Paul the Jewish Theologian

Paul the Jewish Theologian
Author: Brad H. Young
Publisher: Baker Books
Total Pages: 187
Release: 1995-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1441232893

Paul the Jewish Theologian reveals Saul of Tarsus as a man who, though rejected in the synagogue, never truly left Judaism. Author Young disagrees with long held notions that Hellenism was the context which most influenced Paul's communication of the Gospel. This skewed notion has led to widely divergent interpretations of Paul's writings. Only in rightly aligning Paul as rooted in his Jewishness and training as a Pharisee can he be correctly interpreted. Young asserts that Paul's view of the Torah was always positive, and he separates Jesus' mission among the Jews from Paul's call to the Gentiles.

Paul Was Not a Christian

Paul Was Not a Christian
Author: Pamela Eisenbaum
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2009-11-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0061990205

Pamela Eisenbaum, an expert on early Christianity, reveals the true nature of the historical Paul in Paul Was Not a Christian. She explores the idea of Paul not as the founder of a new Christian religion, but as a devout Jew who believed Jesus was the Christ who would unite Jews and Gentiles and fulfill God’s universal plan for humanity. Eisenbaum’s work in Paul Was Not a Christian will have a profound impact on the way many Christians approach evangelism and how to better follow Jesus’s—and Paul’s—teachings on how to live faithfully today.

Paul and the Torah

Paul and the Torah
Author: Lloyd Gaston
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2006-02-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1597525383

While the task of exegesis after Auschwitz has been to expose the anti-Judaism inherent in the Christian tradition, the founding of the Jewish state has also helped show the continuation of the covenant between God and Israel. For Lloyd Gaston the living reality of Judaism makes possible a better understanding of Paul's prophetic call as Apostle to the Gentiles. In Paul and the Torah, Gaston argues that the terms of Paul's mission must be taken seriously and that it is totally inappropriate to regard his conversion as a transition from one religion to another. Paul's congregations were not made up of Christian Jews: they were exclusively Gentile. He therefore focused on God's promises to Abraham concerning Gentiles which were fulfilled in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. The inclusion of Gentiles in the elect people of God through their incorporation into Christ thus does not mean a displacement of Israel. Nowhere does Paul speak of the rejection of Israel as God's chosen people, of the Sinai covenant as no longer in effect for Israel, or of the church as the new and true Israel. He also says nothing against the Jewish understanding of Torah as it applies to Israel when he speaks of law in reference to Gentiles. But for those outside the covenant God made with Israel, the law acted in an oppressive and condemning way, and Gentiles needed liberation from it. Paradoxically, Paul finds the gospel of this liberation to be proclaimed already in Torah in the sense of Scripture.

Jesus

Jesus
Author: Ian Wilson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 206
Release: 1996
Genre: Bible
ISBN: 9780297835295

First published in 1984, a revised examination of the evidence for the existence of Jesus, updated to include the past ten years of discoveries, including the recently released Dead Sea Scrolls, the Magdalen papyrus and the Galilean fishing boat.

Paul and Jesus

Paul and Jesus
Author: James D. Tabor
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2012-11-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1439134987

In this “compulsively readable exploration of the tangled world of Christian origins” (Publishers Weekly), religious historian James Tabor illuminates the earliest years of Jesus’ teachings before Paul shaped them into the religion we know today. This fascinating examination of the earliest years of Christianity reveals how the man we call St. Paul shaped Christianity as we know it today. Historians know almost nothing about the two decades following the crucifixion of Jesus, when his followers regrouped and began to spread his message. During this time Paul joined the movement and began to preach to the gentiles. Using the oldest Christian documents that we have—the letters of Paul—as well as other early Chris­tian sources, historian and scholar James Tabor reconstructs the origins of Christianity. Tabor shows how Paul separated himself from Peter and James to introduce his own version of Christianity, which would continue to develop independently of the message that Jesus, James, and Peter preached. Paul and Jesus illuminates the fascinating period of history when Christianity was born out of Judaism.

The Jewish Apostle Paul

The Jewish Apostle Paul
Author: Eliyahu Lizorkin
Publisher:
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2020-01-07
Genre: Bible
ISBN: 9781656187413

"The Jewish Apostle Paul" sheds significant new light on the life and teaching of one of the greatest and most misunderstood Jews that ever lived - the Apostle Paul. This book courageously, yet responsibly, deals with one important matter that has not been settled: What is the relationship of Christ-followers among the nations to the Torah of Israel? In order to provide solid answers to this question, we must first deal with other basic questions.For example, how can we explain a thoroughly pro-Jewish Paul as he appears in his letter to the Romans and in the book of Acts; while he seemingly displays anti-Jewish or anti-Torah attitudes in his letters to non-Jewish Christ-followers in the Roman provinces of Galatia and the city of Philippi. The standard questions that are being asked today, although frightening to many, are indeed relevant and demand responsible, theologically balanced and historically accurate treatment.

The Mythmaker

The Mythmaker
Author: Hyam Maccoby
Publisher: Barnes & Noble Publishing
Total Pages: 268
Release: 1986
Genre: Christianity
ISBN: 9780760707876

The author presents new arguments which support the view that Paul, not Jesus, was the founder of Christianity. He argues that Jesus and also his immediate disciples James and Peter were life-long adherents of Pharisaic Judaism. Paul, however, was not, as he claimed, a native-born Jew of Pharisee upbringing, but came in fact from a Gentile background. He maintains that it was Paul alone who created a new religion by his vision of Jesus as a Divine Saviour who died to save humanity. This concept, which went far beyond the messianic claims of Jesus, was an amalgamation of ideas derived from Hellenistic religion, especially from Gnosticism and the mystery cults. Paul played a devious and adventurous political game with Jesus' followers of the so-called Jerusalem Church, who eventually disowned him. The conclusions of this historical and psychological study will come as a shock to many readers, but it is nevertheless a book which cannot be ignored by anyone concerned with the foundations of our culture and society. -- Book jacket.

Jesus, Paul and Torah

Jesus, Paul and Torah
Author: Heikki Räisänen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2015-01-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1474230571

This collection of major essays by the distinguished Finnish New Testament scholar will prove an invaluable sourcebook for students of this much-debated complex of problems.

The Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles
Author: P.D. James
Publisher: Canongate Books
Total Pages: 93
Release: 1999-01-01
Genre: Bibles
ISBN: 0857861077

Acts is the sequel to Luke's gospel and tells the story of Jesus's followers during the 30 years after his death. It describes how the 12 apostles, formerly Jesus's disciples, spread the message of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean against a background of persecution. With an introduction by P.D. James

Paul and the Law (2nd Edition)

Paul and the Law (2nd Edition)
Author: Heikki Raisanen
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2010-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1608997502

""Anyone who has studied Paul knows that probably the most complex problem he develops is his view of the law and its purpose. The beauty of Raisanen's work is that he recognizes and respects this complexity without himself becoming too dense to understand. Raisanen finds that Paul's radicalized, negative criticism of the law is peculiar to him, unparalleled in the NT and without precedent in Jewish thought. With careful, patient examination of various contexts, Raisanen leads his readers to see that Paul has an oscillating, even inconsistent view of the law. . . . This book is well-written in clear, readable English. It is an important book, recommended to any serious student of Paul. Its strength is in Raisanen's willingness to abandon preconceptions of what Paul's view on the law should be according to some consistent plan and in allowing Paul to speak for himself."" -- Mary Ann Getty in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1985, No. 47