{"id":366,"date":"2014-08-15T12:00:41","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T12:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=366"},"modified":"2014-07-29T20:56:38","modified_gmt":"2014-07-29T20:56:38","slug":"bible-resource-spotlight-illustrated-life-of-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/08\/bible-resource-spotlight-illustrated-life-of-paul.html","title":{"rendered":"Bible Resource Spotlight: Illustrated Life of Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reader Appeal: Seminary Professors\u00a0and Students<\/p>\n<p>Genre: Biography \/ History<\/p>\n<p>FBSN Rating: C+<\/p>\n<p>As far as biographies go, the <em>Illustrated Life of Paul<\/em> can seem a bit dry. It comes off as more of a \u201ctravel guide to the life of Paul\u201d than an actual story of Paul\u2019s life. Author, Charles L. Quarles, is a seminary professor writing for other seminary professors, which explains his deliberately academic, sometimes inaccessible writing style. He clearly expects this book to be used as a textbook in Bible schools across the nation, which is fine except for the fact that his knowledge of the Apostle Paul\u2019s life presented in this way obscures it from millions of \u201cpew-sitter\u201d Christians who would otherwise love it. That kind of purposeful academic exclusivity feels elitist and shortsighted to me\u2026but I digress.<\/p>\n<p>From an academic perspective, this \u201cdry\u201d reading of the Apostle\u2019s life is a treasure trove of detail and history that\u2019s hard to match anywhere else. Quarles clearly enjoys his subject matter, and he\u2019s delivered a well-researched, thorough exploration of what we know about Paul and his writings. And that\u2019s a big deal, considering that roughly one-third of the New Testament is either about Paul or written by him. And as time has proven, Paul was the most influential Christian theologian in all of history. Deepening our understanding of his life, times, and letters is not only a worthwhile pursuit, but a necessary one for any true Bible Study Nerd. In that way, the <em>Illustrated Life of Paul<\/em> is a true gem of a resource, though it might take a little digging to get to the real treasures herein.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, this book contains over 150 color illustrations (maps, photos, charts, illustrations) which really do help break up the text and offer unique visual insights into the content. Background information on every one of Paul\u2019s New Testament letters is invaluable, as is Quarles\u2019 chronological approach that places those letters within the context of the Apostle\u2019s missionary journeys and other life events.<\/p>\n<p>In all, though I\u2019d prefer that this were a book I could share with non-academics, the <em>Illustrated Life of Paul<\/em> still offers a wealth of history that any serious student of Scripture will find rewarding.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/371\/2014\/07\/Illus-Life-of-Paul-.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-361\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/371\/2014\/07\/Illus-Life-of-Paul-.jpg\" alt=\"Illustrated Life of Paul by Charles L. Quarles\" width=\"300\" height=\"450\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Illustrated Life of Paul\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bhpublishinggroup.com\/products\/the-illustrated-life-of-paul\/\" target=\"_blank\">Illustrated Life of Paul <\/a>by Charles L. Quarles<\/p>\n<p>(B&amp;H Academic)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Bible Study Nerds\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-for-bible-study-nerds.html\">About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Mike Nappa\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-mike-nappa.html\">About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0<a title=\"Nappaland Communications Inc. official website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nappaland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reader Appeal: Seminary Professors\u00a0and Students Genre: Biography \/ History FBSN Rating: C+ As far as biographies go, the Illustrated Life of Paul can seem a bit dry. It comes off as more of a \u201ctravel guide to the life of Paul\u201d than an actual story of Paul\u2019s life. Author, Charles L. Quarles, is a seminary&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[145,146],"class_list":["post-366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-resource-spotlight","tag-apostle-paul","tag-charles-l-quarles"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bible Resource Spotlight: Illustrated Life of Paul - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bible Resource Spotlight: Illustrated Life of Paul - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reader Appeal: Seminary Professors\u00a0and Students Genre: Biography \/ History FBSN Rating: C+ As far as biographies go, the Illustrated Life of Paul can seem a bit dry. It comes off as more of a \u201ctravel guide to the life of Paul\u201d than an actual story of Paul\u2019s life. Author, Charles L. Quarles, is a seminary&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/08\/bible-resource-spotlight-illustrated-life-of-paul.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-15T12:00:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-29T20:56:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/files\/2014\/07\/Illus-Life-of-Paul-.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike Nappa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bible Resource Spotlight: Illustrated Life of Paul - For Bible Study Nerds","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bible Resource Spotlight: Illustrated Life of Paul - For Bible Study Nerds","og_description":"Reader Appeal: Seminary Professors\u00a0and Students Genre: Biography \/ History FBSN Rating: C+ As far as biographies go, the Illustrated Life of Paul can seem a bit dry. 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He's a former youth pastor who shepherded kids on staff at Chuck Swindoll's church in Southern California\u2014and he's a bestselling and award-winning author with more than a million copies of his books sold worldwide. Plus, he holds a degree in Christian Education with an emphasis in Bible Theology. So, you know, he\u2019s got that going for him. Mike is also a pop culture dork who watches too much TV, reads too many comic books, utters too many bad words, laughs at all the wrong jokes, and often gets in trouble because he says whatever he happens to be thinking at the moment\u2014like quoting an R-rated movie in the middle of a sermon. Yeah, he\u2019s a mess (just like you!), but he kind of likes it that way. Most of all, Mike Nappa loves Jesus, and he figures that covers over a multitude of sins. Learn more at nappaland.com\/mikenappa.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.biblestudynerds.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/author\/mnappa"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":371,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions\/371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}