Paul: An Apostle's Journey

I may be biased, but I had to read this book for my New Testament class because my professor is..... Doug Campbell. Of course, we had to read the professors book, but, I didn't mind it. I actually enjoyed it.This gives a great overview of Paul's life and is a really nice balance of Theology and Ethics and History and such. I would recommend anyone who is interested in learning more about the beginnings of the Christian faith. Especially if you want to learn from someone who knows Paul well. Doug is one of, if not THE top Paul Scholar in the world. Doug is also leading the front of recreate, or truthful discovering, of Paul's history and he lets you in on some of his findings in this book.It also comes in Audio version, which is nice as well when you need to listen on the fly. I will say that the audio does not include the Chapter Recap questions at the end of each chapter. The book does, the audio does not. Not that they are super important but if you want to retain some of the info better, go for the book so you can reflect on the questions at the end of each chapter.

HThis is a fascinating biography of Paul. It is engaging, a page-turner, and very accessible to the general public. Paul’s missionary heart leaps out from the page, so does Campbell’s concern for current generation. One can still benefit a lot from reading this book even if one has not been convinced by Campbell’s timeline of Paul. This is my first exposure to Campbell. Maybe because his other books are much more scholarly and huge. I hope Campbell will write more shorter books like this one that even layman can enjoy.

The best concise writing I have ever read on Paul.Note 3 in the book references Campbell's follow-up book "Depicting Paul: The Book of Acts and History." I can't wait for it to be published. And, why has it not been published, yet?

Great intro to Campbell's work, and highly readable to boot. I was surprised at how quickly I reached the end. Onward to Pauline Dogmatics!

This book is a fantastic balance of being funny and readable, academic and fully of insight, and personal challenging to a person of faith. Worth reading twice through.

I first checked a copy out at the local library. I enjoyed and decided to buy my own copy.

Very challenging and liked the approach to Paul. Liked the historic timing of Paul's life.

This was an enjoyable read. Campbell is very passionate about Paul, and it shows, it's a great telling of how he believes Paul's life went down.If you're interested in Campbell's perspective on things, this might be a good book to start with. Likewise, if you're say, slightly above average in terms of theological well-readness, this is a great book about Paul. However, the test I put all books aimed at the popular-level up to: I don't think this is a book I'd give my mom on her own. This could be good in a bible study led by someone more familiar with the material, because I think, sometimes, his points aren't made as clearly as they could be. Something that happened a couple times when I was reading, for instance, he says in an endnote to chapter eleven that we had already discussed elsewhere what Paul saw as the steps one took to become a Christian, and I thought, have we? When did we discuss this? It's a short book, so I don't think I already forgot something (not like his 1,000+ page The Deliverance of God, which one could definitely be forgiven for forgetting if we had covered something that was 400pgs ago). In many of these instances it had been mentioned, just in between (or even a part of) discussions of other things going on as well, easily missed.I think some maps with routes and simple timelines of what is being proposed would be helpful, because it's easy to get lost in the, okay we're in Corinth, flash back to Galatia, and something about Illyricum, and Paul's on the road! From where again? What letter's have been written so far? And we're moving on!That's not to say the whole book is like that, because he makes a lot of his points really well, and they're great ones! But it stood out on a couple issues.Another huge drawback for me is the fact that he knew sex and gender issues obviously is important and contested enough in Paul that it deserved it's own chapter. Good start, I was very excited to get to it. At 8 pages, it's second only to the last chapter for being the shortest. No matter, you can say a lot in 8 pages, truly. But, he didn't. He sets up a bit of the frame, he deals with some more uncontroversial things, Paul's thoughts on marriage, and then he goes on to mention but not touch the question of household codes, equality of women, and LGBTQ people. He notes what is said, and then says (in an endnote no less!) "The question whether this is compatible with the broader thrust of his theology as a whole does need to be addressed, but it is a complex one. See my more extensive discussions in Pauline Dogmatics in Outline." This is by no means the first time he pushes a question to his next book, but it is one of the most irritating. He quite clearly believes women are suited for ministry in other statements he makes in the book, but doesn't quite explain how he gets there. (Similarly, he call slavery an abomination without dealing with what Paul says about slavery, again deferring to his next book.)Finally, in driving home one of his major points, he labels Paul a fighter for the gospel as covenantal and unconditional, and Paul's opponents, fighters for....religion, with all its contracts and conditions. He drags the tired Religion v Relationship terminology out quite a bit. I really thought we were over that by now.I'm so critical only because I think Campbell's points are so important, and I want them to be as accessible as possible. Despite things that definitely could've been handled better, it has many many great qualities, and is well worth reading.

I love it - it throws new light on the Acts of the Apostles and on Paul's letters.

Thoughtful scholarship and lively writing. Enjoyed it.