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BOOKS: AN INSIGHTFUL LOOK “UNDER THE BONNET” OF II CORINTHIANS

DAVID ADAMS reviews Paul: A Pastor’s Heart

Paul Barnett
Paul: A Pastor’s Heart. In Second Corinthians
Aquila Press, 2012

ISBN: 978-1921460883

“An insightful look under the bonnet, so to speak, of what II Corinthians was all about and what we can learn from Paul’s experience in dealing with church division today.”

More than simply a guide to studying II Corinthians, Paul Barnett’s book Paul: A Pastor’s Heart takes an indepth look at the circumstances which brought Paul to write the epistle in an historical and spiritual context and looks at the lessons that we can draw from it.

Barnett, formerly Anglican bishop of North Sydney and author of numerous books including several others on Paul and his writings, says he wrote the book – short-listed for the Australian Christian Book of the Year award in 2013 – to provide an overall look at its purpose. 

While, as he notes, the text is filled with many oft-quoted verses, Barnett says he wanted to give an overview of what the letter is all about. As he says in the preface: “Second Corinthians contains many wonderful passages which are much loved by preachers and ordinary Bible readers…The problem is with the word in between these…we simply read them without much idea of what they mean.”

The book kicks off with a look at the historical context in which Paul wrote the text – written in 56AD from Macedonia, it was penned to address a “deep divide” which had arisen in the Corinthian church and followed two earlier letters to them (one of which was I Corinthians and the other of which we only know about, says Barnett, through references in II Corinthians).

It then takes a look at Paul’s purpose in writing the letter, how his authority was viewed in Corinth, why some in church were opposing his teaching, and how – and why – Paul persevered with engaging with the church in spite of this, continuing to present them with message of reconciliation and love and to encourage them as a church entity in their own right but as also as part of the wider church (particularly through collecting money for their brethren in Jerusalem).

But in Paul: A Pastor’s Heart, Barnett doesn’t simply stay in the historical context. He brings the text forward to see how it might apply in churches today. After all, conflict within churches, as he notes, remains a “frequent” problem today and there is much we can draw from how Paul handles the situation.

Even for those who have studied the book of II Corinthians before, there’s many little gems to be unearthed in this easy-to-read book which, thanks to its compact size, lends itself to be of use to small groups which may be studying the text. An insightful look under the bonnet, so to speak, of what II Corinthians was all about and what we can learn from Paul’s experience in dealing with church division today.

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