Paul Behaving Badly

If the apostle Paul went out and hired a PR firm, his best bet would be Richards and O’Brien. Their superb book “Paul Behaving Badly” offers a balanced, scholarly, yet highly readable perspective regarding the controversial teachings, lifestyle, and character of the apostle Paul. They don’t pull any punches and call out Paul when need be. If Paul sounded racist, or misogynistic, or had a superior attitude, they would call a spade a spade. They also did a wonderful job unveiling the rich historical/cultural context that was the milieu in which Paul was writing. In so doing, they presented a clearer picture of Paul’s intent and passionate heart for the gospel. They demonstrated that Paul was truly a Christ-centered pioneer in his time, inspired by God, and someone worth listening to. Definitely a book worth reading!

This is required reading for readers of the New Testament. As the writers point out, when we read biographies of famous people, we are often a bit familiar with their time period. However, how many modern Christians have a scholarly knowledge of the Roman Empire around the beginning of the common era?

The authors seek to remedy this by placing the writings of Paul both within the realities of the world in which he lived and within the context of the scriptures he references. They manage to approach often-controversial topics such as gender roles and sexuality while maintaining a scholarly neutrality that presents the facts, not interprets them, for the reader. While packed full of notes and references, this book maintains a readability that prevents it from feeling overwhelming or like homework.

This was such a fun read! Paul Behaving Badly takes on the task of looking at all of the accusations leveled against this major New Testament figure. Was he racist? Was he sexist? Was he a kill-joy? Was he a homophobe?

Each chapter gives a presentation of the case against him and then explains, using mainly history, who Paul really was. All of these accusations have some truth and some bias behind them. This book is apparently the most recent in a series that included the books God Behaving Badly and Jesus Behaving Badly. The authors admit right off the bat that their job is a completely different ball of wax as Paul was a historical human being, nothing more and nothing less.

The historical Paul they reach is the best we can formulate right now using scholarship. A living, breathing human being, who you may or may not want in your parish. The book is a very quick, light read where you’ll learn without realizing you’re doing it. It is a good book for people looking to defend Paul in today’s world.

Although it was written by Evangelical Christian pastors for an Evangelical Christian audience, I can testify as a Catholic scholar who has studied the Bible at a Catholic theological grad school (Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, MO) that what they say is in line with the best of scholarship. This book is definitely educational for Christians of all stripes. All Christians who want to know more about Paul and to be able to defend him needs to read this book.

This book is currently available at your favorite bookseller, including some places you wouldn’t expect (I saw it on Target.com). I got the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest review through my membership in Netgalley and I promptly bought a copy for my armchair Biblical scholar father for Christmas. Thank you InterVarsity Press!