New Testament studies

In my innocence, I had thought that while the Old Testament was all a bit murky and of uncertain provenance, with the New Testament we were on much firmer ground, despite the outlandish things that we are invited to sign up to.

But in the course of a review of reference 1 in this week's number of the TLS, I learn that Paul himself only wrote about half the epistles ascribed to him: in approximate order of writing: 1 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Romans, Philippians and Philemon. Readers who know which of these are places and where they are (or were) get a bonus point.

The good news is that St. Paul seems to be real enough. Indeed, I recall reading a book by one Hyam Maccoby in which it was alleged that he was responsible for most of what is wrong with Christianity. See reference 2.

With thanks to Wikipedia for the snap.

Reference 1: A history of the Bible: the book and its faiths - John Barton - 2019.

Reference 2: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/search?q=hyam+maccaby. Spelling of Maccoby a bit shaky.