146 - Paul, Apostle 10 the Gentiles: Studies in Chronology

Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles:
Studies in Chronology
By Gerd Luedemann
Philadelphia, Fortress, 1984. 311 pp. $29.95.

It is fortunate that this stimulating study of Pauline chronology, originally published in German in 1980, has been promptly made available in English. It deserves a wide reading. While the inherent complexity of the subject has not been minimized, the book is so well-organized, clearly reasoned, and vigorously written that even the non-specialist may read it with interest and profit. After a critical survey of "conventional" reconstructions characterized by a harmonization of data derived both from Paul's letters and Acts, Luedemann develops his own portrayal of Paul's career by depending exclusively on the data to be found in Paul's (authentic) letters and avoiding any reference to Acts. A careful exegesis of Gal. 1-2 and other relevant texts among the letters yields a series of provocative and well-supported conclusions. Of these, the most important is that Paul carried out an extensive independent mission in Asia Minor and Greece, establishing the major Pauline churches known to us through the letters, before the Jerusalem Conference, between 33 and 47, and not, as Acts indicates, after the Conference. The relative chronology thus gained is then correlated where possible not with the Acts narrative, but with identifiable traditions employed in Acts, which are carefully distinguished from their redactional use. This permits an absolute chronology based not only on the Gallio inscriptions, but also on the edict of Claudius (dated to 41), and confirms the results based strictly on Paul's letters. Though the study has a few weak points, it is generally convincing and sheds welcome light on primitive Christian history, Paul's apostolic vocation, and the development of Paul's thought.

Harry Y. Gamble
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Va.