Book Review - Murphy-O'Connor

Book Review:
Jerome Murphy-O'Connor's Paul: A Critical Life
Offered by ML.

This book is an historical outlook on the life of Paul. Murphy-O'Conner uses Paul's epistles to establish the chronological order Paul's life. The use of this book for the three questions posed towards the end of class (freedom, slavery, and new creation) was only helpful for the first two.

The author states that the only true freedom is found only in Christ. Bondage for Murphy-O'Conner has us bound in Christ. Slavery on the other hand is to humans. This is not a pretty picture for us to think about, for when we look at the institution of slavery we find abuse and oppression.

The second question in regards to oikos Murphy-O'Connor discusses in "To The Problems of a Mixed Community." Here Paul is addressing a particular house church, which for the entire ekklesia is a small portion of the whole.

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