Download PDF A Wretched Man - A Novel of Paul the Apostle, by RW Holmen
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A Wretched Man - A Novel of Paul the Apostle, by RW Holmen
Download PDF A Wretched Man - A Novel of Paul the Apostle, by RW Holmen
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Review
A Wretched Man: A Novel of Paul the Apostle is a stunning fictional account of the early church that reads like real-life. While a work of fiction, this just may be the most authentically historical novel ever written about the lives of the apostles. Robert Holmen is a wonderful writer with a gift for bringing the Roman and Jewish worlds of the first century to life in an incredibly realistic way. Holmen's marvelous prose made me feel as if I was actually there witnessing the events described. This is the first biblical drama I have ever read that presents the apostles as real flesh and blood human beings struggling with the all-too-human issues we all face. The internecine struggles waged by Paul, James, and Peter in this book are still with the church today. This is a story that will both shock and inspire any Christian who is truly searching to find and follow the historical Jesus. It has certainly deepened my own understanding of my faith. --Rev. Jeffrey Buetz, instructor of Religious Studies, Penn State University, and author of The Brother of Jesus and The Secret Legacy of JesusA Wretched Man is powerful recreation of the world of Paul, James and Peter that pulls no punches! In this highly readable novel, based on contemporary scholarship, Paul comes alive as a complex individual. What accounts for his visceral attack on Torah? What was behind his careful avoidance of James and Jesus' first followers in Jerusalem? What drove him on to the ends of the earth, setting up the infrastructure of a new religion? It's all here as Holmen explores Paul's inner turmoil and the likely motivation behind Paul's beliefs and actions. Agree or disagree, this book opens up the reality of the world of Paul and his contemporaries in a way no other work does. Real individuals, with passions and agendas, step on to the world stage. --Barrie Wilson, Professor, Religious Studies, York University, Toronto. Author How Jesus Became ChristianA compelling exploration of the Jewish and Gentile movements in the first century. The characters leap off the page and into our imaginations. -- Christian education consultant Tim Gossett (added by author)
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From the Author
The most frequent question I hear is "Why Paul? Why did you choose to write about Paul?"Why bother with a man nearly 2000 years dead with a reputation as an anti-Semite, apologist for slavery, misogynist, and a gay-bashing homophobe? Paul was not one of Jesus' disciples; in fact, he never met the man from Nazareth. The early followers of Jesus, including his own family, probably regarded the man from Tarsus as an outsider, a usurper, a pretend Pharisee, a "Hellenist"-Hebrew by blood but Greek by language and culture: a man on the margins. For awhile, the working title of the novel was The Jewish Gentile. But this was also the man who wrote of Christian egalitarianism, of boundary breaking inclusivity, and whose good news of a gracious God inspired Augustine in the fourth century, Luther in the sixteenth, Barth a mere century ago, and whose message of love unconditional continues to stir our hearts. Jesus himself authored no writings. Nor did any of those who followed him in the Galilee or during his fateful pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It fell to Paul the outsider, who first opposed the movement, to become its reporter, memorialist, essayist, interpreter, and promoter. At one time, over half the books of the New Testament were attributed to his hand, and he is the most important man, outside of Jesus of Nazareth, in Christian history. For good or ill, even the secularist would acknowledge Paul's profound influence on western civilization's Judeo-Christian heritage.
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Product details
Paperback: 420 pages
Publisher: Bascom Hill Publishing Group; 1st edition (March 15, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1935098217
ISBN-13: 978-1935098218
Product Dimensions:
5.5 x 1.2 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
Average Customer Review:
3.8 out of 5 stars
25 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#1,458,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Nearly everything one thinks and does in one's life is filtered through the lense of their own experience. When Paul of the Bible encountered the Holy on the Damascus Road, his experience of God, inspired by the Holy spirit, was perceived through the lense of Paul's own experiences. What if Paul had homosexual tendencies? How would that be affected by his training as a learned Jew, a student of the Hebrew law? How would that affect his understanding of Christ's message? This is one possible way to explain Paul's thorn in the flesh. It is well researched and the story unfolds in a believable way. I recommend it.
It is so rare to come upon religious fiction that is actually enjoyable. It tends to fall, unfortunately, into two categories. The first is the haigiographical, which makes any religious figure completely perfect. It is boring to read about perfect people. St. Paul was not a perfect person. He was the first to say what a sinner and how unworthy he was in the eyes of God and his fellow human beings. The second category are books like the DaVinci Code and other rubbish that is written to offend the easily offended and sell lots of books. Of those types of books, I simply tend to ignore them. Not because I am offended, but because they tend to be just as silly as the boring haigiographical "Life of the Saints" material. Neither is worth reading, so I get excited when I finally read a book about a man as important as St. Paul, who I personally really believe spoke to God, that does not put me to sleep. St. Paul was a radical thinker in his day. It is part of why I like him so much. This book did not offend me once, and I would call myself a practicing member of the Eastern Orthodox tradition.First off, the whole "self-hating gay man" angle. I do not think the Paul portrayed here really hated himself. A person's sexual orientation, while very important, does not define them unless they allow it to. In this book Paul does not allow his latent homosexual tendencies to come to fruition. But, it certainly makes more sense of the "thorn in his side" he spoke about all his life of preaching. Imagine being a homosexual Jew in the 1st century! Actually, I found his courage to fight against his homosexuality to be full of courage. He could have easily embraced that part of himself in Ancient Greece without any problems (although any Jews who knew might have tried to kill him for it). Paul, in this book, makes a choice to keep this part of his nature secret to absolutely everyone. And, he comes off as being a truly heroic man. The fact is that the St. Paul of this book was a highly likable individual. He has many important friendships with both men and women (whom he treated as equals, which was VERY radical at the time!). This St. Paul is a man with a revolutionary message, something completely new from anything before in history. To be an apostle to people that the Jews hated so much that they avoided any contact as "unclean." He is completely devoted to his cause, and people love him for his message of love and tolerance. This is not the boring sexist Paul that I remember hating so much when I was younger. That Paul is avoided, because he never existed. I'm glad the book did not attempt to ascribe 1 Timothy and Titus to him. These disgraceful additions to the Pauline corpus were late 2nd century additions which destroyed his message almost completely, with churches still trying to recover from those few verses that he clearly did not write.This Paul is truly loved and is also loving. He is also capable of sin and error. His antagonistic relationship with James, the Lord's brother, is a conflict on an epic scale. To be fair, James comes of quite symapthetic in many ways. He was the Lord's brother (a question left open to the reader to decide is if he was his half or full brother). Even the virgin giving birth is left open, although this book does embrace the moe Protestant viewpoint that Mary was the true mother of James, Jude and Joses. James is dealing with a man who never met his brother in the flesh but is completely certain that he has the right to be a apostle of Christ from his vision on the road to Damascus. This actual vision is left open to much interpretation, which again I welcomed. Far too many bad religious books and movies show a fluffy bunny Jesus coming to him. I guess what I am trying to say is this book was not trying to delibrately offend. It will offend some, but I actually found that it did not overplay the "self-hating gay man" thing. For this Paul, it was not something he could express, and it became a permanent thorn in his side for the rest of his life. How many people can accept themselves completely?For an open-minded Christian, this book is a treat. Yes, open-minded Christians exist, and I happen to be one of them. I think that non-belivers will even enjoy this book. I'd recommend it highly to almost anyone who wants to learn about the greatest of all the New Testament writers. It's not a perfect book, and there are some places where it drags. The author only follows the account of Acts when he has no other choice, instead relying on Paul's own words. By the end of the book, when it is obvious that Paul is going to be die, my heart went out to him. He accepted death with courage, and with doubts about many of his experiences. He was courageous until the very end, which was very sad, but probably the truth. There is not much evidence that Paul ever ending up coming to any kind of understanding with James or Peter by the time of their respective deaths. Unlike in Acts, there are not court room scenes with Paul talking himself out of certain death over and over. Like I said, Acts is about as historical as the pilgrims and the Indians first Thanksgiving.Very good book! Highly recommended!
This book explored the possible beginnings of early Christian traditions and also looked into the mind of Paul to explain how a Jew came to believe in his form of Christianity. it is important to remember this is a novel and not always factual. There is a lot of supposition on the authors part.
I love this book for the context that it provides. The Christian church of that time was made up of very small groups spread out over a large area. It really makes you think about what the world was like and how those early Christians dealt with everyday life.
Gave it one star because it wasn't possible to give none. Writing can only be described as bland blah blah. Tossed it. Sorry, Amazon...you asked!
Author R.W.Holmen is a very good story teller and his book about the Apostle Paul reads more like an adventure novel than something Biblical. Conservatives may be a little shocked with some of the revelations in the book and with a little of the language but for others, this will just add to the story. I am an "old church lady" and I enjoyed it very much.
Interesting views if you can be open minded. Sheds light on some of the historical and social times of that period. Decently written and kept the reader interested.
stopped reading it. If one chooses a well known biblical character such as Paul, you should limit yourself somewhat to poetic licence. to infer the man was homosexual is going too far.
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