ABSTRACT
The study of Paul's letters fails to yield any uncontested views of the Apostle, even among Christian scholars. An outsider cannot be expected to offer any wholly new or implausibly controversial estimates of the man. Thus, for example, there are differences of opinion, often merely of emphasis, among considerably learned scholars, with regard to the continued role of the law in Christian life, the nature and consequences of sin, the precise status of redemption, the body of Christ and so on. Some of these differences are effectively canonised in the New Testament since that scripture can be read by non-Christians as simply the documentary record of a new faith movement that emerged within the full light of classical history. The French post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin searched for a perfect place, a virgin paradise, an Eden on earth, and eventually decided to travel to Tahiti.
