Apostle of Doom

Journal

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Sources

The primary texts and the scholarship the book draws on, from Paul's letters and the early Christian writers to the Muslim scholars who wrote on him and the modern historians of the New Testament. Every source the articles cite is listed here.

The works below are those cited in the articles and listed in the bibliography of the book. Scripture is quoted in the articles in the Greek of the SBL edition with the King James Version beneath it; the book itself quotes Malay and Indonesian translations. Reports, manuscripts and web sources appear at the end.

Scripture #

  • The Qurʾān. English renderings in the article on the Qurʾān as witness follow The Qurʾan: English Meanings, Saheeh International. Jeddah: Al-Muntada Al-Islami, 2004.
  • The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Quoted in the King James Version; the book quotes the Alkitab Berita Baik (Bible Society of Malaysia, 1996), the Alkitab Versi Borneo (LAB Network, 2015), the Alkitab (Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia, 2000) and the Kitab Suci Indonesian Modern Bible (Yayasan Anugerah Kebenaran Indonesia, 2015).
  • Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th edition.
  • Michael W. Holmes (ed.), The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature; Bellingham: Logos Bible Software, 2010. The Greek text quoted with every New Testament passage on this site.
  • Book of Judith.

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Hadith and classical Islamic sources #

  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim; Musnad Aḥmad; Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī; al-Adab al-Mufrad; al-Sunan al-Kubrā.
  • al-Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār, Tathbīt Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwa. In Gabriel Said Reynolds and Samir Khalil Samir (eds.), Critique of Christian Origins: A Parallel Arabic-English Text. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2010.
  • Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī, Kitāb al-Āthār al-Bāqiyah ʿan al-Qurūn al-Khāliyah.
  • Ibn Isḥāq, al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah. Translated by Alfred Guillaume as The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
  • al-Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-Rusul wa al-Mulūk.
  • al-Qurṭubī, Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī.
  • al-Baghawī, Maʿālim al-Tanzīl.
  • Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm.
  • Abū Isḥāq al-Thaʿlabī, al-Kashf wa al-Bayān ʿan Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 5. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 2002.
  • ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, ed. Ṭayyib al-Mūsawī al-Jazāʾirī, vol. 1. Beirut: Dār al-Walāʾ li-Ṣināʿat al-Nashr, 2018.
  • Sayf ibn ʿUmar, Kitāb al-Ridda wa-l-Futūḥ, manuscript, fols. 62a–64b.
  • Ibn ʿAsākir, Tārīkh Madīnat Dimashq, vol. 5. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1995.
  • Abū ʿĀṣim Khushaysh ibn Aṣram al-Nasāʾī, Kitāb al-Istiqāmah fī al-Radd ʿalā Ahl al-Bidaʿ, as cited by Ibn Taymiyyah and al-Malaṭī.
  • al-Malaṭī, al-Tanbīh wa-l-Radd ʿalā Ahl al-Ahwāʾ wa-l-Bidaʿ.
  • al-Shahrastānī, Kitāb al-Milal wa al-Niḥal, ed. Muḥammad Sayyid Kaylānī, vol. 1. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah, n.d.
  • Ibn Taymiyyah, Minhāj al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah, vol. 1; Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā, vol. 28, comp. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Qāsim. Riyadh, 1416/1995.
  • Muḥammad al-Qaysī, Kitāb Miftāḥ al-Dīn wa-l-Mujādalah bayna al-Naṣārā wa-l-Muslimīn, MS 1557, National Library of Algeria.

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Jewish sources #

  • Babylonian Talmud: Berakhot, Yoma, Yevamoth, Kethuboth, Nedarim, Sanhedrin, Pesachim, Ḥagigah.
  • Mishnah Parah.
  • Avot de-Rabbi Natan.
  • Midrash Rabbah: Shemot Rabbah, Bamidbar Rabbah.
  • Midrash Tehillim.
  • Rashi, commentary on Bereshit and Bamidbar.
  • Samuel A. Berman (trans.), Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu. KTAV Publishing, 1996.
  • Hekhalot Rabbati.
  • Philo of Alexandria, De Opificio Mundi; On the Confusion of Tongues; On Dreams. Trans. C. D. Yonge.
  • Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews.
  • G. Foote and J. M. Wheeler, Jewish Life of Christ: Being the Sepher Toldoth Jeshu. London: Progressive Publishing Company, 1885.

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Early Christian and classical writers #

  • 1 Clement. In J. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers: Part I. Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp. London: Macmillan, 1890.
  • Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion.
  • Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, Books II and VI. Ed. Philip Schaff. Grand Rapids: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1994.
  • Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, Book 9.
  • Jerome, De Viris Illustribus.
  • Origen, Commentary on Matthew; Contra Celsum (the fragments of Celsus).
  • Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions and Homilies.
  • Tertullian, Scorpiace.
  • Filaster, Diversarum Hereseon Liber.
  • The Decretum Gelasianum.
  • Tacitus, Annals 15.44.
  • Pliny the Younger, Epistulae 10.96.
  • Lucian of Samosata, The Death of Peregrinus.
  • Augustine, De Dono Perseverantiae; City of God; On the Trinity; On Original Sin.
  • Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica.
  • Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, vol. I. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1958; vol. 35, “Preface to the New Testament” (1522). Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1960.
  • John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; Commentary on Psalms.

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Muslim scholarship #

  • Abdupattaev Mumin Mirzo Murodjon ugli, “Abu Rayhan Biruni’s Views on Christianity.” EPRA International Journal of Research and Development 9, no. 3 (March 2024): 132–134.
  • ʿAlāʾ Abū Bakr, al-Masīḥiyyah al-Ḥaqqah kamā Jāʾa bihā al-Masīḥ bayna al-Iltizām wa al-Taḥrīf wa Daʿwat al-Islām. Cairo: Maktabah Wahbah, 1997.
  • Bilal Muhammad, “Muslim Perspectives on St. Paul.” 9 February 2020. https://bit.ly/45rGuVt.
  • Isma’il R. al Faruqi, Al Tawhid: Its Implications for Thought and Life. 2nd ed. Herndon, Virginia: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1992. First published 1982.
  • Isma’il R. al Faruqi, Christian Ethics: A Historical and Systematic Analysis of Its Dominant Ideas. Montreal: McGill University Press, 1967.
  • Isma’il R. al Faruqi, Divine Transcendence and Its Expression. Kuala Lumpur: ABIM, 1983.
  • Isma’il R. al Faruqi, “The Muslim Family,” in Imtiyaz Yusuf (ed.), Ismail al Faruqi: Essential Writings. Leesburg, Virginia: Center for Islam in the Contemporary World, Shenandoah University; Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust, 2021. First published in Islam: Religion, Practice, Culture & World Order.
  • H. Djarnawi Hadikusuma, Sekitar Perjanjian Lama dan Perjanjian Baru. Yogyakarta: Pimpinan Pusat Muhammadiyah, 1986.
  • Imtiyaz Yusuf (ed.), Essential Writings: Ismail Al Faruqi. Kuala Lumpur: IBT Books, 2021.
  • Khadijah Mohd Khambali@Hambali and Adam Badhrulhisham, Konsep Triniti Menurut Agama Kristian. Melaka: Penerbit KUIM, 2022.
  • Michael F. Kuhn, “Early Islamic Perspectives of the Apostle Paul as a Narrative Framework for Taḥrīf.” In Mark Beaumont (ed.), Arab Christians and the Qurʾan. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
  • Mohd Elfie Nieshaem Juferi, “Isma’il al Faruqi’s Appraisal of Paul of Tarsus.” https://bit.ly/3ZtSSAu.
  • Muhammad ʿAtāʾ ur-Rahīm and Ahmad Thomson, Jesus: Prophet of Islam. Revised edition. London: Ta-Ha Publishers, 2002.
  • Mustafa Akyol, The Islamic Jesus: How the King of the Jews Became a Prophet of the Muslims. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2017.
  • Pieter S. van Koningsveld, “The Islamic Image of Paul and the Origins of the Gospel of Barnabas.” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 20 (1996): 200–228.
  • Reza Aslan, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. New York: Random House, 2013.
  • S. Stern, “ʿAbd al-Jabbār’s Account of How Christ’s Religion Was Falsified by the Adoption of Roman Customs.” Journal of Theological Studies 18 (1968): 128–185.
  • Sean W. Anthony, “The Composition of Sayf b. ʿUmar’s Account of King Paul and His Corruption of Ancient Christianity.” Der Islam 85 (2010): 164–202.
  • Shabbir Akhtar, The New Testament in Muslim Eyes: Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. London: Routledge, 2018.
  • Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, Islam and Secularism. Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 1993.
  • William Montgomery Watt, Muslim-Christian Encounters: Perceptions and Misconceptions. London: Routledge, 1991.

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Scholarship on Paul and Christian origins #

  • Jeremy Bentham (as Gamaliel Smith), Not Paul, but Jesus. London, 1823.
  • Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, The Messianic Legacy. London: Jonathan Cape, 1986.
  • Richard Bauckham, Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1990.
  • F. C. Baur, Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ.
  • Dianne Bergant and Robert J. Karris (eds.), Tafsir Alkitab Perjanjian Baru. Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 2002.
  • Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament. New York: Anchor Bible Reference Library, 1997.
  • Raymond E. Brown and John P. Meier, Antioch and Rome: New Testament Cradles of Catholic Christianity. New York: Paulist Press, 1983.
  • F. F. Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles: The Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990.
  • Walter Burkert, Ancient Mystery Cults. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987.
  • David Dawson, Christian Figural Reading and the Fashioning of Identity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
  • John Dillon, The Middle Platonists: 80 B.C. to A.D. 220. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996.
  • Michael Gary Duncan, “The Curious Silence of the Dog and Paul of Tarsus: Revisiting The Argument from Silence.” Informal Logic 32, no. 1 (2012): 98–115.
  • James D. G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.
  • David L. Eastman, The Ancient Martyrdom Accounts of Peter and Paul. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015.
  • Bart D. Ehrman, Forged: Writing in the Name of God. New York: HarperOne, 2011.
  • Bart D. Ehrman, How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. New York: HarperOne, 2014.
  • Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
  • Bart D. Ehrman, Peter, Paul and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
  • Robert Eisenman, James the Brother of Jesus. London: Penguin Books, 1997.
  • Robert Eisenman, “Paul as Herodian.” Journal of Higher Criticism 3, no. 1 (1996): 110–122.
  • Troels Engberg-Pedersen, Paul and the Stoics. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000.
  • Susan R. Garrett, No Ordinary Angel: Celestial Spirits and Christian Claims about Jesus. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
  • Edwin S. Gaustad, Sworn on the Altar of God: A Religious Biography of Thomas Jefferson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.
  • Charles A. Gieschen, Angelomorphic Christology: Antecedents and Early Evidence. Leiden: Brill, 1998.
  • E. J. Goodspeed, The Apostolic Fathers: An American Translation. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1950.
  • Adolf von Harnack, History of Dogma, vol. 5. Trans. Neil Buchanan. Boston: Little & Brown, 1901.
  • Michael H. Hart, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. New York: Hart Publishing Company, 1992.
  • George Howard, The Gospel of Matthew According to a Primitive Hebrew Text. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1987.
  • Thomas Jefferson, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904.
  • Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 13 April 1820. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 15, pp. 538–541; Founders Online, National Archives.
  • Søren Kierkegaard, Philosophical Fragments. Trans. Walter Lowrie. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1944.
  • Johannes Lehmann, The Jesus Report. New York: Coward-McCann, 1971.
  • Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2020.
  • Joseph Barber Lightfoot, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. London: Macmillan, 1865.
  • Gerd Lüdemann, Paul: The Founder of Christianity. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2001.
  • Hyam Maccoby, The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity. HarperCollins, 1987.
  • Dennis R. MacDonald, The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000; Does the New Testament Imitate Homer? Four Cases from the Acts of the Apostles. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.
  • Dale B. Martin, New Testament History and Literature. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.
  • A. C. McGiffert, A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1897.
  • Bruce M. Metzger, The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977.
  • Bruce M. Metzger, The New Testament: Its Background, Growth, and Content. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003.
  • George T. Montague, The Living Thought of St. Paul. Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing, 1966.
  • Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, Paul: His Story. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
  • Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist. Trans. H. L. Mencken. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1920.
  • Elaine Pagels, Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation. New York: Viking, 2012.
  • Shlomo Pines, “The Jewish Christians of the Early Centuries of Christianity According to a New Source.” Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 2 (1966).
  • Ernest Renan, The History of the Origins of Christianity, Book III: Saint Paul. Trans. Kathleen O’Bannon. Grand Rapids: Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
  • Richard E. Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God: The Epic Fight over Christ’s Divinity in the Last Days of Rome. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1999.
  • Jonathan Sacks, Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence. New York: Schocken Books, 2017.
  • E. P. Sanders, Paul: The Apostle’s Life, Letters, and Thought. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015.
  • Friedrich Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith. New York: Harper & Row, 1963.
  • Philip Schofield, Bentham: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Continuum, 2009.
  • Bernard Shaw, “Preface on the Prospects of Christianity.” In Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion. London: Constable, 1916.
  • Albert Schweitzer, The Mystery of the Kingdom of God: The Secret of Jesus’ Messiahship and Passion. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2001.
  • John Shelby Spong, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture. San Francisco: Harper, 1991.
  • Arthur Darby Nock, St. Paul. London: Thornton Butterworth, 1938.
  • James D. Tabor, Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012.
  • Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951–1963; Charles W. Kegley and Robert W. Bretall (eds.), The Theology of Paul Tillich. New York: Macmillan, 1952.
  • M. Todorovska, “The Concepts of the Logos in Philo of Alexandria.” Antiquitas Viva 65, nos. 1–2 (2015): 37–56.
  • John Toland, The Nazarenes. London, 1718.
  • George A. Wells, The Jesus of the Early Christians: A Study in Christian Origins. London: Pemberton, 1971.
  • David Wenham, Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity? Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.
  • G. Ernest Wright, Great People of the Bible and How They Lived. Pleasantville, NY: Reader’s Digest Association, 1974.
  • N. T. Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013.
  • N. T. Wright, Paul: A Biography. New York: HarperOne, 2018.
  • Frances Young, Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  • Karl Barth, Der Römerbrief. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933; Church Dogmatics, vol. III, part 2. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1960.
  • Thayer’s Greek Lexicon.
  • Socrates, “Philo’s breakthrough with Logos – from Greek abstraction to living being.” Socrates Journey, 11 April 2021. https://bit.ly/4muEkut.
  • Samuel Zinner, The Gospel of Thomas in the Light of Early Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Esoteric Trajectories. Leiden: Brill, 2011.

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Psychology, neurology and medicine #

  • Shahar Arzy and Roey Schurr, “‘God has sent me to you’: Right temporal epilepsy, left prefrontal psychosis.” Epilepsy & Behavior 60 (2016): 210–217.
  • Leonardo Cruz de Souza et al., “Saint Paul, the Apostle, and the Gastaut-Geschwind Syndrome.” Dementia & Neuropsychologia 18, no. 1 (2024): 2–6.
  • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, 2013.
  • Erik H. Erikson, Identity: Youth and Crisis. New York: W. W. Norton, 1968.
  • Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion. Trans. James Strachey. New York: Norton, 1961.
  • Carl G. Jung, Psychology and Religion: West and East. Trans. R. F. C. Hull. Collected Works, vol. 11. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.
  • D. Landsborough, “St Paul and Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.” Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 50, no. 5 (1987): 659–664.
  • Dan P. McAdams, The Stories We Live By: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self. New York: Guilford Press, 1993.
  • Dan P. McAdams, The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
  • Ross McIntyre, “Paul and Narcissistic Personality Style”; “Paul’s Contribution to the Radicalization of Christianity.” Academia.edu.
  • Evan D. Murray et al., “The Role of Psychotic Disorders in Religious History Considered.” Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 24, no. 4 (2012): 410–426.
  • Antonio Pascual, Anna Manresa Lamarca and Josep Piquero Casals, “Saint Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh: A Dermatological Weakness?” Acta Medico-Historica Adriatica 20, no. 1 (2022): 83–98.
  • Robert D. Stolorow and George E. Atwood, Faces in a Cloud: Intersubjective Sources of Psychological Theories, 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002.

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Photographs #

The photographs of churches and works of art on this site are taken from Wikimedia Commons and used under the licences shown with each figure.

  • Caravaggio, Conversion of Saint Paul, 1600–1601, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. Public domain.
  • Traditio Legis, Santa Costanza, Rome. Photograph by José Luiz, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  • Christ between Peter and Paul, Catacombs of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, Rome. Public domain.
  • Medallion with Saint Paul from an icon frame, Byzantine, about 1100. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 17.190.673, CC0.
  • Adamo Tadolini, statue of Paul, Vatican City. Photograph by AngMoKio, CC BY-SA 2.5.
  • Beheading of Paul, relief, San Paolo alle Tre Fontane, Rome. Photograph by Yong Woo Park, CC BY 4.0.
  • Tomb of Paul, Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Rome. Photograph by StPaul.jpg, CC BY 4.0.
  • Ciborium, Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Rome. Photograph by Jastrow, CC BY 2.5.

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Regional sources #

The sources for the article on Malaysia and Southeast Asia, and the Malay-language studies the book lists as further reading, are given with that article.

  • Nur Afifah Vanitha Abdullah and Intan Zainatul Maria Zainudin, “Aspek sosiologi filem Pendekar Bujang Lapok (1959).” Jurnal Melayu, special issue, December 2021: 487–504.
  • Pendekar Bujang Lapok. Directed by P. Ramlee. Malay Film Productions, 1959.
  • Rabbi Doron Perez, “Sinat Chinam: From Dispute to Demonization.” HaMizrachi, Tisha B’Av 2020.
  • H. Syer Cuming, “Notes on a Group of Reliquaries.” Journal of the British Archaeological Association 26, no. 4 (1870): 271–280.
  • The Temple Institute; The End Time News, 30 January 2025; Charisma News, 26 December 2024: reports on the breeding of the red heifer.
  • Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050” (2015) and “Why Muslims are the world’s fastest-growing religious group” (2017).

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