See book 209 for information on Garry Wills. Unlike book 209, this book has some end-of-chapter Notes. But like book 209, this book also has no index, which always annoys and frustrates me. (For his books I've read, click on his name.)

The Appendix is very specific: words that should not be used in translating Paul are those that didn’t exist in Paul’s time. So Wills uses his own translation. He begins with harsh words for the many who have abused Paul’s letters by taking words out of context. He abhors this cafeteria-style “Christianity” (as do I). This book seems to me to reflect a more careful and thorough study that did book 209. Wills uses the seven letters widely accepted as clearly Pauline and in this probable order of composition: 1 Thess, Gal, Phil, Phlm, 1 Cor, 2 Cor, and Rom. Wills addresses Paul’s situation and the purpose of each letter. Along with Wills’ treatment, I also reread these letters in the NSRV with its commentary in my New Interpreters Study Bible. The agreements heavily outweigh the differences between them.

The Afterword is called Misquoting Paul, which gives great summaries of Wills’ views. “The heart of the problem is this. Paul entered the bloodstream of Western civilization mainly through one artery; the vein carrying a consciousness of sin, of guilt, of the tortured conscience. This is the Paul we came to know through the brilliant self-examinations of Augustine and Luther, of Calvin and Pascal and Kierkegaard. The profound writings of these men and their followers, with all their vast influence, amount to a massive misreading of Paul…” If you’ve found Paul difficult, Garry Wills will clear up much. The gatherings to which he wrote were to be egalitarian in regards to women, Gentiles and Jews who were “in Christ.”

With the following words he ends this insightful book: “Religion took over the legacy of Paul as it did that of Jesus – because they both opposed it. They said the worship of God is a matter of interior love, not based on external observances, on temples or churches, on hierarchies or priesthoods. Both were at odds with those who impose these burdens of “religion” and punish those who try to escape them. They were radical egalitarians, though in ways that delved below and soared above conventional politics. They were on the side of the poor, and saw through the rich. They saw only two basic moral duties, love of God and love of neighbor. Both were liberators, not imprisoners – so they were imprisoned. So they were killed.”

”Paul meant what Jesus meant, that love is the only law. Paul’s message to us is not one of guilt and dark constraint. It is this: ‘Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever honorable, whatever making for the right, whatever lovable, whatever admirable – if there is any virtue, anything of high esteem – think on these. All you have learned, have taken from tradition, have listened to, have observed in me, act on these, and the God who brings peace will be yours (Phil 4.8-9)’.” I greatly enjoyed Garry Wills’ insights on Paul. I give it a very high recommendation (for a book with no index).