I have made quite limited use of “secondary literature” such as scholarly monographs and journal articles, except as examples of how badly Paul can be misunderstood. Two observations confirmed that this was a good choice. First, it was clear that in biblical studies, as in classics, really valuable information and insights would soon enough find their way into that special and privileged class of secondary literature, the reference books that I mentioned above: I didn’t have to—in essence—compile my own versions of them.
