Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes by Kenneth E Bailey

Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes by Kenneth E Bailey

Christianity Today Book Award winner

Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, steeped in the learning of his people.

But he was also a Roman citizen who widely traveled the Mediterranean basin, andwas very knowledgeable of the dominant Greek and Roman culture of his day. These two mighty rivers of influence converge in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.

With razor-sharp attention to the text, Kenneth Bailey examines the cultural milieu and rhetorical strategies that shaped this pivotal epistle. He discovers the deep layers of the Hebraic prophetic tradition informing Paul's writing, linking the Apostle with the great prophets of the Old Testament.

Throughout, Bailey employs his expert knowledge of Near Eastern and Mediterranean culture to deliver to readers a new understanding of Paul and his world. Familiar passages take on a new hue as they are stripped of standard Western interpretations and rendered back into their ancient setting.

Kenneth E. (Kenneth E.) Bailey (1930-2016) was a well-known Middle Eastern New Testament scholar and lecturer. He was the Canon Theologian of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, and he was an ordained Presbyterian minister. His works include Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, The Good Shepherd, Open Hearts in Bethlehem: A Christmas Play, and The Cross and the Prodigal Son. He has written over 150 articles in English and Arabic. Bailey lived and taught in seminaries and institutes in Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem, and Cyprus for forty years.

He taught New Testament and was the chairman of the Biblical Department at the Near East School of Theology in Beirut for twenty years, where he also developed and led the Institute for Middle Eastern New Testament Studies. Bailey was also a member of the Jerusalem-based Ecumenical Institute for Theological Research's faculty. Bailey lectured and taught in theological colleges and seminaries throughout the world, including England (Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol), Ireland, Canada, Egypt, Finland, Latvia, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia, and Jerusalem. He taught Bible at Columbia, Princeton, and Fuller Seminaries, as well as at conferences and continuing education activities in the Middle East, Europe, and North America.