Paul For Everyone

Paul for Everyone Chester Warren Quimby 176 pp.

Chester Warren Quimby’s Paul for Everyone is a marvelous tool for understanding Paul’s epistles, the majority of the New Testament.  Quimby presents Paul’s thought in a slim, concise volume. The book can be divided into two main sections, a biography of Paul himself, and an explanation of his thought.

Quimby’s dedicates a chapter early in the text to discussing the social and political climate of the Roman empire in the first century A.D. informing us how pax romana allowed for such a ready spread of ideas and thoughts, moreso than the vast majority of human history. This chapter of world-building was not simply successful as a tool for granting us a sense of Roman life, but gave a great insight into the social needs early Christianity fulfilled.

While I found the biography to be a useful tool in piecing together hints and clues about the enigmatic author of much of the New Testament, there was one section which struck me as particularly beautiful. Picture Saul on the road to Tarsus. Here is a man who has struggled to root out the Christian community in Jerusalem for years. Yet, for all his labor, this heretical sect of Judaism simply will not be put down. Quimby dives deep into Paul’s mind for one, exquisitely written section, leading up to his vision and conversion on the road.

From then on, the book makes a simple synthesis of Paul’s theology, tying together the disparate thoughts scattered throughout his letters into one, overarching structure. Quimby's primary tool for discussing Paul's theology is to provide a synthesis of his thoughts scattered throughout the letters in the New Testament. He breaks down each individual epistle into its component parts and provides a simple scheme for assembling them into a more concrete doctrinal theology.
     Easily the most useful single chapter of the book is a discussion of Romans. Quimby sets this letter aside from all the others as being nearly a complete expression of Pauline theology in itself. He then proceeds to break Paul's thought down into six sections. Phrasing each of these sections in the form of a question and then a lengthy answer, Quimby's writing feels almost catechismal. This format is extremely useful in giving the reader a framework with which to attack the sometimes convoluted thought which dominates Paul's writing. As a result, Paul for Everyone is a very valuable tool for approaching the New Testament.

Would I recommend  Paul for Everyone?

For everyone? No. For the inquisitive, making their first entry into understanding the New Testament? Yes.

Score: 4.4/5

Would I keep this on my bookshelf? Yes.

-Mr. Cheddar