Dr. Tim Savage seeks to understand the apostle Paul’s apparently contradictory description of the Christian life as one in which power is manifested in weakness: ‘When I am weak, then I am strong!’ This paradox becomes intelligible when it is understood that Paul’s critics were influenced by a perspective that was the exact opposite of his: they imbibed the self-exalting outlook of their contemporary world, while he embraced the self-emptying gospel of Christ. Drawing on archaeological data from the first century, this book is unique in establishing both the secular underpinnings of Paul’s paradoxical language and the devastating critique which that language offers on the general outlook of the day. Paul emerges as a radical foil to the spirit of the age.
Description:
Dr. Tim Savage seeks to understand the apostle Paul’s apparently contradictory description of the Christian life as one in which power is manifested in weakness: ‘When I am weak, then I am strong!’ This paradox becomes intelligible when it is understood that Paul’s critics were influenced by a perspective that was the exact opposite of his: they imbibed the self-exalting outlook of their contemporary world, while he embraced the self-emptying gospel of Christ. Drawing on archaeological data from the first century, this book is unique in establishing both the secular underpinnings of Paul’s paradoxical language and the devastating critique which that language offers on the general outlook of the day. Paul emerges as a radical foil to the spirit of the age.