The Earlier Epistles of St. Paul: Their Motive and Origin

What it is

This book was written in 1911 by Kirsopp Lake and studies the earliest letters written by Paul, asking why he wrote them and where his ideas came from. Lake notes in his preface that letters are especially hard to interpret because they assume shared knowledge between writer and reader that later readers do not have.

Why it matters

This book shows scholars wrestling directly with the problem of reading someone's personal letters centuries later, when the context that made them clear has been lost. It is part of ongoing historical efforts to understand Paul's earliest writings and what shaped them.

Look closer

• Why does Lake say letters are hard to understand long after they were written?
• What kind of