as the first Christian writer of all time.
“Authors today are drawn to this complex character: a religious Jew, a citizen of a Greek city called Tarsus, and a Roman citizen,” says Doug Mangum, editor-in-chief of Lexham Press. “So historians, theologians and archaeologists all find something about Paul to write a book about. » Lexham publishes This is how we arrived in Rome: with Paul on the Appian Way (January 2024) by Glen L. Thompson and Mark Wilson, which details Paul’s journey from Jerusalem to Rome, where he preached the gospel and stood trial before the Roman emperor Nero. The authors, both New Testament scholars, bring first-hand knowledge of Paul’s journey, having traveled every section of the Appian Way still visible, including the route Paul would have taken for the last 10 miles and to enter Rome .
“No one has ever traced Paul’s journey in this way before, from his arrival in Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli) to his entry into Rome,” says Mangum. “With its color maps and illustrations,” as well as the authors’ photographs, “the book presents a breathtaking view of Italy in Paul’s time.”
Scholars and general readers can benefit from the book, according to Mangum. Researchers will find interesting the footnotes that highlight the Italian archeology around Paul’s itinerary, he says, while general readers can use the text “to reproduce the journey either vicariously in the armchair , either, using maps and GPS coordinates, in the field, alone or with a group.”
Two publishing houses are publishing books on Paul’s letter to the Romans, one of seven that scholars believe were written by Paul himself. Zondervan Academic offers what he calls “a theological exposition of Pauline theology through the lens of Romans 8” in Inside the Romans: A Deep Dive into Paul’s Greatest Letter (available now) by NT Wright, whom Katya Covrett, vice president and brand publisher, calls “one of the most influential commentators and interpreters of Paul today.”
Wright, author of numerous books including the Christian Origins series and Questions of God, carefully examines chapter eight, which focuses on “life in the Spirit,” or the spiritual life of the Christian. “This book represents Wright’s most recent thinking on Romans 8 and its effect on overall Pauline theology, and even on reading the Bible as a whole,” Covrett says. Describing Wright’s work as accessible and compelling, Covrett adds that the book “can be profitably read by both students and thoughtful readers” as an introduction to Paul’s theology and as an interpretive lens.
WJK Books publishes Romans: a commentary (June 2024) by Beverly Roberts Gaventa, professor emeritus of New Testament literature and exegesis at Princeton University and former president of the Society of Biblical Literature. Julie Mullins, scholarly acquisitions editor for WJK, describes Gaventa as “one of the most respected New Testament and Pauline scholars working today”, praising her work in Romans as “exploring the historically rooted moment in which it was written, its literary richness and its rooting in the event of the Gospel of Jesus Christ”.
In the meantime, Gaventa has approved Paul and time: life in the temporality of Christ (Baker Academic, November), by Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Wycliffe College in Toronto Ann L. Jervis. This book asks the question: how did Paul understand time? Jervis proposes that Paul viewed time as life in that age, or life in Christ. Gaventa says that “Jervis’s surprising propositions require and deserve special attention from all serious students of Paul’s letters.”
Two other books offer additional lenses through which to view Paul and his theology. Paul and the resurrection of Israel: Jews, former pagans, Israelites by Jason A. Staples (Cambridge Univ., February 2024) reexamines the texts that offer salvation to Jews and Gentiles alike, connecting Paul’s theology to earlier histories of the southern kingdom of Judah and the fallen northern king of Israel.
“Paul’s concomitant belief was that the exile of northern Israel meant assimilation among the nations – in effect the death of a people – and that its restoration paradoxically required the inclusion of the Gentiles to resurrect among the dead a greater “Israel”,” according to the editor. Staples is an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at North Carolina State University.
The New Perspective on Grace: Paul and the Gospel after “Paul and the Gift” (Eerdmans, out now), edited by Edward Adams, Dorothea H. Bertschmann, Stephen J. Chester, Jonathan A. Linebaugh, and Todd D. Still, is a collection of essays expanding on John M. G. Barclay’s pioneering book. Paul and the giftwhich analyzed Paul’s theology of grace in the context of gifts in the Greco-Roman world, according to the editor.
In this volume, internationally renowned scholars offer essays that address topics such as the role of grace in Paul’s life and ministry, grace and ministry in marginalized communities, and divine gifting in the Gospels. The publisher says the new book is “essential reading for all students and researchers who wish to understand the current state of Pauline scholarship.”
Mullins of WJK Books says that “Paul’s legacy resonates today for many reasons, largely because of the way his writings have been received over time and continue to have influence on social issues crucial issues, including the ongoing liberation of African Americans, women’s equality, and full LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Church and beyond.
Covrett understands the infinite inspiration that authors draw from Paul. “Paul’s writings make up almost half of the New Testament and are instrumental in the development of early Christian theology,” she says. “From the internal perspective of working with Pauline scholars, their noses are always to the grindstone. »
One of these researchers worked hard on Words of Faith: A Vocabulary of the Apostle Paul (Paulist Press, November), a reference tool written in the post-Vatican II Catholic tradition, examining Paul’s life and theology through the words he uses. More than 100 words, including apocalyptic, predestination, ethicsAnd friendly, are defined by author Brendan Byrne, Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Melbourne Divinity University. Donna Crilly, senior academic editor for Paulist Press, describes Words of faith as a conceptual dictionary “which exposes the meaning of each word on several levels: what the word means, how Paul uses it and understands it”.
Ann Byle is the author of Chicken Scratch: Lessons for Living Creatively from a Flock of Chickens.
A version of this article appeared in the 11/13/2023 issue of Publishers Weekly under the title: Books ask new questions about Paul