Book Reviews and More: A Pocket Guide to St. Paul

A Pocket Guide to St. Paul
Scott Hahn
Our Sunday Visitor
ISBN 9781592765638

eISBN 9781592767663

ASIN B008MNGSBC

This volume was added to my kindle library in 2018, but appears to now be out of print. On Goodreads there are 2 Kindle editions, a paperback and an eBook, But I cannot find it online at any resellers. The description of this volume states:

“A handy, yet thorough, guide to St. Paul!

St. Paul was a thinker, a pastor, a missionary, a revolutionary, and a martyr. By the end of his life -- and largely thanks to his efforts -- Christianity enjoyed a worldwide presence. Since then, he has emerged repeatedly down the millennia as a fresh voice, compelling us to envision God, and life, in a new way. We cannot understand Christianity unless we understand his message. We cannot understand ourselves as Christians unless we see ourselves in the light of his words.”

The chapters in this booklet are:

Introduction

1. How We Know About St. Paul

2. St. Paul’s Life

3. St. Paul’s Thought

4. St. Paul’s Letters

5. St. Paul and Us

6. Quick Reference for Catholic Doctrines and Practices in St. Paul’s Life and Work

7. The Quotable St. Paul

8. Prayers to St. Paul

9. For Further Reading

I highlighted several passages while reading this volume, some of them are:

“Trying to write A Pocket Guide to St. Paul is more than a little like writing A Pocket Guide to Nuclear Physics or A Pocket Guide to Neurosurgery. St. Paul is the most influential writer in the history of literature. His work comprises a significant portion of the most influential book in all human history. His erudition was vast, his thought complex, and his accomplishments prodigious. For the magnitude of his effect on the course of human events, he has no rival except his master, Jesus Christ, whose Gospel St. Paul served and proclaimed.”

“He aimed to extend the reach of Christianity through all the western lands of the Roman Empire. And he succeeded to an astonishing degree. By the end of his life—and largely thanks to his efforts—Christianity enjoyed a worldwide presence. Within a century—largely due to the momentum of Paul’s preaching—the Church had grown so large that it was perceived as a threat to the Roman social order. Less than three centuries after Paul’s martyrdom, Rome was a Christian city at the head of a Christian empire.”

“That was his first revolution, but not his last. He has emerged repeatedly down the millennia as a fresh voice, compelling preachers, rulers, and ordinary Christians to envision a new way of living. In the fifth century, St. Augustine re-thought the world along lines that he discerned in St. Paul. In the 16th century, Paul’s letters were at the center of the controversies of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation—controversies that reshaped the world.”

“The Church’s self-understanding is dependent upon the words of St. Paul. Every Christian’s self-understanding should be, too. We cannot understand Christianity unless we understand his message.”

“The New Testament is our richest, most ancient, and most reliable source of information about St. Paul. Of its 27 books, 13 are letters attributed to St. Paul. (Many Church Fathers, and a small but growing number of modern scholars, credit him with a 14th letter as well, the Letter to the Hebrews.)”

“In the 2,000 years since St. Paul’s martyrdom, Christians have produced many commentaries on him. In my own library, I have more than a thousand such books—and they are but a small fraction of the works in print! And the works in print are a still smaller fraction of the works that have vanished from memory. Yet Paul’s life and work still hold Christians spellbound—and theological reflection produces new insights even today. His teaching is an inexhaustible treasury.”

“Saul saw his conversion not as a renunciation of the religion of his childhood and youth, but rather its fulfillment. He spoke of it in terms of a vocation, like the call received by the prophets of the Old Testament (see 1 Sam 3:4). He spoke of it in terms of an apparition, a revelation, and a commissioning (see Gal 1:15-16; 1 Cor 15:8-10), but never as an abandonment of the religion of Israel.”

“His range is remarkable. Romans is a doctrinal tour de force. Galatians is a stern rebuke. Philemon is an ingratiating plea. Philippians is full of warm encouragement and joyful gratitude. The letters to Timothy and Titus are handbooks of practical advice, from an experienced pastor to his young colleagues.”

“It is worth mentioning that at least some of the more critical attitudes toward Paul have sprung from modern interpreters’ anti-institutional bias. Protestant Pauline scholar Michael J. Gorman goes so far as to call it an “anti-Catholic bias,” which has allowed “theological preferences” to affect historical judgments.”

“St. Paul wrote this letter while he was staying in Ephesus, probably during his third missionary journey, around A.D. 56. Corinth was a prosperous commercial and administrative center, a way station on voyages between Asia and Italy. It was famous for sporting events and infamous for its low morals.”

“This letter contains Paul’s most sustained and developed reflection on the Church, which he sees as the Family of God, the Body of Christ, and the Temple of the Spirit. The vision is international, universal, and truly catholic. To be in the Church, Paul says repeatedly, is to be “in Christ.”

“Philippians is best known for its extended treatment of Jesus as the self-giving servant—the Son of God who set aside his deity to become the humblest of men and to die the most humiliating death. Because of this, God the Father exalted him in glory. Thus, Paul exhorts the Church to worship Jesus as God and to imitate the Lord’s self-giving. The letter also preserves Paul’s most intimate reflection on his own apostolate to date and his readiness for martyrdom.”

“This letter is the first of the “Pastoral Epistles” attributed to St. Paul. These letters are like handbooks of advice, addressed from one Christian clergyman to another. They focus on pastoral concerns and matters of Church order: liturgy, hierarchy, discipline, catechesis, and sacred Tradition.

“St. Paul’s favorite term for Christians was “saints” (see, for example, Col 1:2-4). Holiness is our calling and our dignity. Yet he also distinguished between the saints on earth (Col 1:2) and the “saints in light” (Col 1:12)—what Catholic devotion would later call, respectively, the “Church militant” and the “Church triumphant.” The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that the latter are “a cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12:1) around the former.”

I hope those quotes give you a feel for this volume. The chapter on prayers to St. Paul includes the following prayers:

A Prayer to St. Paul

Litany of St. Paul the Apostle

When I returned to university as a mature student almost 30 years ago the first course I took was Pauls Life and Letters taught by Dr. Peter Frick, At St. Paul’s College at the University of Waterloo. It sparked a lifelong passion for Saint Paul and Pauline Theology. The final course I took to graduate was a directed readings course with the same professor on Paul. Since then I have aimed to read at least one volume on Paul a year. I have also been a fan of Dr Hahn’s works for many years. So this volume combines two areas of great interest for me.

This little volume is an excellent read. My own take on Pauline authorship falls in line with what Dr Hahn has outlined in the volume. I loved the mini overviews of each of Paul’s books from the bible. This book would be a great introduction to Paul and his works or as a refresher. It is easy to engage with. This volume could be read by a secondary school student, or a grad student, but a theologian or a new convert and they will all get something out of it. It is an excellent volume that any Catholic or any Christian would benefit from reading.

It is an excellent read, thank you Dr. Hahn and Our Sunday Visitor.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan!

Books by Scott Hahn:
A Father Who Keeps His Promises
A Pocket Guide to Saint Paul
A Pocket Guide to the Bible
Angels and Saints: A Biblical Friendship with God's Holy Ones
Answering the New Atheism: Dismantling Dawkins's Case Against God
Catholic for a Reason
Consuming the Word: The New Testament and The Eucharist in the Early Church
Covenant and Communion
Evangelizing Catholics: A Mission Manual for the New Evangelization
First Comes Love: Finding Your Family in the Church and the Trinity
Hail, Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God

Holy Is His Name
Hope for Hard Times
Joy to the World: How Christ's Coming Changed Everything and Still Does
Kinship by Covenant: A Canonical Approach to the Fulfillment of God's Saving Promises
Letter and Spirit : From Written Text to Living Word in the Liturgy
Living the Mysteries - A Guide for Unfinished Christians
Lord Have Mercy: The Healing Power of Confession
Many Are Called: Rediscovering the Glory of the Priesthood
Ordinary Work, Extraordinary Grace
Politicizing the Bible: The Roots of Historical Criticism and the Secularization of Scripture 1300-1700
Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Faith
Rome Sweet Home
Scripture Matters
Signs of Life: 40 Catholic Customs and Their Biblical Roots
Swear to God : The Promise and Power of the Sacraments
The Creed: Professing the Faith Through the Ages
The Fourth Cup
The First Society
The Kingdom of God As Liturgical Empire
The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth
Understanding "Our Father"

Mary Mother of All

Breaking the Bread: A Biblical Devotional for Catholics Year B

Breaking the Bread: A Biblical Devotional for Catholics Year C

Breaking the Bread: A Biblical Devotional for Catholics Year A

...

Books in the OSV Pocket Guide Series:

A Pocket Guide to Catholic Apologetics - Patrick Madrid

A Pocket Guide to Confession - Michael Dubruiel

A Pocket Guide to Purgatory - Patrick Madrid

A Pocket Guide to St. Paul - Scott Hahn

A Pocket Guide to the Bible - Scott Hahn

A Pocket Guide to the Mass - Michael Dubruiel