Paul and First-Century Letter Writing: Secretaries, Composition and Collection Paperback – 21 Jan. 2005

A very fine piece of work. It may be too detailed and slightly repetitive for some readers but it covers a huge amount of secondary scholarship and compares Pauline letters with the letters of classical writers like Cicero or Pliny. And it goes into the details of the actual writing of the letters (the materials used, the role of secretaries, literary conventions, the speed of delivery, the retention of duplicates by senders, and so on). All this plays into a discussion of the inspiration of the NT letters. The author, as might be expected from the known stance of the publisher, accepts inspiration by the Spirit but shows nevertheless that the process of composition was complex and not necessarily dependent on a burst dictation by the apostle Paul sitting alone in a room or a prison cell. One finishes the book with a much more solid appreciation of how these NT text were generated and then compiled.

An excellent introduction to the realities of letter writing and communication in Paul's time. The idea that Paul just sat down and wrote - on his own - flies right out of the window. Rather like a present day film crew, Paul's letters were very much a team effort. He even.occasionally gives credit to others.The process of producing the letters required at team of fellow seekers of the truth, scribes, amanuensies , etc. It evidentially cost several thousand pounds to produce each copy.

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Paul and First Century Letter Writing is a valuable contribution to any study of Paul the apostle. Because so much of what we know about Paul we learn from his letters, understanding the practice of letter writing in his culture is vital to understanding Paul. This is not only true for understanding the meaning of his letters, but also for the issues that bother some academics-did Paul write Ephesians? Is 2 Corinthians one letter? Or two or three combined into one?Though commentaries on Pauline letters or biographies of Paul may discuss aspects of these issues, full treatments of the issue of ancient letter writing and its implications for the study of Paul's letters are harder to find. Here, Richards offers just such a book. He describes the materials involved in drafting letters, how ancient letter writers used sources, the procedure of letter writing, the time involved, the use of secretaries, the detection of interpolations, the use of letter carriers, and the distances and means of travel of those carriers. Richards then draws out the practical effect of this knowledge. For example, he explains why letter writing was so expensive and does a convincing job of determining the cost in present-value dollars. He also explains the significance of co-authorship on Paul's letters. Though many of Paul's letters were co-authored, many scholars seem to all but ignore this fact in their study of the theology and language of Paul's letters. This is a mistake. A co-author of a letter would have had a substantial impact on the content and theme of "Paul's" letters. The use of different secretaries and even letter carriers too may have affected the content of Paul's letters, though to a lesser degree.In support of his conclusions, Richards draws on a vast amount of first-century writings, including many non-Christian letters from the ancient Mediterranean. This is a welcome use of sources and counters any suspicion that Richards is simply striving to reach a particular result. He also gives a good account of prior efforts to gauge the impact of ancient letter writing.Finally, the book is well written. Richards writes clearly and simply. He also does a surprisingly good job of placing the read back in Paul's time, on the streets of ancient Greek cities, or in courtyard of a middle-class apartment. Furthermore, the book is well organized. He builds his case in each section and makes his argument. He then ends each section with a clear statement of his conclusion. You may not agree with his conclusions, but you can see how he reached them.I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in better understanding Paul and his letters.

This a book describing how letters, written data and books were generated, who created the text, what the medium was and how much influence the author had in the content of a missive. Although written in terms of the Apostle Paul. The information was relevent to all in the late BCE and early CE time frame. Enjoyable reading to those interested in this discipline.

makes a mockery of those who still say that the first christian centuries were a time of oral traditions, and therefore the bible is unreliable (ie: Bart Ehrman et el.) lots of footnotes, riases possibilities of shorthand being used by scribes who trailed Jeus with the Pharisees. Easily readable for a layperson.

Well research and has lots of helpful information.