{"id":12522,"date":"2018-05-17T20:07:22","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T19:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.richardlittledale.co.uk\/?p=12522"},"modified":"2018-05-17T20:07:22","modified_gmt":"2018-05-17T19:07:22","slug":"charmed-by-phoebe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/2018\/05\/17\/charmed-by-phoebe\/","title":{"rendered":"Charmed by Phoebe"},"content":{"rendered":"

A review of Paula Gooder’s latest book<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For people like me, who have worked in the Christian church all our working lives, the Apostle Paul can be a bit like a slightly embarrassing family heirloom.\u00a0 We know it is precious, but we don\u2019t really want it on display.\u00a0 Seen in its original context the heirloom would assume more sensible proportions, and maybe even look more attractive.<\/p>\n

At this point, enter Dr Paula Gooder, with her fine scholarship, brilliant research and articulate imagination.\u00a0 In the person of Phoebe, a Deacon from the church in Cenchreae, she introduces us to Paul, his world and his philosophy as effortlessly as if we were stepping from a time machine.\u00a0 In the pages of her book you will smell the streets of Rome, sit at the back as the early church pray, laugh and cry together, and watch as the Gospel changes lives of great and small alike.<\/p>\n

If I had one word to describe Phoebe,<\/u> it would be charm<\/em>. In the person of this exquisitely drawn character, Paula introduces us to the New Testament world as never before.\u00a0 This is a New Testament theology with a heartbeat and a backstory.\u00a0 It will appeal to both Bible scholars and Bible enthusiasts alike.\u00a0 Few are likely to read Paul\u2019s letters in the same way after meeting Phoebe.\u00a0 I know I will not, and I hope one day Paula Gooder will introduce me to some more of Phoebe\u2019s friends.<\/p>\n

\"Phoebe\"<\/a><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A review of Paula Gooder’s latest book For people like me, who have worked in the Christian church all our working lives, the Apostle Paul can be a bit like a slightly embarrassing family heirloom.\u00a0 We know it is precious, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12522"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12522"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12524,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12522\/revisions\/12524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}