Understanding Paul And His Letters

The letters of the Apostle Paul are central witnesses to the Christian faith and to the earliest history of Christianity. And yet, when students, preachers, and others turn to Paul, they find many things “hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16) in these ancient writings. James Prothro’s new book aims to help readers see the Apostle’s faith and hope at work as he evangelized the nations. Steeped in up-to-date scholarship and a passion for the gospel Paul preached, Prothro draws readers into Paul’s life and letters in order to help them hear the Apostle’s voice. The book’s chapters offer introductions to Paul’s background, life, and legacy; an introduction to ancient letter writing; a guide to understanding Paul’s theology across the letters; a survey of the portrait of Paul in the Book of Acts; separate treatments of each letter’s background and purpose; treatments of key theological topics in each letter and a thorough outline of each letter showing its arguments and how they make sense. Prothro introduces complex matters with clarity, balance, and an inviting style. He not only offers answers but models how to ask questions, helping us reason through Paul’s letters as ancient documents and as Christian Scripture. This book will prove a valuable introduction for those who study, teach, and preach these biblical books.

Understanding Paul and His Letters is a seminal text in that it traces the development of the main lines of Paul?s theology and faith through each of his letters.

An experienced teacher provides an accessible textbook on the Pauline letters that orients beginning students to the genre in which Paul writes.

In this revised and enlarged edition, Leander E. Keck presents a succinct, comprehensive, and up-to-date scholarly interpretation of Paul's theology. Keck has revised the volume to account more fully for Paul's understanding of the law and of faith/trust. He has retained the basic structure of the first edition but now apprises the reader of specific details of his own continuing thinking in light of select scholarly discussions. Entirely new to the volume is an appendix, Paul's Theology in Historical Criticism, a summary of the scholarly effort to account for, understand, and interpret Paul's theology.

The 'Dictionary of Paul and his letters' is a one-of-a-kind reference work. Following the format of its highly successful companion volume, the 'Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels', this Dictionary is designed to bring students, teachers, ministers and laypeople abreast of the established conclusions and significant recent developments in Pauline scholarship. No other single reference work presents as much information focused exclusively on Pauline theology, literature, background and scholarship. In a field that recently has undergone significant shifts in perspective, the 'Dictionary of Paul and His Letters' offers a summa of Paul and Pauline studies. In-depth articles focus on individual theological themes (such as law, resurrection and Son of God), broad theological topics (such as Christology, eschatology and the death of Christ), methods of interpretation (such as rhetorical criticism and social-scientific approaches), background topics (such as apocalypticism, Hellenism and Qumran) and various other subjects specifically related to the scholarly study of Pauline theology and literature (such as early catholicism, the centre of Paul's theology, and Paul and his interpreters since F. C. Baur). Separate articles are also devoted to each of the Pauline letters, to hermeneutics and to preaching Paul today. The 'Dictionary of Paul and His Letters' takes its place alongside the 'Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels' in presenting the fruit of evangelical New Testament scholarship at the end of the twentieth century - committed to the authority of Scripture, utilising the best of critical methods, and maintaining dialogue with contemporary scholarship and challenges facing the church.

Except for Christ himself, no figure has been more influential in the history of Christianity than the apostle Paul. And yet his remarkable life remains shrouded in mystery. In this probing new book, John B. Polhill scrapes away the myths about this great man and uncovers the truth of his life and thought. Using Acts, the Pauline epistles, and reliable traditions from non-canonical sources, Polhill weaves together the remarkable story of Paul's transformation from persecutor to persecuted, producing a dynamic account of his entire ministry. By placing each of Paul's letters in its proper historical context, Polhill brings new light to these foundation stones of the Christian faith. He follows Paul from his early years in Tarsus and Jerusalem to his imprisonment and eventual martyrdom, painting a detailed, comprehensive portrait of Paul that will serve as an indispensable resource for students, teachers, and pastors alike.

A major Pauline theology, the first to have come out in the Catholic area in recent years, which sheds light on and interprets Paul's theology by his letters, his life, and both against the background of his times.

The 4th edition of this widely used guide to reading and interpreting the New Testament This revised edition of Gundry's survey of the New Testament goes beyond providing background information and technical introductory material and leads students to read the New Testament itself. Whenever possible general questions of introduction and background are tied to assigned readings covering the entire New Testament. In addition, comments on these readings help students with interpretation and follow the flow of thought from one passage to another. Features include: * New design with four-color format and more photos and improved maps * Chapters begin with list, of study goals and end with summary, overview and of people, places, terms to remember, and review questions * Outlines, section headings, subheadings, and bolded items make it easy to follow structure of discussion * Phonetic pronunciations for unfamiliar names and terms * Breakouts with illustrative quotes from ancient, nonbiblical literature * Discussion questions on the contemporary relevance of the New Testament * Updated bibliographies * Conservative evangelical theological perspective also notes other positions and literature