Dating Paul's letters is of vital importance for understanding the development of his thought, and dating Paul's letters means dating the main events of his life. This is a very difficult task, provoking much argument among scholars; studies of the last decades are no closer to agreement than those of more than a generation ago. Dr Jewett's book represents a real advance in solving the problem, above all because of the method which it adopts. Written almost like a detective story, assembling all possible evidence rather than jumping to premature conclusions, and using clear-headed arguments and explanations, it will be a basic point of reference in the future for anyone seriously interested in Paul. Dr Jewett begins by considering the relative merit of the evidence in Acts and Paul's letters. Then he looks closely at the information which can be correlated with dateable events in other literature. After this he considers the intrinsic probability of chronological information; journeys, intervals between events, etc., in Acts and Paul. Setting existing chronologies against the data base thus constructed, he demonstrates the conflicts between them and identifies their weak points. Finally, like a Sherlock Holmes, he produces what seems to him to be the only viable solution. Inevitably there will be those who disagree with the controversial result, but even they cannot fail to learn from the method by which it has been reached.
