St. Paul Audiobook By Karen Armstrong cover art

St. Paul

The Apostle We Love to Hate (Icons)

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St. Paul

By: Karen Armstrong
Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
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About this listen

St. Paul is known throughout the world as the first Christian writer, authoring fourteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament. But as Karen Armstrong demonstrates in St. Paul: The Apostle We Love to Hate, he also exerted a more significant influence on the spread of Christianity throughout the world than any other figure in history. It was Paul who established the first Christian churches in Europe and Asia in the first century, Paul who transformed a minor sect into the largest religion produced by Western civilization, and Paul who advanced the revolutionary idea that Christ could serve as a model for the possibility of transcendence. While we know little about some aspects of the life of St. Paul - his upbringing, the details of his death - his dramatic vision of God on the road to Damascus is one of the most powerful stories in the history of Christianity, and the life that followed forever changed the course of history.

©2015 Karen Armstrong. (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Ancient Christianity Historical Middle East Ministry & Evangelism Religious
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Masterful Storytelling • Accessible Historical Context • Rich Narration • Balanced Theological Examination • Great Pacing
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Any book by Karen Armstrong opens up new perspectives for me. This is no exception. One cannot view Paul in the same way or, I think, not be filled eith compassion after hearing this history and narrative .

Admirably researched and told

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The real Paul emerges

A much needed reality check on the most misunderstood apostle and influential thinker of the Christian faith. The author is a master storyteller that asks important questions based on contemporary evidence and what is known so far about the period regarding the authorship of some of the Epistles, pastoral letters and other documents attributed to Paul. In doing so, she presents to us a man whose voice was appropriated by nearly every Christian sect and movement which led to the real one becoming a lost memory.
Paul is the one of the early writer's and Christian leaders that has fascinated me the most. Before there was even such a thing as a Christian Church, Paul, like others who followed the teachings of Jesus, attempted to bridge the old with the new, believing Jesus was another chapter of the Jewish faith that was also invited gentiles into becoming part of this reformed ministry. Unfortunately, Paul fell victim to many of the conflicting interpretations and disagreements his fellow peers had in regards on how to take this new ministry, not to mention the disagreements from his fellow Jewish brethren as well as Rome's discontent.
Karen Armstrong perfectly illustrates this turbulent period which Paul lived in and males well grounded inferences as to the reasons he was (possibly) appropriated by splinter groups and why they ended becoming the dominant branch of Christian theology.

The man behind the controversy

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I loved every minute of ms armstrong ' s presentation. it made the story of Paul
come alive and I really got a sense of the culture and the struggles of the people. ironically, we human beings have not changed a bit from Paul's time.

excellent.ly presented. <br /><br /><br /><br />

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Well done biography with a balance between a pure historical account and a spiritual awareness. It shouldn't distress the agnostic reader or the reverant one. If there is a bent it is one of an academic view of Paul. this is not a prayer book but a reflection on one man's journey and the profound impact he had.

Well balanced

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I am a fan of Karen Armstrong's work. Once again Karen Armstrong has given me another way to look at a story and the person behind the story.

Another voice of a believer

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The author does a brilliant job of cutting through the layers of interpretation placed upon Paul to get to what we can learn of his own thoughts and teachings. It was very informative and has allowed me to see Paul in a new light.

A different side of Paul

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This audio book is well done! I especially appreciate the care with which the author presents and discusses the life of one of the most important figures in Christianity. Both my understanding and appreciation of the life of St. Paul (and the care with which I should understand Paul from Acts and the letters attributed to Paul) have improved significantly. I do wish that the author would have chosen a better subtitle. Even something like “St. Paul: Jewish Turn-tunic or Faithful, Progressive Evangelist?” might be a bit more true to the theme. (I’m sure my suggestion isn’t quite right, but the author could easily correct it.) At any rate, this is a very good audio book. I highly recommend it.

Responsible and Engaging Portrayal of St. Paul

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Published in 2015 by Brilliance Audio.
Read by the author, Karen Armstrong.
Duration: 5 hours, 21 minutes.
Unabridged.

Karen Armstrong is a multiple award-winning author of more than 25 books, the great majority of them exploring religion. She is particularly interested in Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

This book is aimed at the informed layman - not at other historians or religious experts. I read A LOT of history and have gone to church my entire life, but I can get lost in the weeds pretty quickly if too much professional jargon is used. Armstrong assumes a basic knowledge of the Christianity and of the New Testament. Nothing too complicated or deep and most of my Bible knowledge comes from Sunday school and small group Bible studies led by layman with a workbook. Armstrong takes care to explain things along the way because she is not out to impress the intellectuals - she has written a history for regular folks.

Paul has always been interesting to me. His writings have always seemed to me to be the first real attempt to move Jesus' teachings into a formal religion. There are times when I find his writings to be quite inspirational. At other times, he strikes me as obtuse and misogynistic. But, I wanted to get into the book to have a better understanding of what he was teaching and when he taught it.

The first thing that surprised me was the concept of Deutero-Pauline letters. Many scholars are now assuming that nearly half of the New Testament letters from Paul were not actually written by Paul, but by writers that came after him and used his name. This was a fairly common practice in Roman times - if you liked an author, you just borrowed his name. The evidence for this comes from analyzing the vocabulary used, the writing styles and changes in theology.

For me, this mostly cleared up one of my major frustrations with Paul - his inconsistencies. I say mostly because he still had some, but not nearly as many.

Her biography of Paul was interesting, but a bit skimpy since the audiobook was only a little over 5 hours long. But, it does hit the main points and I ended up feeling much more informed than I was before I started. I wish she had added more about his impact on the development of the Church over the nearly 2,000 years since his death.

This audiobook was read by the author. Sometimes, that can be a problem because being a great author is not the same thing as being a great audiobook reader. However, Armstrong has considerable experience with public speaking and her performance was quite good.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

A short look at the life of Paul

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Very good,lots of information I never knew. I will listen again. it has changed the way I understood the new testament.

Insightful

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Though the audio book lacks any footnotes for referencing the author's sources, this historical and theological examination of Paul was of great interest. Highly recommended for anyone interested in serious Bible study and examination of faith. The author has a beautiful English accent and is very easy to listen to.

Good historical/theological examination of Paul

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