This is the second book in the Kregel Charts of the Bible series I have reviewed for my blog. The previous volume focused on a particular book (Hebrews). Charts on the Life, Letters, and Theology of Paul explores what we know of Paul in Acts and his Epistles and delves into his theology. Because this book doesn’t focus on one New Testament book, it does not have the focus that Bateman’s Hebrews charts did; however Lars Kierspel does a great job of providing an overview of Paul. In 111 charts, Kierspel organizes and presents information about Paul’s Greco-Roman context, information about his life and ministry, the purpose and content of various letters, and the theological themes developed throughout the Pauline corpus.
The charts are organized under four headings. “Paul’s Background and Context” discusses Paul’s first century context (charts 1-9). In this section, Kierspel summarizes pertinent information about Roman political and social life, Greco-Roman religion, and first century Judaism and how these contexts inform Paul’s life. In Part 2, “Paul’s Life & Ministry,” Kierspel looks at Paul’s life, his various missionary journeys, the cities he visited and the men and women he interacted with (charts 1-34). Included in this section are charts illustrating Paul’s miracles, prayers and speeches, as well as comparisons between the portrait of Paul in Acts versus the Epistles. Part three (charts 35-77), “Paul’s Letters,” examines the epistles and records information on Pauline authorship, his literary sources and structure, OT and intertestamental allusions, Pauline vocabulary, and provides ‘snapshots’ of each letter. The final section, “Paul’s Theological Concepts,” traces various themes through Paul’s teaching (78-111). These include theological concepts (i.e. Christology, Pneumatology, Soteriology, etc.) as well as Paul’s teaching on ethics, virtue and vice, men and women, and slavery. The final two charts summarize modern Jewish views of Paul and compare and contrast old and “new perspectives” on Paul.
I like the concept of these chart books for several reasons. Most of the information in these books can be found in good commentaries, but charts make the information available at a quick glance. They are a good pedagogical-aid for teachers and a good study-tool for the rest of us. When I am studying a book of the Bible, I find charts and tables useful tools for organizing information and tracing concepts through a book. These charts will be useful to anyone who wants to get a deeper grasp of Pauline theology. Of course there are limitations to this format Not everything about Paul is charted and I thought there could be more exploration of contemporary theology than Kierspel does here, but these are charts and so are by necessity brief. Mostly this volume is just great at parsing historical and exegetical data, meaning regardless of your theological perspective, whether it be old or new, wrong or Wright, you will find this book a helpful resource.
Some of my personal favorite charts include:
- Parallels between Acts and the Pauline Corpus (11)
- Differences between Acts and the Pauline Corpus (12)
- All Women Mentioned By and Around Paul (22)
- Paul’s Prayers (27)
- Hapa Legomena in Paul’s Letters (43)
- Key Words in Romans (54)
- Metaphors of Salvation (86)
- Participation with Christ (87)
- Virtues in Paul’s Letters (100)
I give this book four stars and commend it to you as a helpful resource for understanding Paul’s theology.
Thank you to Kregel Academic for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
