Phoebe

Description

Sometime around 56 AD, the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome. His letter was arguably his theological masterpiece, and has continued to shape Christian faith ever since. He entrusted this letter to Phoebe, the deacon of the church at Cenchreae; in writing to the church that almost surely met in her home, Paul refers to her both as a deacon and as a helper or patron of many. But who was this remarkable woman?

In this, her first work of fiction, Biblical scholar Paula Gooder tells Phoebe’s story who she was, the life she lived and her first-century faith and in doing so opens up Paul’s theology, giving a sense of the cultural and historical pressures that shaped Paul’s thinking, and the faith of the early church.