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by: Garry Wills
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 225.92
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: September 25, 2007
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Sales Rank: 26116
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In his New York Times bestseller What Jesus Meant, Garry Wills offered a fresh and incisive reading of Jesus’ teachings. Now Wills turns to Paul, whose writings have provoked controversy throughout Christian history. Upending many common assumptions, Wills argues eloquently that what Paul meant was not something contrary to what Jesus meant. Rather, the best way to know Jesus is to discover Paul. In this stimulating and masterly analysis, Wills illuminates how Paul, writing on the road and in the heat of the moment, and often in the midst of controversy, galvanized a movement and offers us the best reflection of those early times.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Interesting Notion
Wills has written three books of interest: What Paul Meant, What Jesus Meant, and What the Gospels Meant. In What Paul Meant Wills puts forth the notion that Paul's writings (not the pseudo Paul) provide a clearer picture of Jesus than the Gospels because he was closer to the time of Jesus, knew and talked with many people who knew Jesus and had a much better sense of Jesus than the Gospels which were written much later. He makes a good point of this notion. It serves to underscore the emphasis ... Read More
Rating:  - Excellent Analysis!
Gary Wills does an excellent job of analyzing Paul's writings and his place in the early Church. he debunks a number of myths and clarifies Paul's role in evangelizing the gentiles. I truly appreciated his line by line discussion of Paul's writings and those attributed to him but probably written by someone else. Great read!
Rating: - Not perfect, but still quite good
Wills' earlier book, "What Jesus Meant", was truly inspired -- engaging from start to finish, it challenged many of the assumptions of modern Christianity about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. I was expecting more-or-less the same from "What Paul Meant". I was slightly disappointed; because this book doesn't quite measure up to the extremely high bar set by its predecessor. Nonetheless, it is a very good book; and I'm glad I took the time to read it (though, since it is a short book, it ... Read More
Rating:  - A Real Mixed Bag
As a younger man, I attended a conservative Christian college, where I majored in biblical studies. I still recall how adamant the professors were that the Bible was not only infallible but inerrant as well. It is almost amusing to watch the hoops such people will jump through to maintain this untenable position.
Fast forward a few years, to when I took my first serious look at the other end of the spectrum, the ominous "liberals." There I found an approach to the Scriptures in which ... Read More
Rating: - What Paul Meant
The author, Garry Wills, offers a fresh approach to New Testament books usually attributed to Paul, attempting to put specific words into context of the first century. He carefully chooses to deal with the books that almost certainly were written by Paul, giving reasons for believing that some others probably were not written by him. Dr. Wills says that he is not a theologian but writes from the perspective of a Historian and a Greek scholar, although he did study for the priesthood. He separates fact ... Read More
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