Corpus-Paul

[Daniel L Christiansen <dlc AT multnomah.edu>]

Jim asked

>Has anyone on list read Ben Witherington's "The Paul Quest: The Renewed

>Search for the Jew of Tarsus"?

>What did you think?

>I am considering adopting it as a text for a course and I just got hold
of
>it.  I had considered using Murphy-Oconnor, but he is a bit "high".

Jim--overall, this is a very good book.  The discussion of Paul's
narrative world (232-253), and his brief rhetorical analysis of Philemon
(163-167) are excellent.   As is usual for Witherington, the writing is
clear and engaging; the content is wide-ranging enough for anyone to
benefit from a reading, but it is presented in a manner not inaccessible
to undergraduate students.

The bibliographic references within the text itself are introduced and
discussed in such a way that students might even be tempted to pursue
some collateral reading.  (ha-ha  . . . just couldn't resist some
professorial humor)  Honestly, I'd give it "two thumbs up!"  And I agree
with your assessment of Murphy-OConnor: you would most likely lose most
students' interests with that book.

However, you do need to be aware that, throughout the book, Witherington
deals with Paul and his "theologizing" from the standpoint of a
13-letter canon.  That was fine with me, since I hold to generally the
same authorship position.  On the other hand, if I remember correctly,
you hold to a relatively "short" Pauline canon (excluding the Pastorals,
Colossians, Ephesians, I Thess).  Is that true?  If so, you may end up
using the book as a foil against which to argue, just a bit more often
than you might like.

blessings
--
Daniel L. Christiansen
Department of Bible
Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street
Portland, OR  97236
(Also Portland Bible College, Prof of Biblical Languages)
e-mail: dlc AT multnomah.edu