Review by Choice Review
This work is the mature culmination of a lifetime of Pauline studies by a distinguished scholar (Ecole Biblique, Jerusalem). While the book is primarily devoted to chronology, travel plans, and letter writing, theology is by no means neglected. It can be read with profit by most undergraduates and their professors. The discussion is clear and thorough, and there is much that can be learned, but there are also ample possibilities for disagreement in future discussions. In general, what is presented could be called the consensus view of much modern critical scholarship, but the author's unique solutions to some issues deserve further attention. This is likely to become the standard work on Paul's life for the next generation and is warmly recommended as such. Undergraduate; graduate; faculty. L. Gaston Vancouver School of Theology
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Less a critical biography than an exhaustive historical contextualization of Paul's life, this work draws on a range of sources and extends to a level of detail that is likely to prove daunting for many general readers. But Paul's indisputable importance in determining the shape and direction of Christianity will ensure more than a scholarly audience. Murphy-O'Connor's decision to give biographical, chronological, and historical data in Paul's letters precedence over Luke's account in Acts recasts the picture most familiar to both general and scholarly audiences. His thorough examination of rabbinic sources and both ancient and modern geographic and historic sources results in a richly textured picture of the multicultural Greco-Roman world in which Paul lived and worked. Combined with a close reading of Paul's writing and the writing of his students, that picture makes a significant contribution to understanding Paul as both producer and product of the communities with which he has long been identified. --Steve Schroeder
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The foundations of many of the central doctrines of Christianity, such as original sin and justification by faith, can be traced to the letters of Paul of Tarsus. While the third-person historical narratives of the book of Acts describe Paul's dramatic conversion from the persecutor of the early followers of Jesus to tireless proselytizer for the Christian faith, his letters intimately reveal the psychological and spiritual complexities of Paul's character. Using historical and literary criticism, Murphy-O'Connor (The Holy Land) draws his account of Paul's life and work primarily from Paul's letters. After an opening section in which he establishes the chronology of Paul's life and ministry, the author then explores Paul's early life and religious training and its contribution to an understanding of his life and work. Murphy-O'Connor devotes the major portion of his study to an exploration of the ways in which Paul's life and theology intersect in his letters. Lucid prose and exhaustive coverage make this biography the standard by which future lives of Paul will be measured. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Murphy-O'Connor, a professor of New Testament studies who teaches in Jerusalem, has written an important scholarly biography of Paul based on an extensive analysis of his letters rather than on Luke's Acts of the Apostles, as is traditionally done. The first chapter of the book, "The Chronological Framework," compares evidence from the Pauline corpus with that of Luke's Acts and extant extrabiblical archaeological evidence, enabling Murphy-O'Connor to postulate a more precisely delimited chronology for Paul's entire life than does Günther Bornkamm's Paul (1971). The remaining 13 chapters, based on information extracted from the authentic Pauline letters, discuss in more detail specific events in Paul's life. One problem with this methodology is that of pure speculation due to the nature of the sources and the occasional lack of confirming extra-biblical evidence. In addition to Paul's biography, Murphy-O'Connor also treats the development in Paul's theological thought. Recommended for academic libraries.Pius Murray, Holy Apostles Coll. & Seminary, Cromwell, Ct. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A dry historical tome that would be more aptly titled ``Paul: A Cultural History.'' The difficulties of doing ancient biography are compounded when one of the two major sources available is believed to be historically unreliable and corrupt. One of New Testament scholar Murphy-O'Connor's primary objectives is to demonstrate why Luke's account of Paul's life, contained in the Book of Acts, is an inaccurate basis for biography. Point well taken, but where to go from there? The author relies heavily on Paul's own letters, but the portrait available from them is incomplete at best. Paul revealed relatively little about his personal life, preferring to call attention to his mission. Some surprising hypotheses do emerge from this work. First, Murphy-O'Connor conjectures that Paul was not a bachelor, but a widower who had lost his family in some sort of tragedy. The psychological evidence for this is slim, and the historical evidence is nonexistent. Much stronger are the author's deductions about the letters themselves; he makes an excellent case for 2 Thessalonians as a genuine Pauline letter, a minority opinion among New Testament scholars. He also challenges Rome as the traditional site of Paul's imprisonment and demonstrates why Ephesus was a far more logical locale. The primary contribution of the book is not that it is a biography of Paul, but that it opens the door to Paul's world through geography, Roman history, and Jewish-Christian conflict. Unfortunately, the prose is mired in academic passivity and such dense phrases as ``abstracting from the spurious clarity of the philological argument.'' The book is so weighed down with cultural history that there is relatively little about Paul himself, and what there is seems to be mostly speculation. Acts, though historically imprecise, makes for a much better story.
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Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
