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Rediscovering Paul: An Introduction to His World, Letters and Theology is unavailable, but you can change that!

For some of us, the Apostle Paul is like a distant uncle. We’ve heard he’s pretty important. We’ve read the good parts of his letters. But sometimes he comes across as prickly and unpredictable. Not someone you’d like to hang out with at a coffee shop. He’d raise his voice, try to convert the barista, and we’d want to slink out the back door. For a mid-afternoon latte, we’d prefer Jesus over...

to question his honor as an apostle. Therefore in most of his letters Paul had to defend his honor. To us it looks excessive—a man constantly setting before his readers his claims and putting down his opponents. Perhaps Paul was vulnerable to these challenges since he did not measure up to the conventional requirements of an apostle, such as those laid out by Luke in Acts 1:21–22. Furthermore, this constant challenge and riposte was typical of an agonistic culture, in which those who claimed honor
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