Synoptica
The Apostle Paul

Paul was the most influential exponent of Christianity in the decades following the Crucifixion. It is generally recognized that the letters he wrote (or dictated) to the churches he founded or visited in Asia Minor and in Greece are the earliest well preserved Christian writings, and thus an invaluable witness to the evolution of Christianity in that period. The difficulties in using this material are considerable. Paul himself was evidently volatile if not unstable personality. He was born Saul of Tarsus, a student of the Rabbi Gamaliel, and an orthodox Jew of the puristic Pharisee sect, the group with which the Gospels report Jesus as most frequently in disagreement. He was a zealous persecutor of Christian converts on behalf of the Jerusalem authorities. By his own account, he was converted to Christianity by a vision which came to him as he was traveling to Damascus in search of Christians to persecute. After this vision, he became a vigorous propagator of the faith he had formerly persecuted, and himself suffered many persecutions, being finally executed at Rome in the time of Nero. In addition to his letters (and ignoring the larger number of letters which purport to be by him, but are not, the "Deuteropauline" Epistles, ) the latter portion of the book Acts of the Apostles is devoted solely to his doings.

In this section, that history is reviewed, a chronology is established, and the value of the Pauline evidence for Synoptic development is assessed.

25 Sept 2005 / Contact The Project / Exit to Synoptica Page