Book Description

Who Created Christianity? is a collection of essays by top international Christian scholars who desire to reinforce the relationship that Paul had with Jesus and Christianity. There is a general sense today among Christians in certain circles that Paul’s teachings to the early Christian church are thought to be “rogue,” even clashing at times with Jesus’ words. Yet these essays set out to prove that the tradition that Paul passes on is one received from Jesus, not separate from it. The essays in this volume come from a diverse and international group of scholars. They offer up-to-date studies of the teachings of Paul and how the specific teachings directly relate to the earlier teachings of Jesus. This volume explores with even greater focus than ever before the tradition from which Paul emerges and the specific teachings that are part of this tradition. This collection of essays proposes a complementary work to the work of David Wenham and his thesis that Paul was indeed not the founder of Christianity or the creator of Christian dogma; instead he was a faithful disciple and a conveyer of a prior Christian tradition. Includes essays by well-known Christian scholars such as Craig Blomberg, Alister McGrath, N. T. Wright, Michael Bird, Greg Beale, and more:Paul and Jesus: Issues of Continuity and Discontinuity in Their Discussion by Stanley E. PorterHow and Why Paul Invented “Christian Theology” by N. T. WrightThe Origins of Paul’s Gospel by Graham H. TwelftreeWhen Paul Met Jesus: How an Idea Continues to Be Lost in History Past and Present by Stanley E. PorterPaul and the Jesus Tradition: An Old Question and Some New Answers by Rainer RiesnerContinuity and Development in the Ministries of Jesus and of Paul by Christoph W. StenschkePaul’s Significant Other in the “We-Passages” by Joan E. TaylorWhose Gospel Is It Anyway? The Glory of Christ in the Prophetic Ministry of Paul according to His “My Gospel” and “Our Gospel” by Aaron W. WhiteDavid Wenham, “The Little Apocalypse,” Paul—and Silas by Bruce ChiltonThe Parallels between 1 and 2 Thessalonians against the Background of Ancient Parallel Letters and Speeches by Armin D. BaumMetanoia: Jesus, Paul, and the Transformation of the Believing Mind by Alister McGrathYou Would Not Believe If You Were Told: Eschatological Unbelief in Early Christian Apologetics by Peter TurnillPaul on Food and Jesus on What Really Defiles: Is There a Connection? by Craig A. EvansGospel Women Remembered by Sarah HarrisWomen in the Pauline Epistles: Lessons from the Jesus Tradition by Erin HeimTwelve Theses on Matthew and Paul: The Jewish Gospel and the Apostle to the Gentiles by Michael F. BirdPaul and the Paternoster: Some Mainly Matthew Observations about a Pauline Prayer by Nathan RidlehooverThe Rediscovery of David Wenham’s Rediscovery: Reflections on a Pre-Markan Eschatological Discourse Thirty-Six Years on by Craig BlombergPortraits of Jesus and Paul through the Lukan Lens by Steve Walton“Every Sin That a Person Commits Is Outside the Body” (1 Corinthians 6:18b): Paul’s Likely Dependence on the Jesus Tradition by John NollandJesus Is Lord: The Rhetorical Appropriation of the Teaching of Jesus in 1 Corinthians 5 by Peter DavidsThe Temple and Anti-Temple at Colossae by Greg BealeFilling up What Is Lacking in Christ’s Afflictions: Isaiah’s Servant and Servants in Second Temple Judaism and Colossians 1:24 by Holly Beers