The Living Paul: An Introduction to the Apostle's Life and Thought [Paperback]

The Living Paul

Subtitled, An Introduction to The Apostle's Life and Thought, this book lives up to its title.
Written by Anthony C. Thiselton, professor of Christian Theology at the University of Nottingham, The Living Paul will be a helpful addition to any Bible student's library.
The first four chapters deal with Paul as a person, preacher, writer, apostle, etc. and introduce us to the man.
The following chapters deal with Pauline thought. Referencing various theologians and various viewpoints time and again, this book seeks to draw from learned men for the purpose of presenting Paul to us, and has done a good job for a book that is an introduction.
What I appreciate the most of this book is the arrangement of it. While I appreciate its content, and benefit from it, the arrangement is very helpful. Not only does it provide a bibliography, but a good index. The arranging of the chapters is well done, too. One only need to go to the table of contents to determine where he shall find that aspect of Paul's thought he wishes to consider. In that sense this book is a mini encyclopedia of Pauline thought and doctrine.
Of special interest is the fact that the author deals with much modern thought as he deals with Pauline thought. The New Perspective on Paul is discussed as well as postmodernism. The latter shows how relevant Paul is to today's issues.
The con is that I believe there are many who would be put off by the fact that the author does not see Paul as a complementarian when it comes to the roles of men and women. While I think Paul was, I do not see this as a reason to reject the whole book.
The Living Paul will not only be a read-through-at-once book, but also a good reference book.
Thanks to IVP for providing this book for review.

This review originally appeared on [...] on 4/29/10.

Special thanks to Adrianna at IVP for a review copy of this book.

Anthony Thiselton is a well-known figure in contemporary biblical studies, a man crossing a number of specializations: New Testament exegete, systematician, philosopher (especially as it relates to hermeneutics). In this little volume (162 pages of text) the reader is treated to a little bit of everything: a summary of Paul's life and teaching (Thiselton the NT scholar), forays into Paul's contribution to Christian doctrine (Thiselton the systematician), and even a final chapter on Paul and postmodern thought (Thiselton the philosopher). Thiselton is a rare breed in that he is quite capable in all of these areas, and even rarer for offering The Living Paul, a book written for those perhaps unfamiliar with Paul and the debates surrounding his writings.

For much of the book, Thiselton succeeds in providing an informed and stimulating "introduction to the Apostle's life and thought" (as the subtitle goes). His opening chapters on "obstacles to appreciating Paul" are helpful, particularly his discussion of "new creation" (which is essentially Thiselton fleshing out the "already/not yet" in Paul's writings).

One helpful aspect of the book was how Thiselton situated Paul the letter writer in his discussion of Paul the travelling missionary pastor. This helps the reader understand how letters such as 1-2 Thessalonians and the Corinthians letters fit into Paul's ministry as a missionary rather than seeing them as detached from his church planting (after all, Paul the Letter Writer and Paul the Missionary both fall under his role as Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles). Unfortunately, Thiselton does not carry this out for all of Paul's letters, including overviews of some within various chapters. Because of this, this book is not the ideal place to get an overview of each Pauline letter, but it does help to tie the letters into his broader ministry and theology, something that can be lost with other approaches.

Chapters 5, 6 & 7 showcase Thiselton's abilities as a theologian. With admirable clarity he demonstrates how Paul sets the stage for later articulations of the Trinity, noting that neither Jesus nor the Spirit are created beings in Pauline theology, and that God, Jesus and the Spirit co-operate in remarkable ways (in creation, redemption, prayer, and so on). There are a couple points that will cause discomfort for some readers: his reliance on Moltmann's understanding of God co-suffering with Jesus, and his claim that many have an understanding of spiritual gifts that is "too supernatural" (I know of many missionaries and third-world believers who would laugh at this claim). I also found it interesting that Thiselton, while engaging multiple scholars, does not interact with Gordon Fee's massive book on the Holy Spirit in Paul's letters. But all in all I found these chapters stimulating and creatively presented.

Perhaps my favorite chapter (16) was his treatment of eschatology. He ably and concisely demonstrates the weakness of many contemporary evangelical approaches. "Paul is less interested in individual destiny, or survival of death, and `heaven', than in the three great corporate and cosmic events of the resurrection, the last judgement, and the Parousia of Christ" (p135). He also rejects the approach of Bultmann which sees eschatological passages as dealing strictly with present behavior, as well as attempts to equate Paul's hope with "secular progressivism." His discussion of the resurrection of the body and Christ's return explains Paul's thought clearly without losing the audience at hand. If someone is looking for a succinct treatment of 1 Corinthians 15 to recommend, this is it.

The last chapter on "Paul and postmodernity" was an interesting read, though I'm afraid that someone without at least a basic familiarity to postmodern philosophy will be easily lost. If this book were being used in a church study group, it would be best to have someone on hand well versed in these discussions to explain the issues and why they matter.

This book, as good as it is, is not without some problems, as I see them. First, the constant reference to the disputed nature of some of the Pauline corpus (Colossians, Ephesians, the Pastoral Epistles) gets tiresome quickly. I would much prefer Thiselton note the debate early in the book, chose a side and stick with it. Instead, he annoys the reader with "if we allow Pauline authorship of Ephesians" and "the perhaps deutero-Pauline Pastorals" type comments throughout the book.

Second, there were a few times when Thiselton would refer to a scholar, but never cite that person's work. Thus, while I now know that Terence Donaldson defends the "New Perspective on Paul," I know neither who Terence Donaldson is nor what he has written on the subject. Why mention him at all?

Lastly, the clarity with which Thiselton writes (praised above) is inconsistent. Maybe I was tired, but while reading his chapter on justification, I got confused- and I'm familiar with the discussion! While a scholar will appreciate the brief summary, I have no idea how any layperson (the audience of the book, mind you), with little-to-no orientation to the discussion, would be able to keep up. The problem is that Thiselton spends too much time surveying the various approaches (this happens in other chapters, but it kills this one). There were simply too many names thrown about to be helpful. What I wanted was Thiselton's thoughts on Paul's doctrine of justification (after all, I'm reading Thiselton's book!), but had trouble sifting through the discussion to discern his view. Interestingly, I'd make the same criticism about his massive commentary on 1 Corinthians.

Does Thiselton succeed in offering an accessible guide to Paul's life and thought? For the most part, yes. There are portions of the book that are simply outstanding and would benefit anyone who reads it. But there are other points when I'm just not sure he hits the target audience. The teacher in the local church (which is what I do and the perspective from which I write this review) would do well to refer to The Living Paul in preparation and could even have certain chapters picked out for church members to read, either leaving out the more confusing portions, or taking extra time to explain them.

Paul is a controversial historical and religious figure, one who has been the subject of many scholarly inquiries that have sought to capture his self-understanding and identify the contours of his theology, the center of his thought, and his significance for contemporary Christian faith. Some studies, such as The Theology of Paul the Apostle by James Dunn (1998), have succeeded in providing a thorough and analytical account of Paul. Others, such as Paul and the Law by Heikki Räisänen (1987), have been so incredible (i.e. ridiculous) that they have by and large faded from the scene. Finally, there are surveys that steer the middle course by giving a knowledgeable yet concise treatment of the apostle in the broadly conservative tradition. The Living Paul: An Introduction to the Apostle's Life and Thought by Anthony C. Thiselton (2009) finds its niche in this last category.

The book has a timeline of Paul's apostolic ministry, seventeen chapters, and an apt bibliography. In chapters 1 and 2, Thiselton explores preunderstandings that may distort people's interpretation of Paul. Once he has identified and critiqued those preunderstandings, Thiselton mines the New Testament data to construct an objective image of the apostle in chapters 3 and 4. Then Thiselton spends chapters 5-16 looking at different parts of Paul's teaching: Jesus Christ, the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, humanity, sin, being in Christ, justification and the law, the Church, the ministry of the word, baptism and the Eucharist, Paul's ethics, and eschatological destiny. In chapter 17, Thiselton articulates Paul's relevance for our postmodern context.

The book is a lucid and accessible account of Paul. Most people should find it comprehensible and easy to digest. The primary weakness of the book - and this is the reason I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 - is that some of the chapters and discussions are just too short. Thiselton himself says in the preface that the publishers requested a minimal word length, and this was probably the main factor that determined the length of the book. Still, during the course of the book, it feels like Thiselton is recapping the standard conservative interpretation of Paul more than engaging in solid exegesis or dialoguing with other viewpoints. Also, if you are looking for a book that discusses different approaches to and interpretations of Paul (e.g. liberal, feminist, post-colonial, et al), you should look elsewhere, such as Approaches to Paul: A Student's Guide to Recent Scholarship by Magnus Zetterholm (2009).

All in all, though, this book is a fine introduction that will educate students about Paul's self-understanding, his theological teaching, his ethical instruction, and his enduring legacy in a postmodern world.