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Barnes in Commonthe magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
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An excellent readIn the autumn, I had the great pleasure to travel in the footsteps of St Paul on a journey through Greece in the company of an 80-strong BBC Radio 4 Pilgrim Choir. Beginning at the ancient port of Neapolis, to which Paul crossed from Troy, the pilgrimage took in Phillipi and, nearby, the place where Lydia became the first recorded baptised Christian in Europe. Further south, we took in Thessalonica before touring the ruins of Corinth and ending at Mars Hill and the forum at Athens. Before I left on the trip, I made myself re-read (or perhaps in some cases, if I'm very honest, read for the first time!) Paul's letters. For someone who's always found parts of his writing pretty difficult to cope with, and who's never been too sure I would have actually liked the apostle, this was a discipline! But I have to recognise that he was a towering figure. Perhaps more than anyone, he shaped the earliest years of what became the Christian Church, so he certainly deserves respect and attention. Edward Stourton, presenter of Today and Sunday, is a very good journalist. He provided me with my other 'homework' for the trip. His book In the footsteps of Saint Paul is now around in paperback (Hodder and Stoughton, £8.99). It's a fascinating account of his (Stourton's) journeys and encounters in search of Paul's legacy, written with a modern journalist's enquiring mind. So, bits of modern history, political reality and even contemporary satire are woven into chapters which carefully review what scholars have learned about Paul and his writings, and about the accounts of Paul's life found in Luke's book of Acts. The Bible is quoted extensively throughout. I found Stourton's book hugely illuminating, and although when I'd read it I still wasn't sure I'd have been a good friend of Saint Paul, I was absolutely convinced of his extraordinary vision and devotion – his devotion to Christ, and his vision, often maintained against opposition, of a fully-universal, inclusive Christian community. What an achievement it was to write down such developed theology as we find in Romans, together with profound ethical teaching, and all within a few short years of the first Easter. (The first letter to the Thessalonians is almost certainly the earliest document in the New Testament.) And how single-minded was Paul's determination to bring the gospel to the heart of the mighty Roman empire, at whatever personal cost. Here, then, is Paul set in his historical context, seen as Jew, as Christian, as Missionary, Moralist and Mythmaker – to quote some of the chapter headings. Stourton acknowledges that his is a 21st century view of the apostle, but to my mind, that's what makes this book so good. It's a book for now, written by someone who has real respect for the man and his writings, alongside a journalist's nose for a rattling good story. Strongly recommended. Rev. Roger Hutchings |
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