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J. Albert Harrill
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Paul the Apostle: His Life and Legacy in their Roman Context

by J. Albert Harrill (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 23 ratings
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This book is a controversial new biography of the apostle Paul that argues for his inclusion in the pantheon of key figures of classical antiquity, along with the likes of Socrates, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, and Augustus. It first provides a critical reassessment of the apostle's life in its historical context that focuses on Paul's discourse of authority, which was both representative of its Roman context and provocative to his rivals within Roman society. It then considers the legend that developed around Paul as the history of his life was elaborated and embellished by later interpreters, creating legends that characterized the apostle variously as a model citizen, an imperial hero, a sexual role model, an object of derision, and someone to quote from. It is precisely this rewriting of Paul's history into legend that makes the apostle a key transformative figure of classical antiquity.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0521757800
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0521757805
  3. Publisher
    Cambridge University Press
  4. Publication date
    November 15, 2012
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    5.99 x 0.51 x 9.02 inches
  7. Print length
    224 pages
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This entertaining and informative book is an ideal text for introducing Paul and his letters to undergraduates. It not only introduces the historical Paul but also gives a representative impression of the rich and varied history of the reception of his person and letters. It will attract and inform advanced students, faculty, and the general reader."
Adela Yarbro Collins, Yale University Divinity School

"In this innovative and critical biography of Paul and his legacy, Harrill cuts through the romanticism, ideology, and just plain bad historiography that plague so many publications on the famous apostle. Though written for a broad, general audience, there is much here that will also be of interest to scholars."
Dale B. Martin, Yale University

"Learned and lively, Bert Harrill's Paul the Apostle reminds us that Paul was not only a Jew, but that he was also a Roman. As with Ioudaismos, so also with Romanitas: Paul functioned within, not against, Roman culture. And his complex identity became only more so as it was refracted through his multiple literary afterlives. Sorting scrupulously between primary and secondary traditions, thinking historiographically as well as historically, Harrill offers a refreshed portrait both of the apostle and of the later communities that looked to him. This is a graceful and thought-provoking essay."
Paula Fredriksen, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

"… [a] well-researched and well-written monograph … this volume is quite successful as an introduction to Paul."
Choice

"Harrill's book would serve well as a scholarly and accessible introduction to Paul and the Pauline tradition, especially for courses on the New Testament and early Christianity."
Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"This is one of the very best books to appear that situates Paul's ministry in its historical context with subtlety and rigor across many disciplines of Pauline studies. This rich and lucid book will be a resource for graduate and undergraduate libraries alike. Indeed, Harrill is at his best conducting interdisciplinary research into the contexts of the early Jesus movement."
Review of Biblical Literature

"'That Saint Paul. … He's the one who makes all the trouble.' Anyone who wants to understand that trouble would do well to take up this book, and anyone charged with teaching a course on the troublesome apostle will find it made for this purpose. That the author chooses this line from Hemingway for an epigraph tells us that he, too, wants to stir up a bit of creative trouble, in the classroom and in academic discourse about Paul."
Wayne Meeks, Church History

"In this accessible and engaging introduction, Harrill brings his expertise in social history to bear on Paul's life and legacy … the book contains numerous insights that will be of interest to university students and scholars alike."
John K. Goodrich, Religious Studies Review

Book Description

A controversial new biography of the apostle Paul that argues for his inclusion in the pantheon of key figures of classical antiquity.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press (November 15, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0521757800
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0521757805
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.99 x 0.51 x 9.02 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 23 ratings

About the author

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J. Albert Harrill

J. Albert Harrill

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J. Albert Harrill is Professor of History and Classics at The Ohio State University. He is the author of Paul the Apostle: His Life and Legacy in Their Roman Context (Cambridge, 2012), Slaves in the New Testament: Literary, Social, and Moral Dimensions (Fortress Press, 2006) and The Manumission of Slaves in Early Christianity (Tübingen, 1995). He has also contributed to numerous reference works on the Bible and Christianity, and his articles have appeared in such journals as the Journal of Early Christian Studies, Journal of Biblical Literature, New Testament Studies, Novum Testamentum, and Religion and American Culture.

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4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
23 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Donald Walker
5.0 out of 5 stars Lively scholarship
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2013
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Paul the Apostle provides an excellent examination of the life of Paul that shows how so many common perceptions of the apostle are wrong, most crucially the Book of Acts, Augustine, and Martin Luther (as well as others).

I appreciate the clarity of Harrill's point of view and writing. A modern analysis of Paul sees the problems with Acts, recognizes what Paul did and did not write, understands his ideas evolved, does not privilege Paul's own point of view, resists the word conversion, respects his Jewish identity, and struggles with the multiple cultures in which he lived. Harrill operates in this matrix and builds on it creatively and without apology. He shows where many problems lie and guides his readers to reasonable conclusions, with fresh insights along the way. I very much enjoyed his original discussion of Roman power and its utility in analyzing Paul. His survey of how later Christians read Paul takes the reader into crucial territory that most books on Paul ignore. I found this book a fast, fun, satisfying ride.

This is not a book about Paul's theology, nor it is a commentary on Paul's letters. This is about (1) Paul's life and then (2) what subsequent people thought they knew about Paul. It is likely that most readers will find themselves standing in or near one of the groups that have misread Paul, which may make this an uncomfortable book. I wish Harrill had extended Paul's legacy to include a dispensational or pentecostal reading, so that his net would have included more of his readers.

This is not frivolous or devotional reading. It would serve as an excellent college textbook.
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L. Heyward
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to Paul
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2015
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Or, to the various understandings of Paul down through the centuries. Professor Harrill, in non-technical language for the educated lay reader, leads us through the often contradictory visions of Paul, the 'apostle to the Gentiles.' Of particular interest to those of us from a Protestant background is his discussion of Paul as seen through the eyes of Augustine and in turn Martin Luther. It would seem, to paraphrase the apostle himself, "That whenever Paul is read, a veil has been put over our eyes" by our tradition so that we can only see his words as Augustine and Luther saw them.
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Arthur Digbee
4.0 out of 5 stars An unconventional biography of Saint Paul, Apostle
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2012
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This book provides a biography of the Apostle Paul. It's decidedly secular (though not antireligious), so if you're looking for devotional literature you should move on right now. Harrill clearly intends it as an undergraduate text, and it's drawn from his own experiences teaching a course on Paul for many years. It has many text boxes, figures and maps to break up the text - and, I suspect, to provide discussion points in seminar.

Harrill has divided the book in two major parts, the story of Paul himself and the story of how Paul was received by other Roman and Christian thinkers. Simply put, I liked the first part but not the second.

In the first part, Harrill is very careful about selecting his primary sources, and very explicit about excluding secondary sources. He's too dogmatic on this point for my taste, but he lays out his standards for any reader to evaluate, modify or reject. He rejects about half the Pauline letters and all of Acts as primary sources, discussing them only as early interpretations of Paul and evidence of some differences among Paul's followers after his death.

In the first part, Harrill puts Paul solidly in his Roman context. He lays out how Paul's rhetoric follows common models from antiquity, suggesting a fair amount of classical education at the gymnasium. He also provides a consistent biography of Paul that is at odds with the story in Acts. Harrill emphasizes the break between Paul and the other apostles, and his position as one of several rival traveling apostles in the Aegean. Paul's conceptions of both political and moral authority play key roles here.

The second half is just too sprawling. We meet some Gnostics, Irenaeus, Origen, John Chrysostom, Mani, Pelagius, and many others. Harrill shares some of the legends of Paul that cast him in various improbable ways. Augustine gets a few pages and Martin Luther gets about a page. The bottom line is that everyone uses Paul for their own purposes, and so does Harrill.

There is much in this part to provoke people who like reading classical philosophy more than I do. However, I was struck by the way that Harrill's reading undermines the received story about "faith" versus "works" that is familiar to both Catholics and Protestants; I'll say merely that the Jewish and Roman context for Paul's distinctions make his intentions here different than what you think they are.

The book is admirably short, and accessible to a college audience. Presumably when it's used as a college text, the instructor can explain unfamiliar material; if you're reading this on your own, it assumes moderate familiarity with the New Testament and with major figures of the Mediterranean world in the first few centuries of our era.
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Cliff
3.0 out of 5 stars Provocative, and therefore worth reading
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2013
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I found myself resisting some of Harrill's more provocative conclusions about the life of Paul, but, for that, I appreciate his work. He raised good questions and helped me think about them, even if I don't arrive at his conclusions.

For example, he convincingly demonstrates that when Paul "sacrifices" his rights as an apostle, he's not being as countercultural as some assert. Augustus, Harrill shows, also "sacrificed" rights that came with his office in order to build his "auctoritas." Paul participates in a common language of authority. Harrill ignores, however, the nuanced differences between the rhetoric of Paul and Augustus; as a result he asserts, incorrectly in my opinion, that Paul "colludes with particularly Roman ways of exercising power" (88).
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Arlyn G Stewart
5.0 out of 5 stars This book helped me conclude a much better opinion of Paul
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2015
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. Many thanks to the author. I hate finding my previous convictions not to be founded well, but for all of us that have faced such, I'm happy to now have better understanding.
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BarbM
5.0 out of 5 stars Paul
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2013
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Paul is a very complex character, and I like finding different views of him.I have been interested in early Christianity for some tims
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Elie Wayne
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2016
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Excellent and interesting scholarship at its best.
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B-Wangz!
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2014
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The author has his own agenda he's pushing
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