Relevant

Recommended Reading

This page offers articles and book links on various topics such as:

• Ingenious Design in nature;
  
• The History of Paulinism and the Problem of Paul; and
  
• Canon issues, salvation doctrine, Sabbath, etc.

My Articles on Paulinism

Famous Thinkers Critical of Paul/Paulinism

Kierkegaard: Critical Remarks on Paul & Paulinism (html)(added May 27, 2010). Famous Dutchman who found fault with Pauline doctrine in church, advocating instead that Jesus's doctrine is paramount. See also my article - Kierkegaard: Influence on Bonhoeffer to Reject Pauline Salvation Doctrine (PDF)

Reverend Vincent Holmes-Gore Christ or Paul (C.W. Daniel: 1946) -- a serious Christian writer, Holmes-Gore bemoans the influence Paul has taken away from Christ's message. See my synopsis at Gore's Christ or Paul

Tolstoy, My Religion (1884) -- discussed in our webpage "Tolstoy Criticizes Paulinism."

David W. Bercot (Texas attorney/Christian), Common Sense: A New Approach to Understanding Scripture (1992) at 21-22 - Amazon link - excerpted here on our site. (Added May 10, 2010)

Renan, St. Paul (1869) at 326-30 - (HTML) or (PDF).  Renan largely defends Paul but in doing so unwittingly also criticizes Paul if you accept Revelation ch. 2 as canon, as I do. Otherwise, Renan is a JWO-enthusiast. He says now Paul's "reign is coming to a close," but Jesus' reign is alive "more than ever." Renan closes: "True Christianity comes from the gospels, not from the Epistles of Paul."

Boulanger, Critical Examination of the Life of St. Paul (1823) (books.google.com copy) which we excerpt and summarize at this webpage. Boulanger claims Paul was an apostate against the Law given to Moses which was contrary to the message of Jesus, and thus proves Paul was not a true apostle.

Jeremy Bentham, Not Paul But Jesus (1823)(books.google.com copy) - which we reformatted and edited -- pages i-11 (PDF) (work in progress). Bentham's thesis is everyone must choose between Paul or Jesus. They are not the same. (On critical reaction to Bentham's book, see our webpage.)

Horatio Woodburn Southworth, To Nazareth or Tarsus? (J.S. Ogilvie Publishing Company, 1901) - a collection of quotes on Paul's inconsistencies with Jesus are retyped at this html link. You can read the original book in the books.google.com version at these links -- pages 52-129 and 200-217.

Jefferson' Letters on Jesus' Words Only (PDF) [I disagree with his view of Jesus as a moralist and no more. Yet, Jefferson sees the variances Paul introduced against Jesus' teachings.]

H.G. Wells, Outline of History (1921) (html) - profound thoughts on how Pauline doctrine replaced the lessons of Jesus, and focused on belief for salvation, without a need for change in habits/actions.

Hugh Schonfeld, Proclaiming the Messiah (London: 1997) -- said Paul imagined himself channelling Jesus' words, and almost therefore a second Messiah. Our summary of this work is at this link.

Macarius Magnes, 300 AD. In Apocriticus, Magnes is the oldest systematic critic of Paul from 300s who couched it in a debate, appearing to defend Paul, but not doing a very good job of it.

Famous quotes critical of Paul which we collected during research.

Famous Rebuttals to Earlier Efforts at JWO Movement

Bultmann in 1929 responded to the "From Paul to Jesus" (JWO) movement of the early 1900s led by William Wrede. Bultman admitted Jesus' doctrine was "largely irrelevant to Paul." But Bultmann defended this because Paul taught in 2 Cor. 5:16 that we are "no longer" to know Jesus through His teachings when Jesus gave them "in the flesh." Only the post-resurrected Jesus -- whom Paul met at Damascus -- is supposedly our teacher. Bultmann then concludes the only way to know Christ is through Paul.  But Bultmann's argument backfires in two ways if he correctly read 2 Cor. 5:16 (which Origen ca. 200s similarly understood). Such an interpretation would expose that Paul did not meet Jesus on the road to Damascus because the post-resurrected Jesus did indeed have flesh and nail-holes to prove it, but Paul in 2 Cor. 5:16 says, if Bultmann is correct, that he met a Jesus without flesh. See our webpage for further discussion.

Books Critical of Paul/Paulinism

Mark Douglas Given, Paul’s True Rhetoric: Ambiguity, Cunning, and Deception in Greece and Rome (2001) provides proof of systematic guile used by Paul, and unabashedly so. Given collects admissions of these facts from leading reformers. For example, Calvin said about Paul's appearance before the Sanhedrin (Acts 22:30-23:11): "Paul's strategem, which Luke reports, seems out of keeping with a servant of Christ. For the astuteness he used was closely related to a feint, that was not far removed from lying." (Id. at page 81.) Given then quotes Calvin defending that this is not lying by Paul, but essentially Calvin means that lying for a greater good justifies lying, as Given explains. (Id.) There is an excellent book review of Given's book at this books.google.link.

Thomas Cossette, Hebrew Prophecies of the Coming of Paul (2007) - Amazon purchase link. For my review and analysis, click this link.

F.F. Powell, Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: The Usurpation of Jesus and the Original Disciples (2009) - highly recommended. Amazon Purchase link.  My current review -- under construction -- is at this link.

Ruy Barraco Marmol, Faithful to Jesus Christianity and The Truth About the Apostle Paul (2012) -- available through his website at this link. An excellent critique from one raised as a Roman Catholic and whose voice is Christ-focused.

Articles By Others Critical of Paul/Paulinism

Articles on Science

Our Articles on Church Practices and Canon