Saint Paul the Pharisee: Jewish Apostle to All Nations

Item No. 9781955890700

by Stephen De Young

The centuries after the Protestant Reformation brought about a radical reinterpretation of the epistles of St. Paul, disconnected from any historical reality. But Paul operated, during his entire life, as a faithful Pharisee within the Roman Jewish world. In Saint Paul the Pharisee: Jewish Apostle to All Nations, Fr. Stephen De Young surveys Paul’s life and writings, interpreting them within the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church. This survey is followed by De Young’s interpretive translation of St. Paul’s epistles, which deliberately avoids overly familiar terminology. By using words and ideas grounded in first-century Judaism, De Young hopes to unsettle commonly held notions and help the reader reassess St. Paul in his historical context.

About the Author: The V. Rev. Dr. Stephen De Young is pastor of Archangel Gabriel Orthodox Church in Lafayette, Louisiana. He holds master's degrees in theology, philosophy, humanities, and social sciences, and a PhD in Biblical Studies from Amridge University. Father Stephen is also the host of the Whole Counsel of God podcast from Ancient Faith and author of four previous books: Apocrypha, The Whole Counsel of God, God is a Man of War, and The Religion of the Apostles. He co-hosts the live call-in show and podcast Lord of Spirits with Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick.

Praise for Saint Paul the Pharisee

"In Saint Paul the Pharisee, Fr. Stephen De Young adroitly leads us into the mind of the apostle to the nations. He sketches a compelling image of the saint, providing the reader with a spiritual biography that chronicles St. Paul’s theological development and situates him within his historical milieu. Through a careful examination of the biblical texts, he provides an alternative reading of the Pauline corpus that challenges the various systematic approaches that have come before. His new (yet ancient) assessment will be helpful to a wide range of biblical readers, from beginners to experts." -Fr. Joseph Lucas, PhD., Adjunct Professor of Theology at St. Thomas University, Miami

"Taking St. Paul from where Christians first meet him—Gamaliel’s Pharisee student hunting those subversive followers of Jesus of Nazareth but who is nonetheless dragged over the goads into seeing that his great fear was in fact the culmination of what Israel desired—Fr. Stephen De Young opens the apostle’s world, highlighting how his apostleship to the Gentiles informs the whole of his ministry, including how and why he wrote his epistles. With this necessary prolegomena in place, Fr. De Young gives his readers both a fresh and refreshing vision of St. Paul in his ministry to the nations as the disciple and servant of Jesus the Messiah. Thus defined, the prominence that St. Paul assumes within the pages of the New Testament casts him not as the subverter of the simple gospel of Jesus—a song sung by liberal scholars as well as Nietzsche, Comte, and emergent church posers—but the herald of the gospel in its widest implications, the great message declared to those who had not sought it." -Gary W. Jenkins, PhD. Director, St. Basil Center for Orthodox Thought and Culture, Eastern University

Author: Stephen De Young

Paperback: 368 pages

Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches

Publisher: Ancient Faith Publishing