Paul [Hardcover]

I am so glad this book was written. I picked it up while on holiday at a friend's house and she didn't see it again for months... At first I wondered whether I'd manage to follow it, because there are several narrators and for me it was like being introduced to a roomful of people at a party when you are afraid you'll never remember them all. The initial chapter had me hooked, though, and after a while I began to get used to which character was which. By halfway through the book I was thoroughly enjoying it and glad I persevered.
Paul himself comes across as a very human but compelling character, with many weaknesses but with an experience of God that keeps him going despite discouraging setbacks. The whole book seems well-researched (around 50 references in the 'shorter' bibliography!) and gives a strong flavour of what life was like around the Mediterranean coast during the first century AD. It really helped me appreciate the cultural conflicts brought about through an emerging new faith that changed the views of thousands of Jews and non-Jews. It also puts into context many of Paul's teachings in his letters, so I feel I have a better understanding of why he wrote some of the things he did.

Easy and gripping reading, very well researched historical and sociological background, although the learning sits easily. It is not a difficult book to read and I found it so worthwhile I passed it on and bought a second copy. Can only recommend it.

I have always been interested in Paul as a real life character, what I mean by this is that I have always imagined how he lived his life on a day to day basis. I know you can probably deduce this n that about his life from the books he wrote but if like me you havent got a lot of knowledge about the Roman empire at that time, then its a bit hard to fill in the gaps. So when I first read this book, i was just happy at the fact that Wangerin had done the research into how the Romans lived then and related that research to Paul's life and when i read further and saw that, the book is almost written word for word like Paul's actual books, I was sold. As you read through the book, you will notice that Wangerin does not ad lib to the extreme, he pretty much combines all of Paul's books into a chronological Novel (stating the obvious here I know) which details how Paul might have ended up writing what he wrote, the people he might have met, the places he might have gone.

Wangerin also manages to give other people from Paul's books a story and a background especially in terms of Priscilla, I mean she plays a vital part to Wangerin's story. The way Wangerin portrays the relationship between Paul and Priscilla is almost scary because of how intimate the relationship seems, but then you realise that this is not sexual intimacy but a godly intimacy, Priscilla looks at Paul almost as her mentor in the things of God, she understands his fight and is always there to support him whenever he needs support and what makes this interesting is that Priscilla's husband is fully aware of this and is also supportive of his wife being a shoulder to lean for Paul.

Appeal
This is a very interesting Novel and I think it will definitely appeal more to those who already have some background knowledge about Paul and his works (xtians). I can guarantee you that once you read this book, you will have a different outlook on all of Paul's letters as I said before simply because of how Wangerin puts this book together. I mean he spends some time looking at how the circumstances might have lead to Paul writing to Timothy, he looks at how Paul suffers at the hands of other Christians and Pharisees, he adds commentary to the contention between Paul and Peter and how it might have arisen, he looks at the super apostles, he looks at his trial and being incarcerated and finally he talks about the proverbial thorn that the Lord has afflicted him with.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the book - as you would expect from any book, there were a few things that sort of shook me a bit especially my initial reaction to Paul and Priscilla's relationship but at the end, I could see what the writer was trying to do. Don't be scared of reading the book because it is in no way, shape or form blasphemous and the writer does not expose anything contradictory about Paul's life that his letters don't tell us already.