The Bird man cometh

Michael F. Bird, (or the boy phd) is a prolific writer, a very energetic lecturer at HTC as well as a vibrant itinerant preacher and a family man. Last week I read his introduction to Paul 'A Bird's Eye view of Paul', The man, his mission, and his message. In some respects this book is doomed to failure as Mike tries to cover Paul in 171 pages. Yet Mike packs a lot in there, although I would have liked him to develop some of his arguments. For example he rejects the idea of post-conversion Paul being the I of Roman 7's and as this book is an introduction he only explains why on half a page. Dr Bird is a very smart evangelical scholar and interacts with his peers throughout this book. I like that he doesn't always opt for the standard evangelical scholarly option for example many modern evangelical scholars argue that Paul wasn't converted on the Damascus road but was called. Dr Bird takes a mediate position rightly pointing out that Paul was both called and converted. He writes, 'We might remember that Paul's gut-wrenching and decisive transformation meant he was indeed swung around 180 degrees.' (p.35) He goes on to say that he wasn't converted from Judaism to Christianity but from Pharisaic to Messianic Judaism. Whilst I agree with this comment as the rest of the book acknowledges Paul was the apostle to the gentiles and helped transform the early Jesus movement from a sect within Judaism to a gentile/Jewish body. For Paul experienced on the Damascus road the fulfillment of the Jewish hope, as he met the risen LORD, his expectations concerning the resurrection of the righteous were changes, he now knew the escaton had entered into time.

I was pleased to see his personality within the pages of this book for example his passion for the New Testament is felt on every page and I can see him in class trying to contain his energy as he expounds his material trying to enthuse his students. Although Mike's wife Naomi probably rolls her eyes at Mike's unique story telling ability tt was good to see many familiar friends that I have met during my time at HTC. For example, Mike's inventive use of the Skywalker family, father and son as a means of understanding Romans 5. As well as the fictional story of Carlos Hernandez, the Peruvian peasant who was wrongly convicted and sent to the electric chair whose story Mike completes with a very witty hymn which ends with 'Now I know that God does care, 'cause he sent Carlos Hernandez to the electric chair.' (p.163)

I didn't expect to agree with everything in the book but I actually agreed with more than I imagined I would. Mike is a thought provoking thinker and Ialso got more out of this book than I expected. As it is primarily written for first and second year undergraduates and doesn't presume on them knowing too much about Paul. It is well written with a conversational style that is easy to follow. On the whole Mike succeeds in communicating to his target audience, I did wonder on one or two occasions if more explanation was needed especially when talking about Greek grammar. I very much enjoyed this book and 'I shall watch his career with great interest.' Thanks for a great read Dr Bird!

Shalom
Stephen