Paul: His History Jerome Murphy-O'Connor

Who was Paul the Apostle? For someone who had exercised such a profound influence on Christian theology, Paul remains a shadowy figure behind the barrier of his complicated and difficult biblical letters. Debates about his meaning have deflected attention from his personality, yet his personality is an important key to understanding his theological ideas. This book redresses the balance. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor's disciplined imagination, nourished by a lifetime of research, shapes numerous textual, historical, and archaeological details into a colorful and enjoyable story of which Paul is the flawed but undefeated hero. This chronological narrative offers new insights into Paul's intellectual, emotional, and religious development and puts his travels, mission, and theological ideas into a plausible biographical context. As he changes from an assimilated Jewish teenager in Tarsus to a competitive Pharisee Jerusalem and then to a driven missionary of Christ, the sometimes contradictory components of Paul's complex personality emerge from the way he interacts with people and problems. His theology was forged in dialogue and becomes more intelligible as our appreciation of his person deepens. In Jerome Murphy-O'Connor's engaging biography, the Apostle comes to life as a complex, intensely human individual. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor OP is recognized throughout the world as an authority on the New Testament and St. Paul. His numerous books include The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700 (fourth edition, Oxford University Press, 1998), and the acclaimed Paul: A Critical Life (Oxford University Press, 1996). A Dominican priest , he is Professor of New Testament at the Ecole' Biblique et Arche'ologique Francaise, Jerusalem. Historical tours of the Holy Land by the 'Father of All Guides' are legendary. Father Murphy-O'Connor is a frequent contributor to radio and television programmes, and appeared in a ten-part series entitled The Apostles broadcast by ITV in 2002 and repeated in 2003.