Friars' Bookshelf 175 Indispensable for a Thorough Understanding of the Formal Treatment of St
Paul the Apostle. By Giuseppe Ricciotti. Translated by Alba I. Zizzamia. Milwaukee, The Bruce Publishing Co., 1953. pp. 540. $7 .50. To attempt a biography of Paul the Apostle is like trying to harness a hurricane. Paul was pneumatic, spirit-swept, animated by the breath of God Himself. He in turn moved like a mighty wind over the Greco-Roman world, shaking the pillars of an empire, sweep ing everything Christward, to become the veritable Godparent of Christianity. To crystalize in print so boundless a personality is to conquer the unconquerable. Perfect achievement is impossible. The best to be hoped for is a favorable issue with fractional success. Father Ricciotti has not done the impossible, but he has made a magnificent try. To those familiar with his Life of Christ this will be no surprise. As difficult a subject as St. Paul poses, it is child's play compared to a biography of the Son of God. Since his L-ife of Clzrisi is universally acknowledged as one of the finest portrayals of our Saviour ever to appear, it is only to be expected that the com paratively less challenging life of St. Paul would be another trium phant masterstroke. It is, without question. With a talent unique among authors who utilize biblical themes, Father Ricciotti imparts to his work an orientation neither exegetical, nor literary, nor devotional, nor theological. Fundamentally, he is a classicist who works with Scriptural subject matter. The quality peculiar to his writing is the authentic reproduction of the Imperial Roman atmosphere of the first century, the world in which the fire of Christianity was first ignited.
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