Hard to muster up warm and fuzzy feelings when you think about the Apostle Paul? It's a common malady. But if so, you might want to check out What Paul Meant. Author Garry Wills makes the case that "what Paul meant was not something other than or contrary to what Jesus meant, but that we can best find out the latter by studying the former. His letters stand closer to Jesus than do any other words in the New Testament. They were the first to be penned..." Laying the foundation for his defense of Paul, Wills' states that modern scholars now only accept 7 of the 13 letters attributed to Paul as authentically written by him. When one takes that (and other Wills' insights) into account, Paul's jerk factor decreases dramatically!
As an aside... one cool passage in the book deals with the Golden Rule. "The belief that all the Brothers [and Sisters] are members of Christ leads to the corollary that they are members of each other. ... This is the deeper meaning of the Golden Rule--not simply that you should treat others as you would be treated, but treat them as if they were you (because they are)." Whoa! Good point!
Anyway, decent book... check it out and let me know what you think!
--Barb
1 comment:
I will be thrilled to read this book and see Paul's "jerk factor" decrease. Thanks for another eye-opening post, barb!
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