File:1990 * Segal.jpg

Paul the Convert: The Apostolate and Apostasy of Saul the Pharisee (1990) is a book by Alan F. Segal.

Abstract

"The author argues that the best way to understand Paul is by using the conversion language prevalent in the first century. Largely reacting to the writings of Krister Stendahl and E.P. Sanders, Segal writes that Paul did in fact undergo a conversion. This conversion was not an emotional or crisic experience, but was demonstrated in Paul's willing change of social setting. So Paul then, a Jew, lives as a non-observant in a Gentile community. Segal uses this distinction to explain the struggle that Paul had with opponents in his letters. While Segal finds that conversions did occur in the first century, Paul's problems started in earnest when he tried to reconcile the observant and non-observant wings of the church. Segal's thesis is that Jews supported the idea of converting Gentiles, but were repulsed by non-observant Gentiles and observant Jews worshipping together."

Editions

Published in New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990 (#1120).

Translations

• Paul le converti: apôtre ou apostat (2003 Segal), book (French ed.)

Table of contents

External links