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Saint SaulA Skeleton Key to the Historical Jesus |
In this bestselling book Donald Akenson offers a startling and unblinking account Jesus through the letters of Saint Paul.
In Saint Saul Donald Harman Akenson shows that the answer to the most persistent question in Christianity - What do we know about the historical Jesus? - is best found in the writings of a caustic itinerant preacher named Saul. Saul, the author of the Epistles and known to Christians as Saint Paul, is the closest thing we have to a direct witness and our only opportunity to encounter Yeshua, as Jesus was known in his time, in something approaching the original. Recreating a time rich with prophets, savants, and god-drunk fanatics, Akenson sifts the evidence for and against the historical status of Saul and Yeshua and illuminates the circumstances that gave rise to Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism.
In Saint Saul Donald Harman Akenson shows that the answer to the most persistent question in Christianity - What do we know about the historical Jesus? - is best found in the writings of a caustic itinerant preacher named Saul. Saul, the author of the Epistles and known to Christians as Saint Paul, is the closest thing we have to a direct witness and our only opportunity to encounter Yeshua, as Jesus was known in his time, in something approaching the original. Recreating a time rich with prophets, savants, and god-drunk fanatics, Akenson sifts the evidence for and against the historical status of Saul and Yeshua and illuminates the circumstances that gave rise to Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism.
Details
360 Pages, 6 x 9
ISBN 9780773523951
April 2002
Formats: Paperback
"Akenson's work is distinguished by the highest standards of scholarship, exceptional courage and candour, and a remarkable gift of opening up even the most abstruse questions of history and theology to the fresh air and sunlight of plain speaking. And Akenson brings a style and spirit unmatched by his fellow practitioners: Saint Saul, to borrow a phrase Akenson uses to describe Paul, is 'an historical pilgrimage that is pure joy'." Globe and Mail
"Akenson is a terrific writer, witty, precise, organized, and always fascinating. His book will rivet lay readers and force Christians to rethink their beliefs." Ottawa Citizen
"Saint Saul is a splendid book. In touch with the latest scholarship, elegantly written, original, and highly persuasive." Harvey Cox, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Divinity, Harvard University, author of The Secular City and Fire From Heaven
"Awe inspiring. This book will help reorient the study of the period; it will revise our basic understanding of the relationship between Jesus and St. Paul, and it will help to save the study of religion from the 'experts' by returning these important questions to a creative popular discourse." William Westfall, Department of History, York University
"Akenson comes up with a worthy follow-up to his critically acclaimed Surpassing Wonder .. he has delivered a book which will hopefully give new energy to public debates about the nature of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection." National Post
"Through more than 300 zestful pages, Donald Akenson startles us with one fresh insight after another." Christian Science Monitor
"Readers will be entertained and imformed and ... will come away with a deeper understanding of the modern quest for the historical Jesus and the world inhabited by Yeshua and Saul." (starred review) Booklist
"Akenson is able to penetrate to the heart of things in a manner that one can only envy. He writes vigorous and arresting prose, and is not afraid to go into the corners and mix it up." Terence L. Donaldson, Lord and Lady Coggan Professor of New Testament Studies, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto
"Akenson is a terrific writer, witty, precise, organized, and always fascinating. His book will rivet lay readers and force Christians to rethink their beliefs." Ottawa Citizen
"Saint Saul is a splendid book. In touch with the latest scholarship, elegantly written, original, and highly persuasive." Harvey Cox, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Divinity, Harvard University, author of The Secular City and Fire From Heaven
"Awe inspiring. This book will help reorient the study of the period; it will revise our basic understanding of the relationship between Jesus and St. Paul, and it will help to save the study of religion from the 'experts' by returning these important questions to a creative popular discourse." William Westfall, Department of History, York University
"Akenson comes up with a worthy follow-up to his critically acclaimed Surpassing Wonder .. he has delivered a book which will hopefully give new energy to public debates about the nature of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection." National Post
"Through more than 300 zestful pages, Donald Akenson startles us with one fresh insight after another." Christian Science Monitor
"Readers will be entertained and imformed and ... will come away with a deeper understanding of the modern quest for the historical Jesus and the world inhabited by Yeshua and Saul." (starred review) Booklist
"Akenson is able to penetrate to the heart of things in a manner that one can only envy. He writes vigorous and arresting prose, and is not afraid to go into the corners and mix it up." Terence L. Donaldson, Lord and Lady Coggan Professor of New Testament Studies, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto
Donald Harman Akenson is Douglas Professor of Canadian and Colonial History at Queen's University.
