The Letters of Paul: Interpreting Biblical Texts Series Paperback – November 1, 1996

This book is well written and presents in great detail an analysis of the scope, content, purpose and themes in Paul’s letters to his newly-formed churches. It starts out somewhat slowly but accelerates nicely to keep your interest intact. I had a much more comprehensive understanding of the Apostle Paul after reading this book.

Very good book, every Christian, who likes to get prepare for preaching or bible studies need to read this book, or just to know more this book is a most read

Very good book

Had to have this for class but I would not have purchased it otherwise. Not as informational as I had hoped for.

Excellent scholarship in a user friendly format. I love the narrative approach to NT letters, reconstructing an informing story makes situating ourselves easier.

I actually gave this book three stars to begin with but upped it one after I began writing. That's because I was wanting something other than what this book offered when I bought it, but I realized that for what it is - for what it promises - it actually does fairly well.I was looking for an in-depth treatment of Paul's theology and rhetoric in his lettes. This is not that treatment. It is, however, a good overview of all things Pauline. This book is like a stone skipping over a pond - hitting all the important points without ever staying long to go real deep.In a sense that is a strength of this book since it allows for a relatively easy digestion of the issues at hand for beginners. The book starts with a section examing letters as a means of writing - their stories, rhetoric, analysis, readers etc. Just like the skipping stone it jumps along from issue to issue, giving a couple of pages of depth and then moving along so as to not drown.The second part, the heart of the book, looks at the theological themes of the letters. Cousar avoids making his project more complicated by focusing on the letters themselves and not attempting to distill the ideas from the mind of the apostle. This section is his best work, written in a simple, inviting way that encourages questions, applications and interpretation (the key word for this series) of Paul's letters. Cousar is lively and engaging but not overwhelming, allowing easy stepping stones to understanding the letters. Two things really stand out here:1) Nearly all the Pauline issues are covered: sin as power, event of Jesus Christ, dying and rising with Christ, law, flesh, death, community, gospel, Spirit, etc.2) Cousar brings in modern scholarship to bear on Paul's letters (Dunn's new perspective, e.g.) that will introduce new readers to these debates without confusing them.The third section covers the classic duetero-pauline epistles but only give the briefest of comments on any of them. It is by far the weakest section.If you are looking for a deep survey of Paul's letters pass on this book, but if you need a basic introduction or review this will serve your needs fine.

I thought this book would help me understand the content of the letters of Paul. I thought it would contain the text of the letters and then a description and explanation of the context in which the letter (most likely) was written, and what how the content should be understood. I was wrong!This book is a very scolarly scientific analysis of the writing method, structure, rethoric, orogon of sources etc across the 6 official Letters of Paul. It does not contain the text of the letters and it refers to various subjects in the various letters in each chapter. Quite confusing, if you are not an Expert!

If you read no other book on the writings of St. Paul, read Charles Cousar's The Letters of Paul. There are other, flashier books that are more likely to attract the reader with an interest in Paul. But Cousar provides an overview in which he makes his own theorizing secondary to the needs of the reader. He is modest, yet probing. He raises the questions that one needs to know and grapple with in coming to one's own personal appropriation of St. Paul's writings.The first half of the book deals with "issues in reading the letters of Paul." Reading this section may appear to be a dreary undertaking better reserved for undergraduates than for one who wants to get into the meat of Paul's theology. Well, to some extent it is. But if you are seriously interested in understanding Paul, you should know something about how he constructs his arguments, the extent to which he relies on Old Testament and other sources, and the life of the churches to which he writes. Unless you are an expert in Paul, you will likely learn things of interest and value here.It should be noted that Cousar avoids discussions you can find elsewhere about the routes of Paul's missionary journeys and about why certain letters are deemed to have been written by Paul and why others are not.The second section deals with theological themes in Paul's writings. Cousar may have his own theological axes to grind. Who doesn't? But if he does, he does not show it in this section where he nicely gives an overview, in five chapters, of a whole series of theological issues in Paul. He urges us to be wary of the personal biases we bringing to reading Paul's letters.In this section, Cousar does not attempt a full-blown theology of Paul. "We will stick to the letters themselves, the major themes that emerge, and their interrelatedness," he writes.In his introduction, the author states, "Paul places heavy demands on readers." That he does. With his modest, but probing approach, Cousar can help the serious, but beginning student of Paul come to a much greater understanding of some of the cornerstone writings of the Christian faith.