Contending with Paul 2: What Paul's Letters Tell Us About Their Author(s) - And Why We Should Listen

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The Christian New Testament is best understood as a library. Housed upon its shelves are twenty-seven works, thirteen of which are letters that purport to be written by Paul. Yet, since the 1800s, scholars have adamantly disputed Paul's authorship of six of these. Why? What is found within the six Disputed Letters that raises such doubt?

Hidden within these letters are statements such as the ones below which sound very unlike the Paul of the seven Undisputed Letters:

* Women achieve salvation through childbirth: "Yet she will be saved through childbearing providing they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty." (1st Timothy 2:15)
* Women are to be subjugated within the church: "I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent." (1st Timothy 2:12)
* Slaves must obey their masters as they would obey Jesus: "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ..." (Ephesians 6:5)
* Jesus' sufferings were insufficient for the Church, but Paul's are not: "I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church." (Colossians 1:24)

And, if written by Paul, how does 1 Timothy 5:18 quote Luke 10:7 ("... for the laborer deserves to be paid."), and call it scripture, when Paul had been dead for decades prior to the Gospel of Luke being written?

"Contending with Paul 2" examines the journeys of all thirteen of Paul's letters and the Book of Hebrews. Approaching these letters as historical documents, the author looks through the eyes of the scholars in order to understand all the ways in which the six Disputed Letters have raised their skepticism. Thus begins a detective story.

In the end, what is uncovered will enrich the reader's knowledge of all of Paul's letters, and will provide much to consider regarding the six Disputed Letters and the power they continue to wield.