Overview
This book makes a certain demand on its readers, though perhaps less on the professional theologian au fait with current research than on the layperson, for whom it is equally designed. The reader will look in vain here for much that from the beginning has been a familiar part of the church's tradition, deriving above all from the Book of Acts. The reasons for this slight, and critical, use of Acts are give in the Introduction. In the matter of Paul's own epistles, too, this book often goes ways of its own. If we are to think Paul's theology along with him and follow it, we certainly need to prepare ourselves and to persevere. At the same time, with a thinker of Paul's stature, it is impossible to make him seem easier than he is. Bornkamm has tried not only to give some account of his life and thought but also to let the reader share in the process of questioning and discovery. In Paul's theology many topics and ideas are so interrelated that the reader should not in every case expect exhaustive treatment of a particular subject under the relevant heading. For more detailed discussion he must refer to other related ideas and key words. The character and limited compass of the book made it impossible in every case carefully to discuss the pros and cons of interpretations differing from my own. My indebtedness to the work of other men, including those not mentioned here, and the extent to which joining issue with earlier and present-day research has been a formative factor in my own understanding and of judgments on Paul, will be obvious to the expert on page after page. The nonexpert may count himself happy not to be required to retraverse their tracks, both right and wrong.
Full Product Details
Author: Gunther Bornkamm
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
Imprint: Augsburg Fortress
Edition: New edition
Dimensions:
Width: 14.00cm
, Height: 2.10cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 0.318kg
ISBN: 9780800628987
ISBN 10: 0800628985
Pages: 260
Publication Date: 05 May 1995
Audience:
College/higher education
,
General/trade
,
Undergraduate
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
This study of the life and teachings of the apostle Paul, by the professor of New Testament at Heidelberg, is a worthy successor to his widely praised study of Jesus. With scrupulous scholarship, and in clear, persuasive style, he sets forth what can be known and said about Paul's life and his theological teaching. Although the Book of Acts purportedly gives a good deal of information about Paul, the more trustworthy sources are the references to his own experiences provided by the apostle himself in his letters. Beginning with I Thessalonians, these antedate the writing of Acts by more than forty years and the Gospels by almost as long. The letters, says Professor Bornkamm, bring us very close to Paul but they also make us feel strangely remote from him. We cannot have a full life of Paul. The most we can get are his accounts of concrete incidents and the insights that arise from his reflection on these. In presenting Paul's theology, the author acknowledges that these are superficial grounds for the popular modern view that Paul was really a corrupter of the original Gospel as taught by Jesus. But he proceeds to show that the shift from that original teaching characterized the thought of the whole primitive church, that it is present in other New Testament writings besides Paul's letters, and that it was the inescapable development of the Gospel as a consequence of Jesus's resurrection. Though intended for the informed lay reader, this study will be equally welcomed by students and scholars, even those who may not accept all of the author's conclusions. It will stand as one of the more important New Testament Studies of recent years. (Kirkus Reviews)
Author Information
Gunther Bornkamm was Professor of New Testament Exegesis at Heidelberg University. A pupil of Rudolf Bultmann, he became one of the most eminent of New Testament scholars and widely known for his volume on Paul.
