Twelftree’s Paul and the Miraculous (My Endorsement)

Earlier this summer I had a chance to read Graham Twelftree’s forthcoming monograph entitled Paul and the Miraculous (Baker). It is a very stimulating work that deserves wide attention and interaction. Here is my endorsement which, I believe, will appear on the back cover of the book:

“Modern Western biblical interpreters tend to view Paul primarily as an academic–a theologian and writer. Twelftree reminds us that he was far more than a writer, and his religious world was not only philosophical but also experiential. Twelftree collects and examines occasions where the historical Paul mentions and experiences the miraculous. Perhaps most valuable of all, this book attempts to explain how one might integrate Paul’s theology of weakness with his experience of the empowering Spirit. Well researched, fresh, engaging, and appropriately cautious about drawing tempered conclusions, this examination allows a neglected area of New Testament study to be brought into the forefront. While the reader may not agree with every part of Twelftree’s historical reconstruction of Paul, it is nearly impossible to reject his main hypothesis that the miraculous played an important role in Paul’s ministry and theology.”
—Nijay Gupta, assistant professor of New Testament, Northeastern Seminary, Roberts Wesleyan College