The Genius Of Paul

by Samuel Sandmel

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Genres: Christianity

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

Reviews

[Steven Bullmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to say if this is biblical studies or biography. It's both, really. Sandmel is out of the old school of historical criticism, and history does seem to trump theology.
Still, there is plenty of theology and theory to go around. One of his more interesting theories is that Acts was written to "neutralize" Paul. Why did Paul need to be neutralized? Paul was a renegade, and anti-institutionalist who bucked both tradition-bound Judaism and nascent Christianity by claiming he was authorized to be an apostle and a missionary by neither. He was called and commissioned by Christ on the Damascus Road, and if his ministry was good enough for Christ, Paul didn't need any bureaucrats or boards to authorize his activity. To back up his theory, Sandmel points out that the Jerusalem Council is not mentioned in Paul's letters, Peter is harshly treated in Galatians, and nowhere in Paul's letters does he suggest he's working for the Jerusalem Council in carrying their letter of acceptance to the Gentiles.
As old-school as Sandmel is, he is amazingly contemporary in his analysis of Paul's theology being God-centered, not Christ-centered (what matters for Paul is what God does through Christ), and while Paul's Jewish roots are shaped by Hellenism, he is Jewish nonetheless and never repudiates his faith tradition.
In the end, it was an interesting read, though dated. And I can't really tell you what Sandmel thinks was Paul's genius, regardless of the title to the book.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was required by Rev. Haas for RELST 114, Christian Scriptures, at Grinnell College. Written by Rabbi Sandmel, it offers a salutory Jewish perspective on the Jew who, more than anyone, created what we think of a Christianity. Most of the Christian canon is either by Paul, attributed to Paul, composed by those associated with Paul or, arguably, a reaction to Paul.
Recently, while involved with the ultimately successful effort to expose the right-wing takeover attempt on Shimer College, I met Sandmel's grandson, a former student of the school, at our local Cunneen's Tavern.

[Richard Seltzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not normally read books about religious issues. But I found this one compelling and intriguing. It provides a convincing portrayal of Paul's views in contrast to what became Christian dogma.

Some memorable passages:
p. xix
Paul's view "is not so much that Jesus was himself this divine being, but rather that a divine entity came to earth and took on the form of Jesus."
p. 11
In any religious tradition interpretation is the lubricant that transforms the rigidity of a scripture into a pliable mass."
p. 69
Incarnation is the opposite of deification, for it supposes that a divine being has become human.
p.160
the Church in the Greek world dealt with the "problem" of Paul, not by repudiating him, but by neutralizing him.
p. 194
How did the Christ get to be in Jesus?
p. 159
When one canonizes a rebel, one enshrines rebellion

[Margie Dorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Key to Sandmel’s discussion is the understanding that Paul is the earliest of the New Testament writers and the rest of the writers are in their own way reacting to Paul. Which makes sense. There is a lot of sound research here, and good insights. Writing in the 1950s, Sandmel was emphasizing that “Paul’s particular doctrines are the refraction through his cosmopolitan eyes of Judaism, Hellenistic religion, and his acquired Christianity.” One issue I was wondering about was that Sandmel at times seemed to confine himself to either/or thinking when one of the breakthroughs for me in understanding Paul has been the work of Anders Nygren, Paul Tillich, and Martin Luther in their descriptions of the tensions and paradoxes that are part of life and force us away from stagnation into growth. Sandmel’s work also does a good job of pulling one out of doctrinal complacency.