Loving Resistance and Resistance through Love

“Alex’s book is fascinating. This is a book about love, faith, and divine acceptance. It narrates different characters and scenes in Les Misérables that help readers understand different themes in Philemon. People usually hold prejudices in different social statuses and hierarchies. But this book behaves as a corrective and helps readers to orientate toward divine love. I highly recommend.”


—Ming Him Ko, Alliance Bible Seminary





“Reading Paul’s letter to Philemon to address a fundamental question about how one can live in love and hope within systems of oppression, Ip gives us a fresh and refreshing reading that challenges some long-standing assumptions about the well-known apostle and his much-debated letter.”


—Tat-siong Benny Liew, College of the Holy Cross





“Approaching Philemon through the narrative lens of Les Misérables, Alex Ip insightfully unveils the social and ecclesial impact of Paul’s approach to the complexities of first-century slavery though imaginative, source-based historical reconstruction, rhetorical analysis, and close attention to the apostle’s Greek terminology. Writing for the pastoral edification of the everyday reader, Ip powerfully argues that the epistle’s key theological motif is faith working in love, enabling believers to resist unconsciously held social norms and prejudices.”


—James R. Harrison, Sydney College of Divinity