Dimensions
203 x 135 x 14mm
In this revolutionary follow-up to THE LAST WEEK AND THE FIRST CHRISTMAS, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan once again use the best of biblical and historical scholarship to expose the church's conspiracy to silence Jesus's most faithful disciple, the former Pharisee Saul, known to the world as the apostle Paul.
They reveal to a general audience what scholars have known for decades--that some of the letters of Paul in the New Testament were not written by him. Instead, they were written by later writers who were more interested in blunting the radical edge of Paul's teachings--such as his confrontation with the Roman Empire, his commitment to radical equality, and the full participation of women.
Paul's later letters have been used to justify systems of oppression--endorsing slavery, subordinating women, condemning homosexual behavior. But Borg and Crossan show how these passages were actually imposed by the early church, meant to dilute Paul's radical egalitarian message and transform him into something more "acceptable."
In THE FIRST PAUL, Borg and Crossan restore to readers the life-changing message of the radical and authentic Paul -- a voice that the church hierarchy did not want its followers to hear.
