Onesimus: Memoirs of a Disciple of St. Paul

Abbott, Edwin Abbott, 1838-1926Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4
Word count
498K words
Chapters
50

Tags

English Originals Religion Saint BiographyHuman NatureFaith JourneySpiritual PracticeSpiritual QuestResilience in AdversityClassic NarrativeReligious NarrativeEarly ChurchDisciple's View

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Onesimus: Memoirs of a Disciple of St. Paul by Edwin Abbott AbbottAuthor: Abbott, Edwin Abbott, 1838-1926,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Feb 22, 2017

Editor's review

This book is a historical novel by the English writer Edwin Abbott Abbott, written in the first person from the perspective of Onesimus, a disciple of St. Paul, and belongs to the nineteenth-century English literary tradition of "biblical background fiction." Writing as both a classical scholar and a clergyman, the author weaves the scattered references in the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline epistles into a coherent narrative, through which readers can sense the situation of early Christian communities within Roman imperial society. The value of the work lies not in dramatic plotting but in the reading model it offers for "restoring ancient texts to scenes of life": the interpersonal relationships behind a single greeting in a letter, and the tension between slave status and conversion to faith, are all unfolded by the author in a steady Victorian manner. For readers familiar with the New Testament texts, it is an exercise in imagining history from the gaps in the historical record; for scholars of nineteenth-century religious literature, it is also a sample for observing how British intellectuals of the time understood late antiquity. The prose is dense and the narrative pace is slow, making it suitable for readers willing to read closely rather than seek plot-driven excitement.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Skim the relevant passages of the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to Philemon before starting the main text; understanding will be smoother.
  2. After each chapter, look back at the figures and letter references mentioned in the book and take brief notes.
  3. For the English original, read slowly with a dictionary, paying attention to differences in wording in characters' dialogue.
  4. If used for course reading, it can be discussed in comparison with Victorian religious fiction of the same period.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50

FAQ

What is the relationship between this book and the Epistle to Philemon? Onesimus is the runaway slave who appears in the Epistle to Philemon, for whom Paul writes to plead. This book takes this figure as its protagonist and develops a fictional memoir, expanding the scattered references in the letter into a complete life narrative. When reading, compare the original epistle with the novel's plot to distinguish what is based on the text and what is the author's imagination.
Can I read it without background knowledge of Christianity? You can read it, but understanding will be reduced. Many figures and events in the book rely on New Testament accounts; without background, fictional plot is easily mistaken for historical record. It is advisable to first learn the basic content of Paul's missionary journeys and the Epistle to Philemon before entering the book; the reading experience will improve markedly.
Does this edition have annotations or an introduction? According to available information, this is an English electronic text provided by Project Gutenberg, and the record does not mention annotations or an introduction. Readers needing background explanation should consult New Testament introductions or related historical works on their own, and should not assume the electronic edition contains scholarly aids.
Is it suitable for citation as historical material? No. It is a literary work about ancient figures, not a historical study. Its depiction of Roman society and the early church reflects the imagination and era-specific views of a nineteenth-century author. If used in academic writing, it should be analyzed as a literary text, not cited as a primary historical source.

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About the author

Abbott, Edwin Abbott, 1838-1926 Author

Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838–1926) was an English writer and scholar whose biographical details remain limited in publicly available sources. Seven of his works are held in this Chinese-language collection, spanning mathematical fantasy and religious-historical fiction. He is best known for Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, which uses an imaginary two-dimensional world to satirize social hierarchy and ideas of dimension, combining imagination with speculative thought. He also wrote narrative works set in early Christianity, including Philochristus, Onesimus, and Silanus the Christian, as well as How to Write Clearly, a guide to English composition. His writing is clear and apt at conveying ideas through story.