Bruce Chilton's "Rabbi Paul"

I've read Chilton's Rabbi Jesus and found it fascinating. He's added a lot of historical detail that is missing in other accounts. He uses his extensive knowledge to give you a sense of "being there" so that you get a better feel for the person and the times. I'm not competent to judge how accurate the historical recreating is, but his scholarly annotations imply a deep historical understanding, so I'm willing to trust that this is a sound interpretation.

He presents Paul as a complex character warts and all. Paul went from a fanatic persecuting early Christians to become an early Christian leader who ranted and "persecuted" his competitors within the Christian community. You get a sense of the years of failure and the moments of breakthrough. You come to understand the tensions in the early Christian groups and how historical accident gave the prize to Paul's followers. Very interesting stuff, and Chilton has an excellent writing style that makes it wonderfully reading despite its academic roots.