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The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church’s Conservative Icon
by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan
A Book Review, by Carolyn McMann
Paul was the most important agent of change in the early years of Christianity. Through his urban missionary strategy, he was responsible for including Gentiles as well as Jews in the early communities of “lives together in ‘Christ’.” Borg and Crossan write about Paul’s importance, character, and messages.
The “letters” of Paul have been used to both inspire radical grace and to support systems of oppression. The letters appear to condone slavery, subordinate women, and condemn homosexual behavior. Borg and Crossan explain the reasons for Paul’s mixed reputation. They argue that the later letters of Paul were not, in fact, written by Paul but by the early church in order to weaken Paul’s radical, egalitarian message, to make him more acceptable.
Paul spoke of living without social, religious, and gender distinctions. Further, the authors explore the concept that Paul is confronting a Roman imperial theology. The claim by Christians that “Jesus is Lord” stands as a challenge and affront to the Roman emperor.
Finally, Borg and Crossan look at Christian communities in the first century, CE. Their point is that “Paul did not simply convert individuals; Paul created communities.”
While much of what they write isn’t new, theirs is a lively, interesting, useful and compelling biography of Paul, the Apostle. The book is well written and readable, but Borg and Crossan provide few footnotes and no reading list. So the reader is left to consider whether this work is, in fact, nothing more than a scholar’s fanciful imagination not of what was, but of what they wished it had been.