by Victor Paul Furnish (Author)
Paul's letters are the earliest surviving Christian writings and therefore the earliest documentary evidence for what Jesus' followers knew and said about him. The present volume deals with questions frequently asked about Paul, examines what can be known about Jesus from Paul's letters, and enquires how Paul himself interpreted Jesus' significance. A closing chapter considers how several writers in the Pauline tradition variously continued and altered the apostle's views about Jesus.
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Paul's letters are the earliest surviving Christian writings and therefore the earliest documentary evidence for what Jesus' followers knew and said about him. The present volume deals with questions frequently asked about Paul: Did he know Jesus personally? If not, then how much did Paul know about Jesus, and how did this information come to him? Where in his letters does Paul make use of Jesus's teachings, how does he employ them, and what kind of authority does he accord them? Above all, why does Paul place so much emphasis on Jesus' death and resurrection? How is he able to proclaim these as saving events? Finally, a closing chapter considers how several writings in the Pauline tradition (Colossians, Ephesians, 2 Thessalonians, the Pastoral Epistles) variously continued and altered the apostle's own interpretation of Jesus.