The First Edition of the Letters of Paul

We call them “the Letters of Paul”. However, who really wrote them, and why? The fascinating quest for an answer to this question takes us to Ephesus, one of the most important harbour cities of the Roman Empire, in order to get a clearer picture through him of the anonymous editors who edited the first edition of what would later, so inappropriately, be called the letters of Paul. These first editors saved Paul from oblivion, but often ignored what he had actually said. What did they want to achieve with their publication? Who added the anti-Jewish and misogynistic texts and who added the beautiful song about the praise of love?This book offers a spectacular reconstruction of the first edition of Paul’s letters. It removes two thousand years of Christian encrustation on the surviving texts, and produces a unique reconstruction and critical translation from the Greek of the first edition of the first four letters of Paul.