Paul: In Fresh Perspective

By: N.T. Wright

Narrated by: Simon Vance

“For me,” says N.T. Wright, “there has been no more stimulating exercise, for the mind, the heart, the imagination and the spirit, than trying to think Paul’s thoughts after him and constantly to be stirred up to fresh glimpses of God’s ways and purposes with the world and with us strange human creatures.” Wright’s accessible new volume, built on his Cambridge University Hulsean Lectures of 2004, takes a fresh look at Paul in light of recent understandings of his Jewish roots, his attitude toward the Roman Empire, and his unique reframing of Jewish symbols in relation to his experience of the risen Christ. Then Wright attempts a short systematic account of the main theological contours of Paul’s thought and its pertinence for the church today.©2009 N.T. Wright (P)2009 christianaudio.com

Refreshing

Start here if you're new to NT Wright, refreshing take on Paul and the biblical story.

Acessing Recent Scholarship on Paul

Where does Paul rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Audio books are great means of accessing information. This is a technical book on that deals with the search for the historic Paul and attempts to reframe Paul away from the superational deconstruction that led to the idea that Paul was the founder of Christianity and not Jesus. N.T. Wright is a reputable scholar and his material is very accessible and understandable for those wanting an introduction in this NT issue.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

n/a

What does Simon Vance bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Great voice and pace

Book version of lecture

This is a formal academic lecture in book form. I found it pretty straightforward, but I’ve read his stuff before.

I particularly like his point that apocalyptic does not mean dualist in Paul.

Lots of good nuggets, but not a tome - therefore a good audiobook.

Concise summary of Wright on Paul

I’ve read a fair amount of Wright’s work, both academic and popular. This is the best, most concise summary I’ve read of his Pauline thought. It isn’t overly technical, but it helps to have a bit of the background knowledge about the issues and arguments before diving in. Of course, for the full treatment of this topic, the is no substitute for Paul and the Faithfulness of God.

Subtle, difficult in places and worth it

Book great. Narrator needs to brush up on pronunciation of Hebrew words. Doesn’t cut it to have a snotty English academic accent and mispronounce common Hebrew words from the Bible.