The Gospel According to Paul: The Creative Genius Who Brought Jesus to the World Book

Paul of Tarsus is one of the most controversial apostles--a man who began his religious life as a passionate adversary of Christianity and ended up as one of its most passionate evangelists. In The Gospel According to Paul, Robin Griffin-Jones, a Christian scholar who previously taught the New Testament at Oxford University, attempts to answer many of the questions surrounding the "real" Paul. Some teachings have heralded Paul as the salvation of Christianity--having travelled thousands of miles across the Roman Empire, founding churches and spreading the "good news" wherever he went. He is also accused of embodying much of Christianity's shadow side--anti-Semitism, homophobia, misogyny and a fanatical insistence upon converting others. In this 510-page character study, Griffith-Jones promises to get inside the head of the enigmatic Paul and offer a plausible interpretation of his motives and spiritual evolution. He argues that Paul was foremost an intensely devout seer and that much of the darker accusations were taken out of context: This book is the story of arguments bitterly contested between different missionaries and different churches. Paul was in the thick of them. The conduct of these arguments is as gripping as their content. They throw into sharp relief the questions that still face any community growing in numbers and independence. Although Griffith-Jones excels in setting this historical context, he seems overly enamoured with the visionary qualities of Paul's life and the poetic vibrancy of his letters, calling into question his ability to objectively present this complex apostle. The jacket cover dangles disturbing accusations against Paul in front of readers, but the author rarely addresses them directly. Unfortunately, Griffin-Jones's prose is often convoluted and he tends to jump about in time and focus, making this a challenging as well as unsatisfying read. --Gail Hudson, Amazon.comRead More