The Pauline Letters

“David Oliver Smith has done something important here. It is quite worthwhile for a scholar to produce new theories and interpretations for us to consider. But it is even more significant when one crafts a new methodological tool, opening up altogether new ways of analyzing biblical texts. And this is what Smith has done in this groundbreaking book. Get ready to be both challenged and enlightened!”


—Robert M. Price, editor, Journal of Higher Criticism





“Smith, a retired lawyer who turned his attention to New Testament scholarship, proposes a new and different approach to determining what Paul did and did not write. Applying ‘rhetorical analysis’ to the letters claiming Pauline authorship, he seeks to identify both interpolations (later additions to the authentically Pauline letters) and pseudonymous letters (those falsely claiming Pauline authorship). It is to be hoped that his book will be widely read and given serious consideration by Pauline scholars.”


—William O. Walker Jr., Trinity University, emeritus