Street Prophets

What Paul Meant by Garry Wills [book review]

by hof1991

Sat Dec 23, 2006 at 12:58:22 PM PDT

Garry Wills follows up his best-selling What Jesus Meant with What Paul Meant. In many ways, the follow up is a better book. Many authors have searched for the 'real' Jesus in the Gospels, with very mixed and inconsistent results. Indeed the results say more about the authors than about Jesus. Paul is much clearer.
Once you clear away the Pauline epistles and drop what Acts has to say about Paul and read what Paul has to say about Paul, you have a considerable body of work. Indeed, there are few ancients whose work is so well attested and so personal. It is in clearing away the debris around the historical Paul that Wills excels.

As in his previous books, Wills works to strip away the anachronisms. The Road to Damascus takes place in Acts, but Paul never mentions it. Paul would not have considered that he converted. He was a Jew among Jews, who came to believe the Jesus was the promised Messiah. There was no "Christian" church to convert to. Not only that, there was nothing that we would call a church.

Paul pre-dates the Gospels and is the only writing we are certain was composed within the lives of the Twelve, while there were many witnesses alive. Far from creating something out of the death of a carpenter, Paul emerges from his own words as a most faithful follower of his Risen Messiah. This is a book I highly recommend.

Wills, Garry, 1934-What Paul meant.    
Introduction : "the bad news man"
1 - Paul and the risen Jesus
2 - Paul and the pre-resurrection Jesus
3 - Paul "on the road"
4 - Paul and Peter
5 - Paul and women
6 - Paul and the troubled gatherings
7 - Paul and Jews
8 - Paul and Jerusalem
9 - Paul and Rome
Afterword : misreading Paul
App - Translating Paul


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  • Well,.... (0 / 0)

    ....in my opinion you cannot clear away the Pauline epistles and drop what Acts has to say about Paul without destroying the entire picture of the man.

     I believe all scripture is inspired of God and not one word is given without cause.

     I agree with the basic premise that Paul was a "Jew among Jews, who came to believe the Jesus was the promised Messiah" and that "there was nothing that we would call a church".
     .

    However the statement that
    "There was no "Christian" church to convert to" is false.

     We have come to veiw the "Christian" church as the heiarchies,denominations and even the buildings of worship that Man creates.it has never been that.

     The Christian Church was started when a wild eyed preacher who munched on locusts came out of the wilderness to prepare the way.The Christian church is the universal body of believers.It cuts across location,denomination and race.It needs neither fancy building nor heiarchy,just a sincere love for and belief in Christ.That is why the Bible says if two or three gather in his name He will be there.A Catholic in a church in New York who believes on Christ is just as much a part of the church as someone in an evangelical megachurch or a denenomitional person worshipping with a few of his or her friends in a shanty in the third world. There has always been a Christian Church to convert(I hate that word) to.Christ was present at the founding of the world and as part of the triune nature of God,the Jewish patriarchs,judges and Kings followed him even if they did not know his name at that time.

     That said,I will check this book out.I just wanted to give an alternative POV for some of the statements in your diary.

    by tabbycat1138 on Sat Dec 23, 2006 at 01:46:14 PM PDT

    • clear away Pauline epistles (0 / 0)

      If you want to uderstand Paul, looking at what he wrote is a good start. Looking at what others wrote about him or in his name can be a useful adjunct, but......

      And who Paul is what and what he believed matter because he is the oldest witness we have to Jesus.

      by hof1991 on Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 04:39:33 PM PDT

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  • I'll Take Your Advice (0 / 0)

    As I am a Garry Wills man, I look forward to reading the book.

    by Frank Cocozzelli on Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 03:48:20 PM PDT

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