On the letters of Paul

For historical purposes, there really is nothing quite as useful for understanding early Christianity – the first generation of early Christianity – than the letters of Paul. They are the first evidence we have.

When I talk with students, I often start with First Thessalonians, which is a tiny little letter and easier to understand than most of Paul’s. And they give us a little glimpse of what he was thinking and concerned about with a particular group in Thessaloniki – probably the earliest evidence of any sort we have for Christianity.

Of course, the letters are biased in a certain way – everything that we do is biased, none of us can speak from a perspective other than our own. But Paul’s letters still give us some insight. For example, we can learn from First Thessalonians that this group was mostly composed of Gentiles, people who weren’t Jews. We can learn that it’s a city phenomenon; that people worked; we can learn something about their social status. We can deduce some things about what might have attracted them to Christianity.

It is sometimes frustrating, because you’d like to know more. That’s why people like me get into this business. A very famous New Testament scholar wrote some generations ago: “You have to forgive us, we only have so many pages of Greek New Testament, you have to forgive us if we think we can hear the grass grow and the bedbugs cough.” So, sure, it gets to be frustrating; but then that’s the way historical work always is, especially when you’re dealing with ancient texts.