Biblica
Paul
Paul was the most influential exponent of Christianity in the decades following the Crucifixion. It is generally recognized that the letters he wrote to the churches he founded or visited in Asia Minor and the rest of the Roman world are the earliest well preserved Christian writings, and thus an invaluable witness to the evolution of Christianity in that period, north and west of its Palestinian home.
Paul began as an energetically pious Jew of the puristic Pharisee sect; a student of Rabbi Gamaliel. The Jerusalem authorities, as Mark tells it, had condemned Jesus for his claim of divine status, and Paul, still called Saul and a zealous persecutor of the Jesus movement, was probably focused on that same point of contention. Certainly in his dramatic reversal of sympathy, attributed by himself to an apparition of Jesus while he was traveling to Damascus, he put at the center of his own Gospel (conveniently summarized by himself in 1 Corinthians 15:3f) the saving death of Jesus, his miraculous resurrection after three days, and his appearance to Peter and others. These are attributes of divine efficacy. After years of studying God at a distance, in the arguments of the learned, it seems, Paul had come up against God in the person of Jesus.
There is a good deal of documentation on Paul, all of which needs to be used with caution, but if so used, it seems to give us a coherent and indeed datable account of his career and beliefs. In addition to his letters, of which seven are generally regarded as genuine, the latter portion of the Acts of the Apostles (which admittedly conflicts at several points with the Paul of the letters) is devoted solely to his doings, and at least speaks to his importance for the Christian movement. Acts regards Paul as utterly central to the Christian movement, its ambassador to its eventual home among the Gentiles, the newly Chosen People.
In this section, a Pauline chronology is established, the theological testimony of the letters is reviewed, and the value of the Pauline evidence for the development of the Gospels is assessed.
- A Chronology of Paul
- The Pauline Epistles
- The Theology of Paul
- Paul and Acts
- Paul and the Synoptics
25 Sept 2005 / Contact The Project / Exit to Biblica Page
