Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time by SARAH RUDEN
Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time by SARAH RUDEN PDF, ePub eBook D0wnl0ad
It is a common—and fundamental—misconception that Paul told people how to live. Apart from forbidding certain abusive practices, he never gives any precise instructions for living. It would have violated his two main social principles: human freedom and dignity, and the need for people to love one another.Paul was a Hellenistic Jew, originally named Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, who made a living from tent making or leatherworking. He called himself the “Apostle to the Gentiles” and was the most important of the early Christian evangelists.
Paul is not easy to understand. The Greeks and Romans themselves probably misunderstood him or skimmed the surface of his arguments when he used terms such as “law” (referring to the complex system of Jewish religious law in which he himself was trained). But they did share a language—Greek—and a cosmopolitan urban culture, that of the Roman Empire. Paul considered evangelizing the Greeks and Romans to be his special mission.
“For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
The idea of love as the only rule was current among Jewish thinkers of his time, but the idea of freedom being available to anyone was revolutionary.
Paul, regarded by Christians as the greatest interpreter of Jesus’ mission, was the first person to explain how Christ’s life and death fit into the larger scheme of salvation, from the creation of Adam to the end of time. Preaching spiritual equality and God’s infinite love, he crusaded for the Jewish Messiah to be accepted as the friend and deliverer of all humankind.
In Paul Among the People, Sarah Ruden explores the meanings of his words and shows how they might have affected readers in his own time and culture. She describes as well how his writings represented the new church as an alternative to old ways of thinking, feeling, and living.
Ruden translates passages from ancient Greek and Roman literature, from Aristophanes to Seneca, setting them beside famous and controversial passages of Paul and their key modern interpretations. She writes about Augustine; about George Bernard Shaw’s misguided notion of Paul as “the eternal enemy of Women”; and about the misuse of Paul in the English Puritan Richard Baxter’s strictures against “flesh-pleasing.” Ruden makes clear that Paul’s ethics, in contrast to later distortions, were humane, open, and responsible.
Paul Among the People is a remarkable work of scholarship, synthesis, and understanding; a revelation of the founder of Christianity.
From reader reviews:
Terrie Delgadillo:
What do you ponder on book? It is just for students since they are still students or the item for all people in the world, the actual best subject for that? Just you can be answered for that problem above. Every person has distinct personality and hobby for every other. Don't to be obligated someone or something that they don't wish do that. You must know how great along with important the book Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time. All type of book could you see on many methods. You can look for the internet sources or other social media.
Joyce Lynch:
The knowledge that you get from Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time is the more deep you looking the information that hide in the words the more you get enthusiastic about reading it. It doesn't mean that this book is hard to know but Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time giving you enjoyment feeling of reading. The author conveys their point in certain way that can be understood through anyone who read it because the author of this e-book is well-known enough. This particular book also makes your own vocabulary increase well. That makes it easy to understand then can go along, both in printed or e-book style are available. We propose you for having this specific Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time instantly.
Manda Perez:
Beside this Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time in your phone, it may give you a way to get more close to the new knowledge or data. The information and the knowledge you will got here is fresh from your oven so don't be worry if you feel like an older people live in narrow community. It is good thing to have Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time because this book offers to you readable information. Do you often have book but you do not get what it's facts concerning. Oh come on, that wil happen if you have this in your hand. The Enjoyable arrangement here cannot be questionable, like treasuring beautiful island. Techniques you still want to miss this? Find this book and read it from right now!
Read Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time by SARAH RUDEN for online ebook
Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time by SARAH RUDEN Free PDF d0wnl0ad, audio books, books to read, good books to read, cheap books, good books, online books, books online, book reviews epub, read books online, books to read online, online library, greatbooks to read, PDF best books to read, top books to read Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time by SARAH RUDEN books to read online.
