The Writings of St. Paul, Second Edition

by St. Paul

This thoroughly revised and expanded edition includes an entirely new introduction to Paul and the central issues surrounding his writings, as well as several newly included sections of writings from Paul’s time to the present, among them “Annotated Pseudo-Pauline Writings”; “The Apocryphal Some Early Christian Traditions and Legends,” with writings by Jerome, Clement of Alexandria, Ambrosiaster, and others; “The Martyrdom of Paul”; “Paul and His Pagan Critics;” “Valentinus and the Gnostic Paul,”with writings by Theodotus and Elaine PAngels; “Paul and the Christian Martyrs”; “A Sampler of Patristic Interpretations”; “The Second Century Paul”; “Reading Romans,” with writings from Origen, Theodoret of Cyrus, Paul W. Meyer, Stanley Stowers, Ernst Käsemann, and others; and “A Sampler of Modern Approaches to Paul and His Letters,” with writings by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Abraham J. Malherbe, Peter Lampe, Margaret M. Mitchell, and Dale B. Martin.A helpful Epilogue—“The Christian Proteus,” by Wayne A. Meeks—a Selected Bibliography, and an Index are also included.

Genres: Religion, Theology, New Testament, Christianity, Reference, Faith, Literary Criticism

Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great resource for Pauline Studies. It contains an excellent critical edition of the entire Pauline corpus arranged by the school of thought that divides the Pauline writings into the uncontested letters followed by the contested letters (i.e. deutero-Pauline). The translation in this updated edition is TNIV and it is heavily footnoted including great introductory essays for each letter.

In addition to the Pauline epistles, it also includes pseudo-Pauline works dating from the second-fourth centuries. This is followed by a tremendous variety of scholarly essays and writings dealing with views of Paul in the ancient church, law versus grace and the problem of ethics, Pauline Christianity and its relationship with Judaism, essays on reading Romans, and a sampler of modern approaches to Paul and his letters.

We used this for a class on Pauline literature and it was an indispensable resource. There was primary and secondary source material for every subject we wished to cover. I would highly recommend this edition to anyone's library. It will provide useful for years to come.

[Rex Libris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am well-versed (pun intended!) in the original writings of Paul, but got this volume for the interpretative essays, which I might add were quite a disappointment. There were several essays by Karl Barth that were incoherent. Essays by Nietzsche and Shaw were flawed from the get-go: Both authors wanted x to be true, so they invented everything out of whole cloth to prove x, regardless of the fact the fact that there is plenty of reliable historical data to show that not-x is the case. The only worthwhile material were the section introductions by the editor, Wayne A. Meeks.

[Josep Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

What everyone in the reviews says. This is a great book, even if I disagree with some of the conclusions and assumptions in terms of authorship. Great starting point for further research.

[Myhte · Rating 5 out of 5]

For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing

if we are children, then we are heirs

in Christ you who once were far away have been brought near

if god is for us who can be against us?

christ died for the ungodly

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

we walk by faith not sight

members of one body, and sharers in the promise

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

father of all, who is over all, through all and in all.

Absent in body, but present in spirit.

for I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have aprophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it his not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

[Martha Anne Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Writings of St. Paul is, quite simply, an extraordinary book. In this Norton Critical Edition (2nd edition 2007), editors Wayne A. Meeks and John T. Fitzgerald present, as the subtitle indicates, Annotated Texts, Reception and Criticism about the writings of Saint Paul. The Introduction provides a valuable overview, with textual, critical, historical, and biographical insights into the writings and their author. The collection focuses on the Epistles themselves, but the book also tells us a great deal about Paul's life and times and about how Paul's often controversial writings have been interpreted–and argued–over the years. The book is divided into nine sections, beginning with the works themselves: "The Undoubted Letters of St. Paul," "Works of the Pauline School," and "Pseudo-Pauline Works," with the editors complementing each of the authoritative texts with introductory information and with in-depth annotation and bibliographic citation. The historical and critical sections cover "Views of Paul in the Ancient Church," "Law versus Grace and the Problem of Ethics," "'The Second Founder of Christianity,'" "Pauline Christianity and Judaism," "Reading Romans," and "A Sampler of Modern Approaches to Paul and His Letters." Also included are a Selected Bibliography and a Map of the Eastern Mediterranean in the Time of St. Paul. The Norton Critical Edition of The Writings of St. Paul offers college students and general readers alike a thought-provoking resource for study and reflection.

[TKTE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Paul from a rhetorical perspective has been a fresh way of approaching his letters. In particular, reading 1 Corinthians and Galatians, in addition, of course, to Romans, with the question of identity in mind has been another reminder of the incredible depth of his writings, something I have a hard time conceding given my love-hate relationship with Paul.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been filled with fear and loathing of the New Testament. Understanding it as history and philosophy allows one to appreciate it at a remove.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great resource of historic and modern interpretations of Paul's thought, or specific aspects of Paul's thought. The selection is of course not without bias but also not without warrant.

[Nicholas Quient · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stellar resource for anyone interested in Paul.