T&T Clark Handbook to the Historical Paul - (T&t Clark Handbooks) by Ryan S Schellenberg & Heidi Wendt (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The T&T Clark Handbook to the Historical Paul gathers leading voices on various aspects of Paul's biography into a thorough reconsideration of him as a historical figure. The contributors show how recent trends in Pauline scholarship have invited new questions about a variety of topics, including his social location, his mode of subsistence, his cultural formation, his place within Judaism, his religious experience and practice, and his affinities with other religious actors of the Roman world. Through careful attention to biographical detail, social context, and historical method, it seeks to describe him as a contextually plausible social actor.

The volume is structured in three parts. Part One introduces sources, methods, and historiographical approaches, surveying the foundational texts for Paul and the early Pauline tradition. Part Two examines key biographical questions pertaining to Paul's bodily comportment, the material aspects of his career, and his religious activities. Part Three reconstructs the biographical portraits of Paul that emerge from the letters associated with him, presenting a series of "micro-biographies" pieced together by leading Pauline scholars.

Review Quotes

"This splendid creation of Heidi Wendt and Ryan Schellenberg should place the study of the historical Paul on a new and more secure footing. Its authors represent varied approaches and perspectives while addressing the key historiographical issues with critical acumen and the use of the most up-to-date developments." --STANLEY STOWERS, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, BROWN UNIVERSITY, USA

"Recent developments in appreciation both of the need to earth Paul as a first-century person, rather than as a disembodied writer, and of the possibilities and complexities of doing so, drive this comprehensive volume. It draws together many of the world's leading experts in this field to offer an extensive set of studies presented in a way that will make this a fundamental resource in the field for years to come." --PETER OAKES, UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER, UK

"Conceptually innovative, boldly multi-vocal, superbly curated- this Handbook to the Historical Paul offers to the reader an abundance of cutting-edge scholarship. Schellenberg, Wendt, and their authors have taken the lead in shaping the current quest for the historical Paul. This Handbook will prove an indispensable resource for future work." --PAULA FREDRIKSEN, PROFESSOR EMERITA, BOSTON UNIVERSITY, USA, AND DISTINGUISHED VISITING PROFESSOR, THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM, ISRAEL

"The collection is timely, critically valuable and exciting to read." --The Expository Times

About the Author

Ryan S. Schellenberg is Associate Professor of New Testament at Methodist Theological School in Ohio, USA.

Heidi Wendt is Associate Professor of Religions of the Greco-Roman World at McGill University, Canada.