He is known for his philosophical writings and passionate teachings. These would be legends by the time of their writing. Whatever his reasons, Paul’s persecutions probably involved traveling from synagogue to synagogue and urging the punishment of Jews who accepted Jesus as the messiah. In Aramaic, his name was Sha'ul, but he needed to work with Greeks. The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians, the Letter of Paul to the Colossians, the Second Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, both Letters of Paul to Timothy, the Letter of Paul to Titus, and the Letter to the Hebrews are of uncertain authorship. Two of the main cities of Syria, Damascus and Antioch, played a prominent part in his life and letters. [Acts 9:4]. [27] So the tribune came and said to [Paul], "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" He made an impact as apostle, as theologian, and as letter-writer. This was the case with St. Paul, which was very fortunate for him. He could travel with a few leather-working tools and set up shop anywhere. The problem seems to have focused around the cross. Sign-up for E-NewsletterGet Register Updates sent daily or weeklyto your inbox. With its fantastic visions of heaven, its gory stories of the future, its impenetrable signs and symbols, many a reader has given up in exasperation in the attempt to fathom out its mysteries. He says that he didn't go to Jerusalem immediately but that he went off to Arabia. Relevance. In the ancient world, a citizen was a person who had special legal privileges from belonging to a particular city. Priscilla is usually named first when he mentions the couple which implies that she is the head of the household. monetization of National Catholic Register RSS feeds is strictly prohibited. There he was arrested for taking a Gentile too far into the Temple precincts, and, after a series of trials, he was sent to Rome. During the course of his missions, Paul realized that his preaching to Gentiles was creating difficulties for the Christians in Jerusalem, who thought that Gentiles must become Jewish in order to join the Christian movement. He describes it as a "stumbling block" to Jews (1 Corinthians 1.23), using the Greek word skandalon from which we derive our word "scandal". But was brought up outside of the homeland and was also at home in Greek culture, fluent in Greek, and had at least some understanding of the Greek or Roman cultural traditions. The conversion of St. Paul is recounted three times in Acts--chapters 2, 22, and 26. He had a Jewish education, a Jewish way of life and abided by the Law of Moses. I appeal to Caesar." But it seems that there was a very strong movement amongt the followers of Jesus to convert Gentiles [non-Jews] into Jews. Create your own unique website with customizable templates. So, in the opinion of some scholars, Paul transformed the simple religion of Jesus into the religion about Jesus, thereby creating Christianity. If blustering winds do blow aloft, The woke are like the Puritans. Now, with boundless energy, Paul preached the gospel of the Christ crucified for the sins of all people far and wide, beginning at Jerusalem and continuing all the way to Rome. Academics are trying to piece together these scraps of information with a new technique that's rather like a combination of sociology and forensic anthropology. Just a quick look at the headlines of his life are enough to understand his impact; his works are some of the earliest Christian documents that we have, 13 of the 27 books of the bible are written by him, and he's the hero of another, Acts of the Apostles. St. Paul said that if Christ is not risen that our faith is in vain. Thus far, Paul has been persecuting individual Christians--members of Christ's Church--but Jesus identifies with them in such a way that he says Paul is persecuting him. Paul's later reflection no the first words Jesus spoke to him may have led him to understand the Church as Christ's mystical body. Reproduction of material from this website without written permission, or unlicensed commercial use or The others come from followers writing in his name, who often used material from his surviving letters and who may have had access to letters written by Paul that no longer survive. He is, though, the one who popularized this view, and spread this view throughout the Mediterranean world. He has, in one or two of his letters, long lists of the things that he has endured. Over the course of his life, Paul probably had multiple citizenships, some of them simultaneously. The Resurrection is very important. Paul could read and write, most people could not. The “circumcision faction” of the Jerusalem apostles (Galatians 2:12–13), which argued that converts should undergo circumcision as a sign of accepting the covenant between God and Abraham, later broke this agreement by preaching to the Gentile converts both in Antioch (Galatians 2:12) and Galatia and insisting that they be circumcised, leading to some of Paul’s strongest invective (Galatians 1:7–9; 3:1; 5:2–12; 6:12–13). extended answer is possible :) Answer Save. Paul spent much of the first half of his life persecuting the nascent Christian movement, an activity to which he refers several times. Most of the people who were. You couldn't treat them like ordinary people.