Paul and His Legacy

The letters of the apostle Paul are the oldest extant records of Christian history. Yet certain passages in the letters present exegetical, historical and theological problems that have had a lasting impact on Western culture. Pauls letter to the Galatians, for instance, underpins modern Christian attitudes toward gender and sexuality, faith and law, and ultimately Jewish-Christian relations. How should such passages be translated and interpreted in a historically sensitive way? Which passages are authentically Pauline and which were inserted by later generations? What historical information can we glean from the letters? Representing three decades of research on the Pauline letters, this collection of essays gives special attention to historical-critical issues in Galatians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, and Romans, along with the often problematic dependence of the book of Acts on the letters of Paul.