Reframing Paul: Conversations in Grace & Community

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Summary: A Daring Book . . . A Beacon of Hope
Review: A daring book has appeared at a precipitous moment in history. Mark Strom's Reframing Paul rushes to the rescue of modern churches hopelessly lost in a postmodern world. With rare exception, that's every church! We are still trying to see that the baggage dragging us down is our own culture-a culture more dependent on the classical tradition than on the Judeo-Christian. Whenever religion gets too close to culture, tragic ignorance prevails. With breathtaking clarity, Mark Strom reveals this cultural blindness to Paul's true message. Reframing Paul is a beacon of hope for the future.

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Summary: Reframing Evangelical Practice?
Review: Mark Strom has written a critique of much current evangelical practice. He outlines the world Paul operated in, a world where elitism and abstraction ruled, he then shows how the apostle Paul challenged this world. His critique is that, ironically, much contemporary evangelical practice more closely resembles the world Paul was challenging than Paul himself. A challenge worth sitting up and listening to.

Rating:
Summary: challenging if not comfortable
Review: Reframing Paul in my opinion is a good book - not a 'nice' or 'comfortable' book, but one worth reading, especially if you aspire to having a "Berean" spirit -which implies a willingness to have your ideas about the New Testament (NT) and church challenged. But there is also comfort in this book - it gave shape to my increasing unease (over the last ~ 15 years) about the gap between what the NT seems to say - and what we do, and assert as 'biblical'. I no longer feel quite as alone.

But the book is not easy going in some places (unless you are skilled in reading Graeco-Roman philosophy/history). Someone suggested to me this reading plan: " Read chap 1, then 18, then skip 2-3 (or even 2-5), read the rest (feel free to skip around) and come back to the early ones last. They are important context setting, but a bit tough".

But where to from here? The book does not offer easy solutions. (As a former Australian Prime Minister said: "Life wasn't meant to be easy" ;-) By the way, I admired the author's transparency/willingness to be vulnerable. I think that adds to the book. A book read by humans - a book written by a human.