New book on Jesus and Paul:
Did St Paul Get Jesus Right?

22 June 2010

Many people are happy to accept that Jesus was a good man, a popular teacher and healer. But in Christian teaching he is portrayed as a divine figure who came back to life after his death. Where did this come from? Was it, as is sometimes claimed, the apostle Paul, rather than Jesus, who laid the foundations of the Christian religion, by distorting Jesus' teaching, or even inventing the Jesus of the Christian church?

In this new book Did St Paul Get Jesus Right?, published on 1 July, David Wenham, Trinity's Tutor in New Testament, looks at this important question, asking how far Paul's writings really reflected Jesus' teaching and ideas. It also considers underlying topics such as whether the New Testament can be used as historical evidence.

David has published several books in this area before, but this one is aimed at the general public, not at a theological or even necessarily Christian readership. It was written partly in response to modern works of fiction, most recently Philip Pullman's The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, which builds on the idea that the church is the scoundrel that has rewritten the story of Jesus.

Those trying to understand the Bible in the light of modern confusion will find this a useful resource, detailed but clear and readable and not over-technical.

Did St Paul Get Jesus Right? Lion Hudson, 1 July 2010