Paul the Convert: The Apostolate and Apostasy of Saul the Pharisee

This is an excellent book, it will provide you with incredible insight into the portions of the New Testament written about or by Paul. I am a Christian who has spent 33 years studying the Bible, and because of my study, I am still searching out truths. Admittedly, this is the first book of Pauline studies I have ever read, but I have read quite a few commentaries by Christian authors and found them to offer no insight into the difficult passages of Paul. Mr. Segal, even though a Jew, provides a non-denigrating review of Paul based on his knowledge of early CE Jewish practices and philosophy and the New Testament record of Paul. He does not treat all aspects of Paul, but focuses on Paul's Pharisaical background and it's effects on Paul's ministry. I don't agree with all of his conclusions, but I do with most of them. I only wish it was available in Kindle edition. I also recommend "Life after Death", another good work by Prof. Segal, although I think that "Paul the Convert" is the better of the two.

Alan F. Segal's Paul the Convert is absolutely brilliant. It is an invaluable book for any serious student of the Apostle Paul and the Pauline epistles, and it will be of considerable interest to those interested in rabbinical Judaism. The information provided about Judaism and its influence upon Paul's writings is most informative and provides tremendous insight into Paul's theology and writings. The scope and depth of the material presented in this book is amazing, and Alan Segal presents this material in a manner, which is clear, logical, and convincing. I only regret that I did not have this book when it was first released, in 1990.-Barry C. Gaynor, M.Div., M.S.W.

I read a lot, mostly nonfiction, so I was really looking forward to this book. It is definitely scholarly, well-researched and has well-thought-out information.But the style is so dry, so pedantic, that it's hard to stay interested in it, which disappoints me. I was really looking for further information and insights into Paul's life, and was ready to dive into this book, but after reading the first chapter, I laid it down and haven't picked it up again.I'll probably finish it eventually, after I've read everything else that I'd planned to read this summer. At least it will be good to have when I need something to help me sleep.

This book is dense and quite academic but the material is very thought provoking and one of the best treatments of Paul I’ve read. The Apostle section humanizes the man Paul presenting his absolute commitment to his mission but also the anger and frustration he experienced in carrying out that what he believed to be that mission from his conversion event. Totally worth the effort!

Only for serious scholars of Paul, conversion experience, and earliest Christianity. If you want to know about Paul, a shorter less intensely detailed book is a better choice. Five stars for scholarship and one star for readability. So I gave it three stars.

Great book!

If you are interested in Paul then I would highly recommend this book; it's another stone for the foundation.This book does a good job examining Paul's conversion and his experience in a Hellenistic social setting.

good

This is a very detailed and interesting perspective on Paul's conversion, which is more convincing from the human point of view than the standard "Damascene" model. Segal uses models from modern sociological studies of "conversion" to examine the basic documentation - Acts of the Apostles and Paul's letters. He also uses the scarce Jewish writings of the time (Philo and Josephus, along with Qumran docments to give a Jewish perspective to Paul's "Pharisaic" formation and practice.He rightly points out that all Rabbinic Jewish documentation came at least 100 years after Paul. As a Jew himself, Segal sees the NT writings as key documents in understanding the development of the later Rabbinic tradition. Paul is the only Pharisee for whom we have documentary evidence. Paul's experience was mystical and later ecstatic, in the main line of Jewish mysticism. His conviction was apocalyptic, also in the Jewish tradition. His desire was to form a single post-Resurrection society of "Israel", but he was confronted with far-flung communities, from the Apostolically-based ones in Palestine to the more Diasopora-based ones in Asia Minor, Greece and Rome. There were various Jewish sects who were suspicious of Paul's activities, perhaps including his own Pharisees but also the Sadducees in power in Jerusalem, and various apocalyptic groups like the Essenes and others. Jewish Christians may have come from any of these backgrounds, but Segal seems to think they were mostly Pharisees, meaning strict Torah observers. Other Jewish Christians in the Diaspora may have had less strict observing background. Gentile Christians may have come from "god-fearing communities" attached to local Synagogues, and some (perhaps only a few) from pagan backgrounds. Segal points out the difficulties Torah-observant Jewish Christians (like the Apostles) would have with eating with or marrying or even socialising with non-circumcised Christians, because of purity issues. Nonetheless, Paul wanted everyone to be "one in Christ". How he tried to negotiate the competing claims, and how the Gentile Church won out over the Jewish Church is the stuff of a wider history, but this gives a refreshing jolt to those who fail to appreciate the original and deeply Jewish nature of the apostles' Church, and how near-impossible it was for such Torah-observant Jews to form a single community with the uncircumcised. Paul's determination, but also his great flexibility, was the key to success of the Gentile mission. The Jewish mission, on the other hand, petered out.You have to get used to Segal's rather repetitive and pedestrian style. But the insights are worth the effort.

I have only just begun this book having read his chapter on Paul in a Cambridge Commentary on St Paul. One of his assertions and insights is that Paul as a first century Pharisee is of vital importance to both Judaism and Christianity. I am looking forward to learning more of what kind of Pharisee he was and his particular kind of Judaism.

There are lots of books about P but rarely do you read one that is able to place one's mind in 1st century Judaism & Messianism. This book shows you that the world of religion at that time was a bubbling bowl of belief. Thoroughly enjoyable & I will read his other works.

Ouvrage très complet qui donne un aspect nouveau à la question paulinienne, vue par le regard juif ; Paul est replacé dans son contexte de l'époque , ce qui permet de mieux le comprendre. (Evidemment réservé à ceux qui lisent l'anglais!)