Paul (Studies on Personalities of the New Testament) - Tapa dura

Paul: The Man and the Myth opens a window into the humanity of the most influential apostle of the early Christian church and, in doing so, offers a fresh view of this important historical figure. In examining the apostle and his theology, Calvin J. Roetzel vividly depicts Paul's world -- the land where he grew up, the language he spoke, the scriptures he studied, and the lessons he learned in letter writing and rhetoric. Roetzel presents an evangelist anxious about the welfare of his churches, a theologian facing fierce opposition, a missionary at the mercy of the elements, and a man suffering physical assault, slander, and imprisonment. In contrast to the powerful hero described in Acts and the Apocryphal Acts, Roetzel's portrayal presents a physically weak, even sickly, theologian; a letter writer; and a preacher unskilled in speech.Questioning the historicity of widely held beliefs about the apostle -- including his Roman citizenship -- Roetzel suggests that Paul never abandoned ties to his native Judaism or to the Hellenistic culture of his childhood. Instead, Roetzel shows the apostle to have been a marginalized Jew torn by conflicting cultural and religious commitments. Paul's beliefs placed him on the margins of Hellenistic popular religion and at odds with many synagogues, and Roetzel contends that we best learn how the apostle's thinking emerged by examining the points of friction generated by his peripheral status. Looking specifically at Paul's defense of the gentile mission and of his "life in Christ", Roetzel chronicles the emergence of Paul's theology as it took shape from interactions with friends and adversaries, pagans and rival apostles, the enthusiastic and thedespairing. He traces how, within a century of Paul's death, the apostle became a legendary figure remembered less as a consummate theologian than as a model ascetic, miracle worker, and heroic martyr. Roetzel underscores that no matter how Paul's image has changed through history, he remains forever tied to support for the weak and vulnerable, faith in one God, and the transgressing of social boundaries.