http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005 by the authors Tue, 29 Nov 2005 23:16:25 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/12/20/092934.php#comment-280301 I read this book for a literature class - it was like reading a text book with a pretencious, know it all author. I read this work two times, taking notes along the way and I still can't tell you when Paul was born, what he was like as a person or what he (as a person) was like after his conversion. What made him go from preaching Judaism to preaching Christianity? I don't care that this letter was written before that one because of particualr language usage. Give me a break! I was overwhelmed with stupid facts about emperors yet there were hardly any on Paul himself. I was dissapointed. The Mind of the Apostle if false advertising - the places, people, & politics surrounding the time of Paul yes - but Wilson never actually offers any insight to PAUL. 280301@blogcritics.org Tue, 29 Nov 2005 23:16:25 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/12/20/092934.php#comment-104569 It's a short book at 250 pages. There are a few footnotes, usually on points of Greek translation. There is a 6 page select biliography. He cites several works on Paul including 19th century writers F.C. Baur, and W.M. Ramsay and a wide selection of 20th century commentary by W.D. Davies, F.F. Bruce, James Dunn, E.E. Ellis, T.R. Glover, Michael Grant, J.J. Gunther, Martin Hengel, J. Klausner, Wilfed Knox and even the redoubtable J. G. Machen. I have only picked a few names from the bibliography. I think the list presents a survey of the writing on Paul rather than writers that support his viewpoint. I think part of his project was to present Paul to a modern audience that has not necessarily read much or any of Acts or Paul. Most people know the passage from Corinthians that gets read at weddings and little else. I picked this book off a shelf in the library as I browsed. I might have passed it by but I had been watching the first season of Deadwood and I had been caught by the preacher character, dying of a brain tumour, quoting Paul. My point is that I have enough biblical literacy to recognize the references, curiosity to learn more, and humility to know the limitation of my learning. 104569@blogcritics.org Mon, 20 Dec 2004 13:03:17 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/12/20/092934.php#comment-104555 Tony, Wilson could reach that analysis by simply reading Acts and the letters. Did he cite other sources, and if so which? Thanks, h 104555@blogcritics.org Mon, 20 Dec 2004 12:11:17 EST