---
title: "Paul: A Very Brief History by John MG Barclay"
description: "Summary: A very brief intro to Paul. These short guides are both really helpful and difficult to write and write about. They assume some, but not too much familiarity with a subject. If you have no un..."
url: https://bookwi.se/paul-2/
date: 2020-04-13
modified: 2020-04-13
author: "Adam Shields"
categories: ["Book Reviews"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Paul: A Very Brief History by John MG Barclay

[![Paul: A Very Brief History](https://bookwi.se/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/image-6-205x300.jpeg)](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075TBMX2R/)**Summary: A very brief intro to Paul.**

These short guides are both really helpful and difficult to write and write about. They assume some, but not too much familiarity with a subject. If you have no understanding, they probably are too advanced. And if you have a lot of understanding, these types of books probably will not be all that interesting.

Mostly I picked this up because it was on sale and because I wanted to read Barclay’s Paul and the Gift, which yet again I heard some bible/theologian people on twitter talking about as one of the best books of theology of the past decade or so. (It is also on [sale for Kindle](https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Gift-John-M-Barclay-ebook/dp/B018XZAGJS/ref=reads_cwrtbar_1/146-0851791-2379958?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B018XZAGJS&pd_rd_r=22cbb51a-e759-4bde-867d-fe8221f990fe&pd_rd_w=oPJvP&pd_rd_wg=Ux6ob&pf_rd_p=f7e50e46-03c7-4eda-9ad4-faa4a79972b4&pf_rd_r=44E630CHZ9K74M5P2FVW&psc=1&refRID=44E630CHZ9K74M5P2FVW) and even a better deal at less than a penny a page.) I have a pretty good understanding of Paul, I read [NT Wright’s biography of Paul](https://bookwi.se/paul/) fairly recently and I have read a number of other books as well. I thought this would help introduce me to how Barclay thought about Paul, and I think it did a bit.

It is short, less than 100 pages and in that short page span, Barclay gives a brief bio, a discussion of what books he likely wrote, and how Paul influenced later Christian history, especially Augustine and the reformers. That is a lot to cover.

If I had to recommend a single book on Paul to a layperson, this would be on the list of books that I would consider, but I would probably rank Wright’s higher because I think it was more thorough to introduce the many issues of Paul. This one is certainly a good short intro, but maybe too short for many.

**Paul: A Very Brief History by John MG Barclay Purchase Links: [Paperback](https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Brief-History-John-Barclay/dp/0281076073/), [Kindle Edition](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075TBMX2R/)**