I have been reading through some of my books on Paul for the course on the Apostle Paul that I’m teaching at Tyndale University College. One of the ones that I read was Anthony Thiselton’s The Living Paul: An Introduction to the Apostle’s Life and Thought. I picked this up at ETS/SBL a few years ago and just got around to it.
It is a good solid introduction to Paul and is a book that I would consider using as a text for future courses. But there was something specific that I really liked about the book. Thiselton is a not a New Testament scholar but is a theology professor. Although he interacts with the relevant biblical scholars in this book, he also draws theologians into the conversation. “Purists” may feel that biblical studies and theology should be kept separate but I found the wider conversation to be refreshing.
If you have read lots of books on Paul and want something that is not just more of the same, I do recommend The Living Paul.
As a bonus, here is a video of Anthony Thiselton talking about why we should study hermeneutics.
