Controversial during his lifetime and ever since, the apostle Paul is not an easy historical figure to understand or like. Many have accused him of being homophobic and misogynistic, anti-Semitic, dogmatic, narrow-minded, prejudiced, and downright obtuse.

Yet longtime Paul scholar William O. Walker believes some of the animosity toward Paul stems from the fact that, if people are reading Paul's letters at all, they are not reading them carefully enough, they are interpreting them on the basis of certain preconceived notions about Paul, they are not taking into account the cultural...