Saint Paul the Pharisee

Jewish Apostle to All Nations

The centuries after the Protestant Reformation brought about a radical reinterpretation of the epistles of St. Paul, disconnected from any historical reality. But Paul operated, during his entire life, as a faithful Pharisee within the Roman Jewish world. In Saint Paul the Pharisee: Jewish Apostle to All Nations, Fr. Stephen De Young surveys Paul’s life and writings, interpreting them within the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church. This survey is followed by De Young’s interpretive translation of St. Paul’s epistles, which deliberately avoids overly familiar terminology. By using words and ideas grounded in first-century Judaism, De Young hopes to unsettle commonly held notions and help the reader reassess St. Paul in his historical context.

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Another amazing book by Fr. Stephen! Fantastic explanations and translations.

It was very helpful to hear St. Paul's life laid out and explained. I learned so much about his life, his missionary journeys, and I feel like I know him a little more personally now. Fr. Stephen's translations of St. Paul's Epistles are easy to understand and I now have a new appreciation for this words and how they have helped shape the church.

Clarity

I enjoyed learning about St. Paul’s place and time. As usual,
Father De Young, expands and improves my understanding of his subjects.
I love his translations of St. Paul’s work. He brought me clarity on difficult passages,
that I’ve struggled with for years.
I owe him a debt of gratitude for helping me to see the masterpiece of God’s word more clearly.
I have vision problems and mainly listen to books. He is also a wonderful reader.
Five stars for sure!

Better understanding of St. Paul

I usually have the worst time understanding St. Paul. This helped clear a bunch up. Also learned that I shouldn’t break a letter into pieces to understand it. It should be read in its entirety.

St. Paul

Information I didn’t know. Clearly read. I feel closer to St. Paul in my life.

Translation was, at certain points, startling

It was a solid argument but the book ended with the authors translation of St Paul’s letters; a translation that seemed odd to me. Perhaps one of the strangest things was translating the Greek word “christos” into the Hebrew word “messiah” instead of the English word “anointed”. And some parts of the translation had many more words than the Greek text. In that regard parts of the author’s translation bears similarity to the Amplified Bible. I’m sure the author intended clarity but it was distracting.