An Introduction to the Study of Paul (T&T Clark Approaches to Biblical Studies)

[Full Review]

This second edition of David Horrell’s introduction to Pauline studies follows the same basic structure as the original edition (published in 2000), but the author has revised and added material throughout the book to bring the text up to date. In addition to an updated bibliography and questions for further study at the end of each chapter, the book now includes new or revised discussions of the “world(s)” in which Paul lived (5–6); the narrative basis of Paul’s theology and his use of Scripture (58–60); the pistis Christou debate (78–80); Paul’s ethics (80–83); the debates between the “old” and “new” perspectives on Paul (93–97); the social level of Paul and the early Christians (107–9); and Paul’s relation to the Roman Empire and the imperial cult (113–14). Overall, these additions have added nineteen pages to the length of this compact study. For those who are not familiar with the first edition of the book, a brief summary is in order. As Horrell indicates in his preface, the purpose of this book is not to offer a particular interpretation of Paul’s letters or his theology but rather to introduce readers to the key issues and ongoing areas of debate in the field of Pauline studies. The primary aim is “to give students and others interested in Paul some insight into the range of perspectives currently promoted and the issues that underlie contemporary debate” (xii). [Full Review]

This is the second edition of a work first published in 2000, distinguished from its predecessor by additional material in four chapters, slight revisions throughout, updated bibliographies, and questions for further study attached at the end of each chapter. Granting that a number of “hugely valuable” introductory works on Paul have recently been written, the author claims a unique place for his book as an introduction to the study of Paul (i.e., “to the range of approaches, perspectives, issues and debates in the scholarly study of Paul” [ix]) rather than to Paul himself. In fact, he has provided an admirable introduction to both. Chapter 1 comments on Paul’s “enormous” influence, how contemporary concerns affect readings of his epistles, the distance between Paul’s world and our own, and the resources available for studying the apostle (the primary evidence of the undisputed epistles; the secondary, not unproblematic, yet “essential” evidence of Acts; other materials that illuminate the context in which Paul lived). Chapter 2 looks at pre-Pauline Christianity. It begins with the evidence of Acts, treating different views of its historicity and of its division between “Hebrews” and “Hellenists. [Full Review]