‘Paul, Apostle of Christ’ owes more to Coca-Cola than to the Bible

From The Conversation-

The poster for Paul, Apostle of Christ shows a steely-eyed Paul (James Faulkner) gazing straight at the viewer. Luke, played by Jim Caviezel, (Jesus in The Passion of the Christ), stands resolutely beside him. Two handsome, sun-beaten white actors with strong noses and strong chins play heroes of the Christian faith. What could possibly be wrong?

In terms of historical accuracy, there’s much wrong. And much at stake. Paul, Apostle of Christ is one of an upsurge in Bible-themed movies that romanticize and distort the past and risk present-day harm. Such films are like soda pop: Sweet, easy to swallow, but harmful as a steady diet. 

I enjoyed watching Paul, Apostle of Christ; the fictional subplot of Paul haunted by a young girl’s murder is quite touching. Despite that, I believe the movie owes more to Coca-Cola than to the Bible. Here are five ways:

1. If your origins seem embarrassing, make up a new story

Coca-Cola was invented in 1886 by American Civil War veteran John Pemberton. Its earliest formulations contained alcohol and kola nut (caffeine) and coca leaf extracts (cocaine).

More here-

https://theconversation.com/paul-apostle-of-christ-owes-more-to-coca-cola-than-to-the-bible-94556

Everything you know about the Gospel of Paul is likely wrong

From Aeon-

This past year, I burdened the English-speaking world with my very own translation of the New Testament – a project that I undertook at the behest of my editor at Yale University Press, but that I agreed to almost in the instant that it was proposed. I had long contemplated attempting a ‘subversively literal’ rendering of the text. Over the years, I had become disenchanted with almost all the standard translations available, and especially with modern versions produced by large committees of scholars, many of whom (it seems to me) have been predisposed by inherited theological habits to see things in the text that are not really there, and to fail to notice other things that most definitely are. Committees are bland affairs, and tend to reinforce our expectations; but the world of late antiquity is so remote from our own that it is almost never what we expect.

Ask, for instance, the average American Christian – say, some genial Presbyterian who attends church regularly and owns a New International Version of the Bible – what gospel the Apostle Paul preached. The reply will fall along predictable lines: human beings, bearing the guilt of original sin and destined for eternal hell, cannot save themselves through good deeds, or make themselves acceptable to God; yet God, in his mercy, sent the eternal Son to offer himself up for our sins, and the righteousness of Christ has been graciously imputed or imparted to all who have faith.

More here-

https://aeon.co/ideas/the-gospels-of-paul-dont-say-what-you-think-they-say