Paul

Billed as a brief introduction to the life of the apostle Paul, this slim, undercooked work by Campbell (Reframing Paul) might be better described as a home missionary’s handbook. Campbell begins with Paul’s conversion experience and moves through his missionary work, concluding with Paul’s final incarceration and eventual death. Campbell relies on a detailed examination of Paul’s few writings, translating their lessons for the modern Christian. Campbell concludes each chapter with a list of questions designed to make sure the reader has grasped the significant points, which makes this feel very much like a textbook. Despite the claims made in the front matter (which sets the book up to be a biography of Paul), Campbell’s aim to use Paul’s letters as a jumping off point for theological meditation from a Protestant evangelical perspective is clear from the first chapter. Readers looking for an actual biography or historical contextualization of Paul and his work would do well to look elsewhere.(Jan.)