Paul Audiobook By Paula Fredriksen cover art

Paul

The Pagans' Apostle

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Paul

By: Paula Fredriksen
Narrated by: Pam Ward
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $14.61

Buy for $14.61

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

Often seen as the author of timeless Christian theology, Paul himself heatedly maintained that he lived and worked in history's closing hours. His letters propel his listeners into two ancient worlds, one Jewish, one pagan. The first was incandescent with apocalyptic hopes, expecting God through his messiah to fulfill his ancient promises of redemption to Israel. The second teemed with ancient actors, not only human but also divine: angry superhuman forces, jealous demons, and hostile cosmic gods. Both worlds are Paul's, and his convictions about the first shaped his actions in the second.

Only by situating Paul within this charged social context of gods and humans, pagans and Jews, cities, synagogues, and competing Christ-following assemblies can we begin to understand his mission and message. This original and provocative book offers a dramatically new perspective on one of history's seminal figures.

©2017 Paula Fredriksen (P)2017 Tantor Bible Study Bibles & Bible Study Christianity Church & Church Leadership History Ministry & Evangelism New Testament Middle East

Critic reviews

"Brilliant, elegant, and important - this volume reshapes an entire field of study. Here stands the finest history of the Apostle Paul to appear in generations." (J. Albert Harrill, The Ohio State University)
All stars
Most relevant  
Author's statement about Paul's letters not being systematic theology was demonstrated by a rather thorough analysis of the various letters.
not pejorative, just undeniably obvious.
another illustrations of nevesity of ANY holy book being interpreted and a myriad of different contradictory manners!
I deconverted from Christianity on an intellectual basis.

acholarship and superb writing style ofthe author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed this one. She seemed ro stick to the subject matter, was unpretentious and unbiased. (I can't say the same about her newest work that came out 2 weeks ago about the Jewish church.) Bravo. Keep this up and I'll buy every book you write.

I really liked this one. Good. Wasn't haughty.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Paula Fredriksen does not disappoint. She has excellent scholarship and an easy style of comprehension. If you want a better understanding of Paul, this is the book!

Excellent insight into Paul

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Christians will find some challenges here, including the author's suggestion that the Gospel emphasis on outreach to nations was an unanticipated byproduct of apostolic confusion caused by Parousia delay.

Read this book anyway! Fredriksen takes seriously that the Jesus Movement was driven by conviction that Jesus was raised from the dead, by the fervent expectation of his return as messiah, by the experience of charismatic wonders and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, and by the Jewish prophetic hope that all nations will eventually become loyal to Israel's God.

The provocative title doesn't indicate that the author's project is to argue that Paul corrupts biblical Judaism with foreign doctrines. Rather it alludes to one of this book's most important points: religion and ethnicity were not independent categories for the ancients as we imagine them to be. The concept of Israel among the nations is critical to any attempt to understand what Jesus and Paul mean by "kingdom." This book illuminates these concepts masterfully.

Extremely useful survey of the world around Paul

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book challenges everything you think you know about Paul, but, since Paul was crucially misread by later Christian theologians, also how you understand the original relationship between Judaism and Christianity. (And what might have been their very different relationship in history.) The author has a commanding grasp of all relevant languages and texts, is alert to both text and context as well as the literary, philosophical and historical dimensions of Paul’s words, and crafts her arguments clearly and elegantly. The only minus is having to listen to the citations read aloud and the oddly ironic tone of the reader. I frequently wished that I had the physical book.

Remarkable book, less than satisfactory reader.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fredrickson uses trivial grammatical nuances to discredit the truth of the ages. The tenor of her commentary is consistently mocking.

unabridged bias.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The information was redundant and was not what I expected. The author was too dramatic. There were not enough details explaining the process of the conversation of the pagans.

repetitive information

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Radically different from her other works. Dry as dust. Disappointment. Read her other books. She’ll brill

Dry as dust. Disappointment.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Highly technical, scholastic study, of an semi-alternate theory of St Paul's, mission. She may have some legitimate arguments deeply hidden in complicated scholastic theory.

Highly Scholastic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I’ve tried several times to give this book a go. The person reading the book sounds angry much of the time. Lack of inflection in her voice makes listening difficult. The content does not form a foundation to build on. There are plenty of scriptural references, but they don’t work together to clarify a point being made.

Why so angry?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews