Paul's Early Period

Peter Stuhlmacher
—University of Tübingen
"A wonderful and knowledgeable work. Rainer Riesner carries the Pauline investigation out of the fog of conflicting and subjective hypotheses to a decisive place. He shows that the life of the apostle can be completely understood in the framework of the chronological dates that the biblical and extrabiblical sources supply. He also illumines our understanding of mission by considering the letters of the apostle in a new way. . . . Paul's Early Period proves that solid historical investigation can enrich both our knowledge and the faith of the church."

Journal of Biblical Literature
"This book is to be welcomed as a substantial contribution to controversial issue. Riesner combines clarity of writing with profound scholarship, building up a detailed case on the basis of evidence that those with more skeptical views must take into serious consideration. He attempts to reestablish a plausible Pauline chronology as the basis of a historical presentation on early Christianity. Anyone concerned with these vital issues should read this important book."

Stephen Westerholm
—McMaster University
"A work of prodigious scholarship, certain both to provoke reconsideration of the crucial period it covers and to remain a standard of reference for years to come."

Gerald F. Hawthorne
—Wheaton College
"An extraordinarily reliable chronological framework for Paul's early mission activity. . . . This thoroughgoing and exacting piece of work is a must for every serious New Testament scholar who is concerned to understand Paul in that ancient world of space and time which influenced him and in which he lived and thought and wrote."

Religious Studies Review
"An impressive effort to rehabilitate what has until recently been the traditional view of the beginnings of Paul's mission in Greece."