Best Books Awards 2020: Category—Paul

So many great books on Paul this year! And the winner is…

Lisa Bowens, African-American Readings of Paul

This is not an “easy” book to read cover-to-cover, but it is incredibly insightful and superbly written. Thank you, Dr. Bowens, for the gift of this needed scholarship on the richly diverse African-American interpretations of Paul throughout the years.

Read the interview I conducted with Bowens earlier this year: HERE

Runner-Up

Luke Timothy Johnson, Constructing Paul

If you are tired of the “consensus” scholarship on Paul, read this book. It is fresh and vintage LTJ. I eagerly await the second volume (coming in 2021).

Read the interviews I conducted with Johnson on this book HERE and HERE,

Honorable Mention

John M.G. Barclay, Paul and the Power of Grace

This is a more popular version of Barclay’s award-winning Paul and the Gift with some additional reflection. Let me say, I found this new book an excellent study of not only Paul’s grace language, but his theology as a whole. A must-read for students, pastors, and even scholars.