My Bookshelf
From the Publisher:
St. Paul continues to provoke people as much today as he did in the first century. Some see him as the greatest teacher of Christianity after Jesus himself, while others regard him as a pestilent and dangerous fellow. Over the years, scholars have debated and written books on the historic Paul and his role in the birth of Christianity. Most recently, English novelist and biographer A.N. Wilson has revived the old argument that it was Paul of Tarsus and not Jesus of Nazareth who founded Christianity.
In What Saint Paul Really Said, N.T. Wright—a world authority on the life and letters of Paul—leads readers through the current scholarly discussion of Paul and gives a concise account of the actual contribution Paul made to the birth of Christianity. Wright offers a critique of the argument that claims that it was Paul who founded Christianity and shows clearly that Paul was not "the founder of Christianity" but was the faithful witness and herald of Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish Messiah and the risen Lord of the Christian faith.
From the Critcis:
America: Wright manages to situate Paul within Judaism and at the same time to bring out what is new and fresh about Pauline Christianity. Wright's respect for the biblical text, knowledge of modern scholarship, theological imagination, pastoral concern and ability to communicate make this an excellent guide to Paul and this theology.
Theology Today: Wright offers here for the non specialist a tantalizing glimpse of the shape his reading of Paul has taken over the past two decades. Wright succinctly discusses Paul's background, conversion, and mission, and offers a fresh account of the apostle's thought that situates Paul firmly within his first-century context as a Jew called to preach the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles. Crisply argued and passionately written, this volume will provoke the reader to return to Paul's letters with fresh insights and a host of new questions.