Books on writings of Paul?

Cpt_pineapple
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Books on writings of Paul?

It is my understanding that when Paul originally wrote about Jesus, it wasn't about a historical figure, but a symbolic spirtual one.

 

Are there any (good..) books about Paul's writing as to what Paul was trying to say with the symbolic character?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Wonderist
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Don't have any book

Don't have any book recommendations, but I think I can give you the gist of what he meant, from my own POV.

He meant that IF you believe that Jesus exists, in your imagination, and that he died for you (i.e. made the ultimate sacrifice for you), you would get this awesome 'spiritual' high, which in my view is just intense gratitude and thankfulness.

In my view it would be the same feeling you'd get if you were about to be hit by a car, and you were frozen in fear, and then someone leapt in at the last moment, pushed you out of the way, but got hit himself. Then he lied there on the ground dying.

You'd look at him, go "Holy smokes, that was the most selfless thing I've ever experienced!", feel a great wave of gratitude, and even some sorrow/compassion/*love* over his imminent death. If in that moment, the person asked you to do one thing for him after he died, who could really say no? "Come on! He frickin died for you! Can't you just do that one little thing he requested? Don't you love him for what he did?"

It's the idea that 'you just have to believe it's really true' that encapsulate's Paul's basic message about Jesus. Once you believe it, you get this high, and you become 'born again', which means that you stop worrying so much about the problems of this life and just live in 'heaven' (i.e. spiritual high).

Of course, if you take it all literally, it makes zero sense. But as a recipe for a 'spiritual' experience, it is undeniably powerful. It's the classic hero motif on steroids. Paul's trick is to get you to actually believe it on faith, rather than just imagine it as if it were a typical hero story.

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darth_josh
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There is a thread HERE and

There is a thread HERE

 

and HERE

 

and then there is THIS

 

The last one might not be your flavor, but there is a wealth of resources there.

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Cpt_pineapple
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darth_josh wrote:There is a

darth_josh wrote:

There is a thread HERE

 

and HERE

 

and then there is THIS

 

The last one might not be your flavor, but there is a wealth of resources there.

 

Neither of those are on the the original writings of Paul


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Cpt_pineapple

Cpt_pineapple wrote:

darth_josh wrote:

There is a thread HERE

 

and HERE

 

and then there is THIS

 

The last one might not be your flavor, but there is a wealth of resources there.

 

Neither of those are on the the original writings of Paul

What original writings do you want? Did you want someone who claims to be doing research on documents that are proven to be written in Paul's hand?

I'm only being partially facetious here. I'm still working under a sleep deficit.

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pauljohntheskeptic
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Cpt_pineapple wrote:It is my

Cpt_pineapple wrote:

It is my understanding that when Paul originally wrote about Jesus, it wasn't about a historical figure, but a symbolic spirtual one.

 

Are there any (good..) books about Paul's writing as to what Paul was trying to say with the symbolic character?

Several books I read in the past on paul were:

The First Urban Christians by Wayne Meeks see Amazon Here.

 The Mythmaker by Hyam Maccoby See Amazon here.

I've read others but those are the only 2 still on my bookshelf, don't know where I put the others or who I loaned them to most likely.

 Rook also has written some material that already has been suggested.

Hope it helps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Cpt_pineapple
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pauljohntheskeptic

pauljohntheskeptic wrote:

Cpt_pineapple wrote:

It is my understanding that when Paul originally wrote about Jesus, it wasn't about a historical figure, but a symbolic spirtual one.

 

Are there any (good..) books about Paul's writing as to what Paul was trying to say with the symbolic character?

Several books I read in the past on paul were:

The First Urban Christians by Wayne Meeks see Amazon Here.

 The Mythmaker by Hyam Maccoby See Amazon here.

I've read others but those are the only 2 still on my bookshelf, don't know where I put the others or who I loaned them to most likely.

 Rook also has written some material that already has been suggested.

Hope it helps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, I'll look into those.

 

 

 


darth_josh
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Cpt_pineapple

Cpt_pineapple wrote:

pauljohntheskeptic wrote:

Cpt_pineapple wrote:

It is my understanding that when Paul originally wrote about Jesus, it wasn't about a historical figure, but a symbolic spirtual one.

 

Are there any (good..) books about Paul's writing as to what Paul was trying to say with the symbolic character?

Several books I read in the past on paul were:

The First Urban Christians by Wayne Meeks see Amazon Here.

 The Mythmaker by Hyam Maccoby See Amazon here.

I've read others but those are the only 2 still on my bookshelf, don't know where I put the others or who I loaned them to most likely.

 Rook also has written some material that already has been suggested.

Hope it helps.

 

 

 

Thanks, I'll look into those.

  

 

OHHHHHH! You'll look into those, but you won't look into the books that Rook has listed that have been part of his LIFE for years or the ones that todangst lists as reference material.

The threads I directed you to have pretty extensive bibliographies. Granted, they don't list canadian pop-up books that incorporate physics metaphors into claims for and against the alleged historicity of the bible.

I see how that works.

Have a nice day. Hope it comes a blizzard.

 

 

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Cpt_pineapple wrote:It is my

Cpt_pineapple wrote:

It is my understanding that when Paul originally wrote about Jesus, it wasn't about a historical figure, but a symbolic spirtual one.

 

Are there any (good..) books about Paul's writing as to what Paul was trying to say with the symbolic character?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've heard good things about Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity? and Witherington's The Paul Quest (which I really hope to will get for Christmas :D), and N.T. Wright has a book called Paul in Fresh Perspective

 

"If you can make any religion of the world look ridiculous, chances are you haven't understood it"-Ravi Zacharias


Dogmatikon
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Cpt_pineapple wrote:It is my

Cpt_pineapple wrote:
It is my understanding that when Paul originally wrote about Jesus, it wasn't about a historical figure, but a symbolic spirtual one.

Or you could take him at his word.  He wasn't a postmodern writing for the literary critics.  He wrote frankly to evangelise, and did an excellent job of it.  Europe, Russia, much of Africa, and ancient Christian ethnic groups throughout the Middle East evince this.

Just because you disbelieve that the "historical figure" did those things attributed to the "symbolic spiritual one" does not mean that the "slave of Christ" Paul made such a distinction.

I take it as given that you disagreed with my post; do come quickly to the point.