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Average Rating:  out of 9 Reviews
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Price: $34.99
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Sale: $20.90
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Manufacturer: B&H Academic
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EAN (European Article Number): 9780805410976
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Hardcover
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Author: John B. Polhill
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Publisher: B&H Academic
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Dewey Decimal Number: 225.92
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Publication Date: 1999-08-15
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Reading Level: 448
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Description: 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. |
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: Excellent introductory material |
Date: 2004-03-15 |
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Details: Dr. Polhill has given us a well written introduction to Paul and his letters that reflects his many years of scholarship. He argues from a conservative evangelical perspective, but includes diverging opinions concerning authorship, provenance, etc. One of the strengths of this book is his detail in defining terms, people and places relating to Paul in Acts and his epistles. This will be a resource that I use often in the ministry and for personal use. I recommend highly to laypersons, seminarians and pastors. |
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Review Summary: Excellent Intro to Paul & His Letters |
Date: 2008-04-07 |
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Details: A previous reviewer wrote,
"But you do not get anywhere near the depth of discussion you do in most commentaries devoted to one or two letters. There is no passage-by-passage analysis and little discussion of the Greek text. Again, a helpful introduction, but not much more."
Indeed, a very helpful introduction. And it was not written to be "much more," so I wouldn't hold that against the book.
I had to read this book in seminary for a NT II intro class taught by the author of the book, Dr. Polhill. His material in class is very closely related to the material he has in his book. So you are getting a seminary level introduction to Paul and his epistles.
But don't let the word "seminary" scare you away from this book! I am not your average seminary student. I don't care to read books that are overly complicated or hard to read and Polhill does not disappoint. I found the book engaging in many respects and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an introduction to Paul and his epistles. |
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Review Summary: prompt delivery |
Date: 2008-09-02 |
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Details: i was very pleased with the purchase. the book was in great condition and came right on time. |
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Review Summary: Letters of Paul Book |
Date: 2008-11-14 |
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Details: The book was as advertised. Excellent condition and arrived promptly. Very pleased with the seller. |
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Review Summary: A Sound Textbook on Paul's Life and Thought |
Date: 2008-08-29 |
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Details: Paul and His Letters by John B. Polhill is a long, thorough study of the great apostle's life and thought. And in fact, it is divided in precisely this way: Chapters 1-7 are written about Paul's life while 8-20 are largely written about Paul's thought. I say "largely" because chapters 11, 15, and 18 deal with elements of Paul's life that we can extract from Acts. In its entirety Paul and His Letters extends to just under 500 pages. There are shorter books out there and there are longer books out there; Polhill's strikes a nice balance between superficial overviews of Paul and unendurably long tomes also written about the apostle. One thing to keep in mind is that Polhill writes like a detached theologian. In this sense he doesn't write like Paul. But this isn't a strike against him. One doesn't get the impression that Polhill writes dryly because the apostle Paul is boring to him. It's simply the standard textbook-style rigidity that enables the scholar to carefully present the data without "getting in the way." Admittedly, books like these are more difficult to read for long stretches at a time, but they are great to read in spurts.
As mentioned above, chapters 1 through 7 are about Paul's life. Polhill takes his information largely from the book of Acts, as well as from Paul's autobiographical material that he includes in some of his epistles. He also gives a hearing to extra-biblical writings that present information about Paul, but he is skeptical about the accuracy of most of these reports. In chapter one Polhill writes about Paul's upbringing in a city immersed in Greek culture (Tarsus) and about Paul's Roman citizenry. Chapter two sees Polhill beginning to outline Paul's Jewish identity: 1) As a Hebrew-speaking Jew; 2) As a Pharisee; 3) As a persecutor of Christians who undermined Judaism; 4) As a Jewish man with a Jewish appearance. Chapter three introduces Paul the Christian: it talks about his glorious conversion, his early witness, and his devotion to Christ. From this point on Polhill is done with Paul's background and is ready to focus fully on Paul's Christian activity. Chapter four touches on Paul's period in Syria and Cilicia before his missionary trips. In addition it gives a wonderful Pauline chronology that sets up a timeline for the rest of the book to follow. Chapter five recounts Paul's first mission. Chapter six is about the Gentile controversy that led to the Jerusalem Conference which vindicated Paul's mission to the Gentiles. Before chapter eight, which kicks off Polhill's exploration of Paul's thought from his epistles, chapter seven talks a bit about Paul the letter writer.
There's no reason to give a rundown of the rest of the book in a chapter by chapter format. Very simply: Polhill spends the rest of the book carefully surveying each of Paul's letters. He begins with a summary of his chapter, then he explains Paul's connection to the recipients of his letters, then he might give a description and history of the city where the church that he is writing to is located, next he might give additional relevant details about the historical context of why Paul wrote his letter and how he had it delivered, next he'll give the time and place of Paul's writing, after that he presents a study outline of each letter, and finally, an extended and thorough analysis of the highlights of each letter and an overview of message of each letter at large. (This last sentence seems almost as long as some of Paul's run-on sentences in Scripture!). While I disagreed with Polhill's interpretations in some areas, they were on the whole very sound and conservative.
One thing that continues to bother me about some Bible scholars and theologians is their tendency to use tentative language in their assessments when it comes to affirming the orthodox positions. To give an example, Polhill will defend the idea that Paul's later writings did not contradict his earlier ones, but he will phrase it in a way that reduces the orthodox position to a mere probability. He might say something like "It is probably not the case that Paul's later writings contradict his earlier ones." Probably? It's impossible for anyone who holds to the inspiration of Scripture to so much as even consider any other option as a live option. Why the soft language I'm not sure. But this type of "scholarly restraint" reduces the force of the conviction, no doubt shared by Polhill, that as Christians we believe the Bible is inspired and cannot contradict itself in this way. But Polhill is not the only one; this seems to be the scholarly method across the board nowadays. These committed Christian scholars probably want to present their studies as serious rather than fanatical. So in a way I understand why it's done this way. I don't want to give readers the wrong impression that Polhill is a liberal or a liberal sympathizer. He affirms the standard evangelical position on every issue that he covers. While I don't agree with all of his interpretations of Paul's theology, he is solidly evangelical and conservative. I'm not sure that I'd find a Pauline scholar whom I'd agree with more. All in all, a very impressive book on the apostle Paul, on both his life and his thought. |
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