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<td valign="top" ><p>"[I]t is of great importance&nbsp;to correct the enormous confusion Luther caused by inverting the relation and&nbsp;<em><strong>actually criticizing Christ by means of Paul, the Master by means of a follower</strong></em>."&nbsp;(Kierkegaard, 1855.)</p></td>
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<h3>Recommendations</h3>
<p><a href="/books/401-music-store-manager.html">Only Jesus</a> (great song by Big Daddy)</p>
<p><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/jwoogm-20?node=1&amp;page=2">What Did Jesus Say?</a> (2012) - 7 topics&nbsp;</p>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 24pt; color: #0000ff;">Academic Kids Biography of Paul</span></h1>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Because great webpages come and go, sometimes it is necessary to preserve them so they are not lost. Such is the biography of Paul at "academickids."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here it is:</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h1 class="firstHeading" style="color: black; background-image: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.1em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 31px;">Paul of Tarsus</h1>
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<div id="contentSub" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1.4em 1em; color: #7d7d7d; width: auto; font-family: sans-serif;">(Redirected from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Apostle_Paul&amp;redirect=no" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Apostle Paul">Apostle Paul</a>)</div>
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<div style="border: 1px solid #cccccc; background-color: #f9f9f9; font-size: 16px; text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 202px;"><strong>Missing image</strong><br /><em>Paul_of_Tarsus.jpg</em>
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: none; font-size: 15px; text-align: left; overflow: hidden; padding: 0.3em 0px 0.1em; line-height: 1.4em;">A&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/19th-century" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="19th-century">19th-century</a>&nbsp;picture of Paul of Tarsus</div>
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<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"><strong>Paul of Tarsus</strong>&nbsp;(originally&nbsp;<strong>Saul of Tarsus</strong>) or&nbsp;<strong>Saint Paul the Apostle</strong>(c.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/3" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="3">3</a>&ndash;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/67" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="67">67</a>) is widely considered to be central to the early development and adoption of Christianity. Many Christians view him as an important interpreter of the teachings of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Jesus&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Jesus">Jesus</a>. Paul is described in the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/New_Testament" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="New Testament">New Testament</a>&nbsp;as a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Hellenized&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Hellenized">Hellenized</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Jew" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Jew">Jew</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Roman_citizen&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Roman citizen">Roman citizen</a>&nbsp;from<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Tarsus_%28city%29" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Tarsus (city)">Tarsus</a>&nbsp;(present-day&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Turkey" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Turkey">Turkey</a>), and as a great persecutor of Christians prior to his conversion to the religion. He made the first great efforts through his&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Epistle" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Epistle">epistles</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Gentile" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Gentile">gentile</a>&nbsp;communities to show that the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/God" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="God">God</a>&nbsp;of<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Abraham" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Abraham">Abraham</a>&nbsp;is for all people, rather than for Jews only.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Paul is recognized by many&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Catholic" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Catholic">Catholic</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Eastern_Orthodox" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Eastern Orthodox">Eastern Orthodox</a>&nbsp;Christians as a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Saint" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Saint">saint</a>. He did much to advance Christianity among the gentiles and is considered to be one source (if not the primary source) of early Church doctrine and the founder of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Pauline_Christianity" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Pauline Christianity">Pauline Christianity</a>. His epistles form a fundamental section of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/New_Testament" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="New Testament">New Testament</a>. Some argue that it was he who first established Christianity as a distinct religion rather than a sect of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Judaism" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Judaism">Judaism</a>.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Due to his body of work and his undoubted influence on the development of Christianity, many modern scholars have considered him the founder of Christianity, who modified Jesus's teachings and added important new doctrines. However, this view remains controversial. Many Christian scholars say that no teachings were modified and assert that Paul taught in complete harmony with Jesus.</p>
<a name="Textual_challenges"></a>
<h2 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 25px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Textual challenges</h2>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">In reconstructing the events of Paul's life, we have two sources, written either during or soon after the period of his life: Paul's own surviving letters (although his authorship of some has been disputed; see below), and the narrative of the&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Acts_of_the_Apostles" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Acts of the Apostles">Acts of the Apostles</a></em>, which at several points draws from the record of an eye-witness (the so-called "we passages"). However, both sources have weaknesses: Paul's surviving letters were written during a short period of his life, perhaps only between AD 50&ndash;58, and the author of Acts makes a number of statements that have drawn suspicion (e.g., the claim that Paul was present at the death of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Saint_Stephen" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Saint Stephen">Stephen</a>&nbsp;[7:58]).</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">There is also the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Apocryphal" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Apocryphal">apocryphal</a>&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Acts_of_Paul_and_Thecla&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Acts of Paul and Thecla">Acts of Paul and Thecla</a></em>. However, the events recorded in this work do not coincide with any of the events recorded in either Paul's letters or Acts, and scholars usually dismiss this as a 2nd-century novel.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Because of the problems with the contemporary two sources, as&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Raymond_E._Brown" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Raymond E. Brown">Raymond E. Brown</a>&nbsp;explains (<em>An Introduction to the New Testament,</em>&nbsp;1998), historians take one of four approaches:</p>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">the traditional approach is to completely trust the narrative of Acts, and fit the materials from Paul's letters into that narrative;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">the approach used by a number of modern scholars, which is to distrust Acts; sometimes entirely; and to use the material from Paul's letters almost exclusively; or</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">the approach to completely disregard anything that Paul has written. (<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Ebionite" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Ebionite">Ebionite</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Restorationist" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Restorationist">Restorationist</a>&nbsp;view)</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">an intermediate approach, treating Paul's testimony as primary, and supplement this evidence with material from Acts.</li>
</ol>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">The following construction of a possible chronology is based on this 4th approach. There are many points of contention, even between scholars, but this outline reflects an effort to trace the major events of Paul's life.</p>
<a name="Life"></a>
<h2 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 25px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Life</h2>
<a name="Early_life"></a>
<h3 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 22px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Early life</h3>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Paul described himself as an&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Israelite" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Israelite">Israelite</a>&nbsp;of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Tribe_of_Benjamin" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Tribe of Benjamin">tribe of Benjamin</a>&nbsp;and a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Pharisee" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Pharisee">Pharisee</a>&nbsp;(Rom. 11:1; Phil. 3:5). He was born as Saul in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Tarsus_in_Cilicia&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Tarsus in Cilicia">Tarsus</a>&nbsp;of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Cilicia" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Cilicia">Cilicia</a>&nbsp;and received a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Judaism" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Judaism">Jewish</a>&nbsp;education. According to Acts 22:3, he studied in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Jerusalem" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Jerusalem">Jerusalem</a>under&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Gamaliel" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Gamaliel">Gamaliel</a>; Thomas Robinson depicts Paul as coming to study in Jerusalem under Gamaliel when Shammai became Nasi of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Sanhedrin" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Sanhedrin">Sanhedrin</a>&nbsp;and the rise to supremacy of the house of Shammai from AD 20. However, some scholars, such as&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Helmut_Koester" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Helmut Koester">Helmut Koester</a>, have expressed their doubts that Paul either was in Jerusalem at this time or studied under this famous rabbi. Paul supported himself during his travels and while preaching, a fact he alludes to a number of times (e.g., 1 Cor. 9:13&ndash;15); according to Acts 18:3, he worked as a tentmaker. According to Romans 16:2 he had a patroness (Greek prostatis) named Phoebe&nbsp;<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/first/missions.html" rel="nofollow" class="external" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #3366bb;" title="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/first/missions.html">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/external.png</a>); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"&gt;[1].</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Acts 22:25 and 27&ndash;29, also states that Paul was a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Roman_Empire" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Roman Empire">Roman</a>&nbsp;citizen, a privilege he used a number of times to defend his dignity, including appealing his conviction in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Judea" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Judea">Judea</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Rome" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Rome">Rome</a>. Because Paul himself never mentions this privilege, some scholars have expressed skepticism whether Paul actually possessed citizenship; such an honor was uncommon during his lifetime. The Ebionite and Restorationist argue that Paul was a Roman who tried to convert to Judaism so he could marry or court a Jewish woman and that his conversion was denied. They state that citizenship would have required participation in the Imperial Cult, which would have been in conflict with Hebrew religious ideals. Furthermore, this view contends that Paul embraced ideas from esoteric mystery religions of the time, later superimposing them on the teachings of Jesus.</p>
<a name="Conversion_and_early_teachings"></a>
<h3 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 22px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Conversion and early teachings</h3>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Paul himself admits that he at first persecuted Christians (Phil. 3:6) but later embraced the belief that he had fought against. Acts 9:1&ndash;9 memorably describes the vision Paul had of Jesus on the road to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Damascus" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Damascus">Damascus</a>, which led him to dramatically reverse his opinion. Paul himself offers no clear description of the event in any of his surviving letters, and this, along with the fact that the author of Acts describes Paul's conversion with subtle differences in two later passages, has led some scholars to question whether Paul's vision actually occurred. However, Paul did write that Jesus appeared to him "last of all, as to one untimely born" (1 Cor. 15:8 KJV), and frequently claimed that his authority as an apostle came directly from God (Gal. 1:13&ndash;16).</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Following his conversion, Paul first went to live in the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Nabataea" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Nabataea">Nabataean</a>&nbsp;kingdom (which he called "Arabia") for three years, then returned to Damascus (Gal. 1:17&ndash;20) until he was forced to flee from that city under the cover of night (Acts 9:23&ndash;25; 2 Cor. 11:32ff.). He travelled to Jerusalem where he met&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Saint_Peter" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Saint Peter">Saint Peter</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/James_the_Just" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="James the Just">James the Just</a>.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Following this visit to Jerusalem, Paul's own writings and Acts slightly differ on his next activities. Acts states he went to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Antioch" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Antioch">Antioch</a>, from whence he set out to travel through&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Cyprus" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Cyprus">Cyprus</a>&nbsp;and southern&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Asia_Minor" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Asia Minor">Asia Minor</a>&nbsp;to preach of Christ, a labor that has come to be known as his First Missionary Journey (13:13, 14:28). Paul merely mentions that he preached in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Syria" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Syria">Syria</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Cilicia" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Cilicia">Cilicia</a>&nbsp;(Gal. 1:18&ndash;20), and though Acts states that Paul later "went through&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Syria" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Syria">Syria</a>&nbsp;and<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Cilicia" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Cilicia">Cilicia</a>, strengthening the churches" (Acts 15:41), it does not explicitly state that these were churches that had been founded by Paul on a previous journey.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">These missionary journeys are considered the defining actions of Paul. For these journeys, Paul usually chose one or more companions for his travels.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Barnabas" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Barnabas">Barnabas</a>, Silas,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Apostle_Titus" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Apostle Titus">Titus</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Timothy" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Timothy">Timothy</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/John%2C_surnamed_Mark" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="John, surnamed Mark">John, surnamed Mark</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Aquila" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Aquila">Aquila</a>&nbsp;and<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Priscilla" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Priscilla">Priscilla</a>&nbsp;all accompanied him for some or all of these travels. He endured hardships on these journeys: he was imprisoned in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Philippi" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Philippi">Philippi</a>, was lashed and stoned several times and almost murdered once (2 Cor. 11:24&ndash;27).</p>
<a name="Consultations_with_the_Apostles"></a>
<h3 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 22px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Consultations with the Apostles</h3>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Template:Sectfact&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Template:Sectfact">Template:Sectfact</a>&nbsp;see&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Apostolic_Council&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Apostolic Council">Apostolic Council</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Council_of_Jerusalem" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Council of Jerusalem">Council of Jerusalem</a>&nbsp;discussions</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">About AD 49, after 14 years of preaching, Paul travelled to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus to meet with the leaders of the Jerusalem church&mdash;namely&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/James_the_Just" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="James the Just">James the Just</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Saint_Peter" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Saint Peter">Peter</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/John_the_Apostle" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="John the Apostle">John the Apostle</a>; an event commonly known as the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Apostolic_Council&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Apostolic Council">Apostolic Council</a>. Here the accounts of Acts (chapter 15) and Paul come at things from fairly different angles. Acts states that Paul was the head of a delegation from the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Antiochene" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Antiochene">Antiochene</a>&nbsp;church that came to discuss whether Christians should continue to observe&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Mosaic_Law" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Mosaic Law">Mosaic Law</a>, most important of which were the practice of<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Circumcision" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Circumcision">circumcision</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Kashrut" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Kashrut">dietary laws</a>. This was said to be as a result of men coming to Antioch from Judea and "teaching the brothers: 'Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved'" (Acts 15:1 KJV) (see&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Legalism" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Legalism">Legalism</a>). Paul later said he had attended "in response to a revelation", to "lay before them the gospel ... [he] preached among the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Gentiles" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Gentiles">Gentiles</a>" (Gal 2:2 KJV), "because of false brethren secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage" (Gal 2:4 KJV). A theory is that he wanted to make sure that what he had been teaching to the Gentile believers in previous years was correct&mdash;that Christ's fulfillment of the Mosaic Law by death and resurrection had freed Christian believers from the need to obey Mosaic Law. (Gal 2:2) (see&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Antinomianism" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Antinomianism">Antinomianism</a>).</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">After much debate and discussion, Peter says that "[God] made no distinction between us [Jews] and them [Gentiles], but cleansed their hearts by faith." (Acts 15:9 KJV), and James the Just states that "we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who are turning to God" (Acts 15:19 KJV). They sent a letter accompanied by some leaders from the Judean church back with Paul and his party to confirm that the Gentile believers should not be over-burdened by the Mosaic Law beyond abstaining from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. (Acts 15:29). The letter also refers to Barnabus and Paul as "beloved" (Acts 15:25 KJV), compare Paul's account "James, Cephas [Peter] and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship" (Gal 2:9 KJV).</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Despite the agreement they achieved at the Apostolic Council as understood by Paul, Paul recounts how he later publicly berated Peter (accusing him of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Judaize&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Judaize">Judaizing</a>) over his reluctance to share a meal with gentile Christians in the "Incident of Antioch" (Gal. 2:11&ndash;18). Acts recounts nothing of this, saying that "some time later", Paul decided to leave Antioch, (giving the impression he lost the argument with Peter), usually considered the beginning of his Second Missionary Journey, with the object of visiting the believers in the towns where he and Barnabus had preached earlier. However, Paul and Barnabus then had a severe falling-out over whether they should take&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/John%2C_surnamed_Mark" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="John, surnamed Mark">John, surnamed Mark</a>&nbsp;(Barnabus' cousin) with them and went on separate journeys (Acts 15:36&ndash;41)&mdash;Barnabus with John/Mark and Paul with Silas. Later on there is some reconciliation&mdash;Paul mentions that John/Mark is in prison with him, and tells the church in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Colossae" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Colossae">Colossae</a>&nbsp;to welcome him if he comes to them (Col 4:10).</p>
<a name="Founding_of_churches"></a>
<h3 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 22px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Founding of churches</h3>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Paul spent the next few years traveling through western Asia Minor, this time entering Macedonia, and founded his first Christian church in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Philippi" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Philippi">Philippi</a>, where he encountered harassment. Paul himself tersely describes his experience as "when we suffered and were shamefully treated" (1 Thess. 2:2 KJV); the author of Acts, perhaps drawing from a witness (this passage follows closely on one of the "we passages"), explains here that Paul exorcised a spirit from a female slave&mdash;which ended her ability to tell fortunes, and reduced her value&mdash;an act which the slave's owner claimed was theft and had Paul briefly put in prison (Acts 16:22). Paul then traveled along the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Via_Egnatia" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Via Egnatia">Via Egnatia</a>to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Thessalonica" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Thessalonica">Thessalonica</a>, where he stayed for some time, before departing for Greece. First he came to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Athens" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Athens">Athens</a>, where he gave his legendary speech in&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Areios_Pagos" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Areios Pagos">Areios Pagos</a></em>&nbsp;where he said he was talking in the name of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Unknown_God" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Unknown God">Unknown God</a>&nbsp;who was already worshiped there (17:16&ndash;34), then travelled to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Corinth" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Corinth">Corinth</a>&nbsp;he settled for three years and wrote the earliest of his letters to survive,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/1_Thessalonians" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="1 Thessalonians">1 Thessalonians</a>.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Again in Corinth he ran into legal trouble: on the complaints of a group of Jews, he was brought before the proconsul&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Gallio&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Gallio">Gallio</a>, who decided that this was a minor matter not worth his attention and dismissed the charges (Acts 18:12&ndash;16). From an inscription in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Delphi" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Delphi">Delphi</a>&nbsp;that mentions Gallio, we are able to securely date this hearing as having occurred in the year&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/52" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="52">52</a>, providing a secure date for the chronology of Paul's life.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Following this hearing, Paul continued his preaching (usually called his Third Missionary Journey), travelling again through Asia Minor, Macedonia, to Antioch and back. He caused a great uproar in the theatre in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Ephesus" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Ephesus">Ephesus</a>, where local silversmiths feared loss of income due to Paul's activities. Their income relied on the sale of silver statues of the goddess&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Artemis" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Artemis">Artemis</a>, whom they worshipped, and the resulting mob almost killed him (19:21&ndash;41). As a result, when he later raised money for victims of a famine in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Palestine_%28region%29" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Palestine (region)">Palestine</a>&nbsp;and his journey to Jerusalem took him through the province once again, he carefully sailed around Ephesus, instead summoning his followers to meet him in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Miletus" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Miletus">Miletus</a>(20:17&ndash;38).</p>
<a name="Arrest.2C_Rome.2C_and_later_life"></a>
<h3 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 22px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Arrest, Rome, and later life</h3>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Upon Paul's arrival in Jerusalem with the relief funds,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Ananias" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Ananias">Ananias</a>&nbsp;the High Priest made accusations against him which resulted in his imprisonment (Acts 24:1&ndash;5). Paul claimed his right as a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Roman_citizen&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Roman citizen">Roman citizen</a>&nbsp;to be tried in Rome, but due to the inaction of the governor&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Antonius_Felix&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Antonius Felix">Felix</a>, Paul languished in confinement at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Caesarea_Palaestina" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Caesarea Palaestina">Caesarea Palaestina</a>&nbsp;for two years until a new governor,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Porcius_Festus&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Porcius Festus">Porcius Festus</a>, took office, held a hearing, and sent Paul by sea to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Rome" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Rome">Rome</a>, where he spent another two years in detention (Acts 28:30).</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Acts describes Paul's journey from Caesarea to Rome in some detail. The centurion Julius had shipped Paul and his fellow-prisoners on a merchant vessel, on board which Luke and Aristarchus were able to take passage. As the season was advanced the voyage was slow and difficult. They skirted the coasts of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Syria" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Syria">Syria</a>, Cilicia, and Pamphylia. At Myra in Lycia the prisoners were transferred to an Alexandrian vessel transporting wheat bound for Italy, but the winds being persistently contrary a place in Crete called Goodhavens was reached with great difficulty and Paul advised that they should spend the winter there. His advice was not followed, and the vessel driven by the tempest drifted aimlessly for fourteen whole days, being finally wrecked on the coast of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Malta" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Malta">Malta</a>. The three months during which navigation was considered most dangerous were spent there, where Paul is said that he healed the father of the Roman Governor Publius from fever and other people who where sick and preached gospel, but with the first days of spring all haste was made to resume the voyage.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Acts only recounts Paul's life until he arrived in Rome, around 61; Paul's own letters cease to furnish information about his activities long before then. While Paul's letters to the Ephesians and to Philemon may have been written while he was imprisoned in Rome (the traditional interpretation), they may have just as likely been written during his earlier imprisonment at Caesarea (first suggested in 1799), or at Ephesus (suggested in the early 20th century).</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">We are forced to turn to&nbsp;<em>tradition</em>&nbsp;for the details of Paul's final years. One tradition holds (attested as early as in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Epistles_of_Clement" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Epistles of Clement">1 Clement</a>&nbsp;5:7, and in the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Muratorian_fragment" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Muratorian fragment">Muratorian fragment</a>) that Paul visited Spain; while this was his intention (Rom.15:22&ndash;7), the evidence is inconclusive. Another tradition, which can also be traced back to the first century, places his death in Rome.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Eusebius_of_Caesarea" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Eusebius of Caesarea">Eusebius of Caesarea</a>&nbsp;states that Paul was beheaded in the reign of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Roman_Emperor" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Roman Emperor">Roman Emperor</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Nero" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Nero">Nero</a>; this event has been dated either to the year&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/64" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="64">64</a>, when Rome was devastated by a fire, or a few years later to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/67" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="67">67</a>. One Gaius, who wrote during the time of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Pope_Zephyrinus" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Pope Zephyrinus">Pope Zephyrinus</a>, mentions Paul's tomb as standing on the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Via_Ostensis&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Via Ostensis">Via Ostensis</a>. While there is little evidence to support any of these traditions, there is no evidence against their truths, nor alternative traditions of Paul's eventual fate. It is commonly accepted that Paul died as a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Martyr" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Martyr">martyr</a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Rome" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Rome">Rome</a>.</p>
<a name="Theological_teachings"></a>
<h2 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 25px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Theological teachings</h2>
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<div style="border: 1px solid #cccccc; background-color: #f9f9f9; font-size: 16px; text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 152px;"><strong>Missing image</strong><br /><em>Saintpauloftarsus.jpg</em>
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: none; font-size: 15px; text-align: left; overflow: hidden; padding: 0.3em 0px 0.1em; line-height: 1.4em;">an early portrait of the apostle</div>
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<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Paul had several major impacts on the nature of the Christian religion. The first was the centrality of faith within the life of Jesus and the ability to attain righteousness through such. (Romans 3:22, Galations 3:22, etc.). It was not until his later letter to the Corinthians that he alluded to the possibility of eternal life that one often hears about in more conservative churches and in turn superceded the value of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Mosaic_law" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Mosaic law">Mosaic Law</a>, a belief that is often expressed as "Jesus died for our sins." It is unclear how much of this idea is original to Paul;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Jerome" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Jerome">Jerome</a>&nbsp;notes the existence in the 4th century of a Christian sect in Syria called the<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Ebionites" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Ebionites">Ebionites</a>&nbsp;who still observed the Mosaic Law, thus suggesting at least some Christians may not have believed in the salvatory qualities of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Passion" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Passion">Passion</a>. The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Didache" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Didache">Didache</a>&nbsp;doesn't have this concept. The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Ethiopian_Orthodox" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Ethiopian Orthodox">Ethiopian Orthodox</a>, who claim to be the only church free of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Marcionism" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Marcionism">Marcionism</a>, still observe some Mosaic Law.<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Template:Ref&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Template:Ref">Template:Ref</a>&nbsp;The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Apostolic_Constitutions&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Apostolic Constitutions">Apostolic Constitutions</a>&nbsp;of<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Orthodox_Christianity" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Orthodox Christianity">Orthodox Christianity</a>, approved at the Synod of Trullo in 692, generally dated around the third century though they claim to be from the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Council_of_Jerusalem" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Council of Jerusalem">Council of Jerusalem</a>, are pro-Mosaic Law (see 2.36, 6.19, 7.23).&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Acts_of_the_Apostles" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Acts of the Apostles">Acts of the Apostles</a>depicts Paul as a Mosaic Law observant Jew. For example, in Acts 15 he accepts a subset (<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Noahide_Laws" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Noahide Laws">Noahide Laws</a>) of the Law for new Gentile converts, in Acts 16 he "personally" circumcises Timothy even though his father is Greek because his mother is of the Jewish faith, and in Acts 21 James challenges Paul about the rumor he is te
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">This belief leads directly to the modern argument of justification by faith vs. justification by faith and works. Most Protestant denominations assert that Paul's teachings constitute a definitive statement that salvation comes only by faith, and not by any external action of the believer. Roman Catholic theology disputes this, asserting that passages cited in Paul are being misinterpreted, and that this interpretation is directly contradicted by James 2:24: "man is justified by works, and not by faith alone." (KJV)</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Related to Paul's interpretation of the resurrection are his concepts of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Faith" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Faith">faith</a>, which he explains through his explanation of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Abraham" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Abraham">Abraham</a>, and of righteousness and the forgiveness for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Sin" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Sin">sins</a>, using language that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Augustine_of_Hippo" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Augustine of Hippo">Augustine of Hippo</a>&nbsp;later elaborated on in his formulation of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Original_sin" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Original sin">original sin</a>.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">In the New Testament, the doctrine of original sin is most clearly expressed by Paul's writings. His writings also clearly express the doctrine that salvation is not achieved by conforming to Mosaic law, but through faith in (or the faith of) Jesus Christ. This doctrine was confirmed at the Apostolic Council (see above). Paul was also one of the first Christians to expound the doctrine of Christ's divine nature.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">One development clearly not original to Paul, but for which he became the chief advocate, was the conversion of non-Jews to Christianity. While a number of passages in the gospels (e.g.,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Gospel_of_Mark" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Gospel of Mark">Mark</a>) acknowledge that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Gentiles" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Gentiles">Gentiles</a>&nbsp;might enjoy the benefits of Jesus, Paul is known as "The Apostle to the Gentiles", a title that can be traced back to Galatians 2:8. His missionary work amongst the non-Jews helped to raise Christianity beyond its initial reputation as a dissident (if not&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Heresy" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Heresy">heretical</a>) Jewish sect.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Paul also develops a strong doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Much of Romans and particularly the ending to 2 Corinthians portrays the Spirit in equality to the Father and Son. These inferences would later be developed into the doctrine of the Trinity. Paul's notion that the Holy Spirit dwells in all believers at the time of their conversion is integral to his&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Soteriology" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Soteriology">soteriology</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Ecclesiology" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Ecclesiology">ecclesiology</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Missiology" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Missiology">missiology</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Eschatology" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Eschatology">eschatology</a>.</p>
<a name="Social_views"></a>
<h2 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 25px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Social views</h2>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Paul's writings on social issues were just as influential on the life and beliefs of the Christian culture ever since as were his doctrinal statements. In fact, being part of the texts that were generally accepted as&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Biblical_inspiration&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Biblical inspiration">inspired</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Scripture" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Scripture">scripture</a>, these views were and still are considered part and parcel of the broader&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Christianity" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Christianity">Christian</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Doctrine" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Doctrine">doctrine</a>&nbsp;by the more conservative&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Christianity" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Christianity">Christians</a>.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">**** Some of his .... dictums included advice to his contemporaries not to marry in the expectation of the near return of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Jesus&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Jesus">Jesus</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Apocalypse" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Apocalypse">Apocalypse</a>; permission to marry, or at least to stay married to, an unbeliever, in the hope that the spouse of a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Christianity" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Christianity">Christian</a>&nbsp;will be converted sooner or later; the recommendation for women to obey men (based on the story of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Adam_and_Eve" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Adam and Eve">Eve</a>&mdash;"man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man") and raise families; the "he who does not work, neither shall he eat" dictum; and the command to young men who have trespassed by sleeping with a woman to marry her, a notion that remained prominent in the European culture and the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/England" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="England">English</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Common_Law" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Common Law">Common Law</a>&nbsp;until relatively recently.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Paul may have been ambivalent towards&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Slavery" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Slavery">slavery</a>, saying that pending the near return of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Jesus&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Jesus">Jesus</a>, people should focus on their faith and not on their social status (1 Cor. 7:21ff.). Due to his authority, these views have had an influence in Western society into modern times; Paul's apparent failure to explicitly condemn slavery in his&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Philemon" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Philemon">Epistle to Philemon</a>&nbsp;may have been sometimes interpreted as justifying the ownership of human beings.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Paul was not only establishing a new cultural awareness and a society of charity but was also subverting the Roman authority through language and action. Paul borrowed titles from the Caesars to describe Jesus. Augustus claimed the titles "Lord of Lords", "King of Kings", and "Son of God" (as he was the adopted son of Julius Caesar whom he declared to be a god). When Paul refers to Jesus as the "Good News",&nbsp;<em>evangelon</em>&nbsp;in Greek, he is borrowing another title given to Augustus. Ancient Roman inscriptions call Augustus the&nbsp;<em>evangelon</em>, good news, for Rome. These titles were meant to subvert Roman authority and speak directly into the contemporary culture.</p>
<a name="Writings"></a>
<h2 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 25px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Writings</h2>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Paul wrote a number of letters to Christian churches and individuals. However, not all have been preserved; 1 Corinthians 5:9 alludes to a previous letter he sent to the Christians in Corinth that has clearly been lost. Those letters that have survived are part of the New Testament canon, where they appear in order of length, from longest to shortest. A sub-group of these letters, which he wrote from captivity, are called the "prison-letters", and tradition states they were written in Rome.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">His possible authorship of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Epistle_to_the_Hebrews" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Epistle to the Hebrews">Epistle to the Hebrews</a>&nbsp;has been questioned as early as&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Origen" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Origen">Origen</a>. Since at least 1750, a number of other letters commonly attributed to Paul have also been suspected of having been written by his followers at some time in the 1st century&mdash;early enough that religious writers like&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Marcion" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Marcion">Marcion</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Tertullian" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Tertullian">Tertullian</a>&nbsp;knew of no other author for them.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">The Pauline Corpus: Those considered to be the "prison-letters" are marked with an asterisk (*).</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Undisputed Pauline Epistles (Almost certainly Authentic)</p>
<ul style="line-height: 24.75px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/bullet.gif); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"&gt;
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Epistle_to_the_Romans" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Epistle to the Romans">Romans</a></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/1_Corinthians" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="1 Corinthians">1 Corinthians</a></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/2_Corinthians" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="2 Corinthians">2 Corinthians</a></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Galatians" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Galatians">Galatians</a></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Philippians" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Philippians">Philippians</a>*</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/1_Thessalonians" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="1 Thessalonians">1 Thessalonians</a></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Philemon" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Philemon">Philemon</a>*</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Deutero-Pauline_Epistles&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Deutero-Pauline Epistles">Deutero-Pauline Epistles</a>(Possibly Pseudonymous)</p>
<ul style="line-height: 24.75px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/bullet.gif); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"&gt;
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Ephesians" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Ephesians">Ephesians</a></em>*</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Colossians" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Colossians">Colossians</a></em>*</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/2_Thessalonians" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="2 Thessalonians">2 Thessalonians</a></em></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Pastoral_epistles&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Pastoral epistles">Pastoral epistles</a>&nbsp;are usually considered as a separate category, no longer generally attributed to Paul, save by traditionalists: (also possibly pseudonymous)</p>
<ul style="line-height: 24.75px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/bullet.gif); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"&gt;
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/1_Timothy" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="1 Timothy">1 Timothy</a></em></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/2_Timothy" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="2 Timothy">2 Timothy</a></em></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Titus" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Titus">Titus</a></em></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Two further Pauline epistles have been lost:</p>
<ul style="line-height: 24.75px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/bullet.gif); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"&gt;
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Epistle to the Alexandrians (lost)</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Epistle to the Macedonians (lost)</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">The following epistles, agreed to be&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Pseudepigraphy" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Pseudepigraphy">pseudepigraphical</a>, present themselves as if written by Paul:</p>
<ul style="line-height: 24.75px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/bullet.gif); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"&gt;
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=3_Corinthians&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="3 Corinthians">3 Corinthians</a></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Epistle_to_the_Laodiceans" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Epistle to the Laodiceans">Epistle to the Laodiceans</a></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Correspondence of Paul and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Seneca_the_Younger" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Seneca the Younger">Seneca the Younger</a></li>
</ul>
<a name="The_Legend_tradition"></a>
<h2 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 25px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">The Legend tradition</h2>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">From the mid-2nd century, orally-transmitted legends that had grown up about the figure of Paul were embodied in written narratives that applied contemporary literary conventions of realism and authenticity to give weight to a legendary oral core. Their tradition has been characterized (MacDonald 1983) as in competition with the Pauline<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Pastoral_epistles&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Pastoral epistles">pastoral epistles</a>. The pastoral epistles were accepted into the canon, as it developed in the 3rd century, while the legends continued their parallel,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Apocrypha" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Apocrypha">apocryphal</a>&nbsp;career. The oral tradition was passed on above all among women, MacDonald has asserted, and women appear more centrally in the legend than in the epistles, where they are relegated to the periphery.</p>
<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24.75px;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><em>Main article:&nbsp;</em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Acts_of_Paul_and_Thecla&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Acts of Paul and Thecla">Acts of Paul and Thecla</a><em>.</em></dd></dl>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">The main vehicle for the Pauline legend cycle is the&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Acts_of_Paul_and_Thecla&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Acts of Paul and Thecla">Acts of Paul and Thecla</a></em>, which&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Origen" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Origen">Origen</a>&nbsp;mildly approved but which attracted&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Tertullian" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Tertullian">Tertullian</a>'s attention at the end of the 2nd century; he complained that the the example of Thecla was being employed to legitimate women teaching and baptizing. According to them, she had been commissioned to do so by Paul himself. The simple folk who were endorsing such material were not reading it from a text but transmitting oral traditions that seem to originate in the eastern Mediterranean (MacDonald). The literary version of these traditions was so despised by the Church that only in the 20th century has a coherent text been pieced together from surviving fragments.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">MacDonald suggests that the context of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Pastoral_Epistles&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Pastoral Epistles">Pastoral Epistles</a>&nbsp;also associated with the name of Paul, emphasizing order within conventional family formulas and social legitimation of the Church, should be seen as a counter to the radical preaching and story-telling of roaming celibate women, represented in the legend tradition. (MacDonald, 1983)</p>
<a name="Alternative_views"></a>
<h2 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 25px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Alternative views</h2>
<a name="Christianity_as_mystery_religion"></a>
<h3 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 22px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Christianity as mystery religion</h3>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">In his books&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=The_Mythmaker&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="The Mythmaker">The Mythmaker</a></em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Paul_and_Hellenism&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Paul and Hellenism">Paul and Hellenism</a></em>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Talmud" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Talmud">Talmudic</a>&nbsp;scholar&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Hyam_Maccoby&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Hyam Maccoby">Hyam Maccoby</a>&nbsp;proposed a theory that Paul was actually a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Gentile" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Gentile">Gentile</a>&nbsp;raised in an environment influenced by the popular&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Hellenistic" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Hellenistic">Hellenistic</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Mystery_religion" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Mystery religion">mystery religions</a>centered on dying and resurrected savior deities, who later converted to Judaism, hoping to become a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Pharisee" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Pharisee">Pharisee</a>scholar. He found work in Jerusalem as a police officer of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Sadducee" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Sadducee">Sadducee</a>&nbsp;High Priest, who was at that time a&nbsp;<em>de facto</em>&nbsp;Roman&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Quisling" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Quisling">quisling</a>&nbsp;in Jerusalem. Paul's work persecuting the enemies of the High Priest led to an internal conflict in his mind, which manifested itself while he was travelling to Damascus on a covert mission. Maccoby believes that Paul's revelation was thus actually a resolution of his divided self; Paul subsequently fused the mystery religions, Judaism and the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Passion" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Passion">Passion</a>&nbsp;of Jesus into an entirely new belief, centered on the death of Jesus as a mystical atoning sacrifice. Maccoby considers Paul's claims to a Jewish background and Pharisaic education to be false, claiming that a number of passages in Paul's writings betray his ignorance of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Jewish_Law" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Jewish Law">Jewish Law</a>. Maccoby also contends that Paul invented many of the key concepts of the Christian religion, and that<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Gospels" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Gospels">Gospels</a>&nbsp;and other later Christian documents were written to reflect Paul's views rather than the authentic life and teaching of Jesus. Maccoby questions Paul's integrity as well:</p>
<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24.75px;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Scholars feel that, however objective their enquiry is supposed to be, they must always preserve an attitude of deep reverence towards Paul, and never say anything to suggest that he may have bent the truth at times, though the evidence is strong enough in various parts of his life-story that he was not above deception when he felt it warranted by circumstances. (Maccoby, 1986)</dd></dl></dd></dl>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Some, like the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Talmidi_Jews" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Talmidi Jews">Talmidi Jews</a>, share Maccoby's views on Paul's doctrines. They see Paul as an&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Apostasy" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Apostasy">apostate</a>&nbsp;from Judaism. While the teachings of Jesus may be the basis of Christian ethics, they view Paul's teachings as the true basis of modern Christian beliefs such as the atoning death of Jesus and the concept of original sin.</p>
<a name="Paul_as_usurper_of_the_Apostles"></a>
<h3 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 22px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Paul as usurper of the Apostles</h3>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">A more critical view of Paul of Tarsus comes from the comprehensive work of A. Victor Garaffa. He maintains that Paul of Tarsus effectively usurped the authority of the remaining disciples, and the original Jerusalem Church operating under&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/James_the_Just" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="James the Just">James the Just</a>. Using the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/New_Testament" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="New Testament">New Testament</a>&nbsp;works themselves as his primary source, Garaffa offers a reinterpretation of key passages, and suggests an aggressive power struggle is preserved in the canonical New Testament Writings themselves. (An assessment of Paul of Tarsus from this viewpoint can be found online at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.comparative-religion.com/articles/pauline_conspiracy/" rel="nofollow" class="external" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #3366bb;" title="http://www.comparative-religion.com/articles/pauline conspiracy/">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/external.png</a>); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"&gt;The Pauline Conspiracy.)</p>
<a name="Paul_as_inclusionist"></a>
<h3 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 22px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Paul as inclusionist</h3>
<p style="margin: 0.4em 0em 0.5em; line-height: 24.75px; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Another alternative view is what has become known as the "New Perspective" on Paul, first set forth by Rabbi<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Jacob_Emden" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Jacob Emden">Jacob Emden</a>&nbsp;(<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/1697" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="1697">1697</a>&ndash;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/1776" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="1776">1776</a>&nbsp;CE). Emden's view was that Saul of Tarsus was a devout and learned&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Pharisee" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Pharisee">Pharisee</a>, who (turning away from his early&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Shammaite&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Shammaite">Shammaite</a>&nbsp;views) came to believe in salvation for the gentiles and under the guiding authority of the very learned and devout Simon Kepha (i.e.,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Saint_Peter" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Saint Peter">Saint Peter</a>) set about refining a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Noahide&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Noahide">noahide</a>&nbsp;religion for the gentiles based around the Jehoshua (<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Jesus&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Jesus">Jesus</a>) movement. Paul believed the advantage of the Jews was their being entrusted with the oracles of heaven, and that the law was upon them. But he opposed the Jewish Christians who insisted (under some kind of Shammaite influence) that Gentiles were beyond salvation unless they became Jews. Paul insisted that they need only their purified faith and was firmly against proselytizing. He did however insist that any man born of a Jewish woman be circumcised (for example Timothy whom he himself carried out the ceremony upon) and live under the law. In recent years perhaps the most exemplary developers of Emden's view are the orthodox Rabbi Harvey Falk and Pamela Eisenbaum.<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Template:Ref&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Template:Ref">Template:Ref</a>&nbsp;In this view, Paul is seen as a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Rabbi" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Rabbi">rabbi</a>&nbsp;who understood the ruling that although it would be forbidden to a Jew, "Shittuf" (believing in the divine through the name of another) would be permissible for a gentile despite the noahide ban on idolatry. This is further backed up by Paul in his first letter to the Romans when he compliments them on their religion. Again when he spoke to Greeks about a divinity in their pantheon called "The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Unknown_God" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Unknown God">Unknown God</a>", it can be understood that he was trying to de-paganise their native religions for the sake of their own salvation.</p>
<a name="Notes"></a>
<h2 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 25px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">Notes</h2>
<ol style="line-height: 24.75px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Template:Note&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Template:Note">Template:Note</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=7&amp;IndexView=toc" rel="nofollow" class="external" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #3366bb;" title="http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=7&amp;IndexView=toc">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/external.png</a>); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"&gt;The Ethiopian Orthodox Church, CNEWA.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Template:Note&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Template:Note">Template:Note</a>&nbsp;Pamela Eisenbaum, "<a href="http://www.crosscurrents.org/eisenbaum.htm" rel="nofollow" class="external" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #3366bb;" title="http://www.crosscurrents.org/eisenbaum.htm">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/external.png</a>); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"&gt;Is Paul the Father of Misogyny and Antisemitism?,"&nbsp;<em>Cross Currents</em>50, no. 4 (Winter 2000&ndash;2001).</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Template:Note&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Template:Note">Template:Note</a>&nbsp;John Shelby Spong, "<a href="http://www.escapefromwatchtower.com/spong7&amp;8.html" rel="nofollow" class="external" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #3366bb;" title="http://www.escapefromwatchtower.com/spong7&amp;8.html">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/external.png</a>); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"&gt;The Man From Tarsus," in&nbsp;<em>Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism</em>, reprint ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1992).</li>
</ol><a name="References"></a>
<h2 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 25px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">References</h2>
<ul style="line-height: 24.75px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/bullet.gif); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"&gt;
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Robert_Badenas&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="Robert Badenas">Badenas, Robert</a>&nbsp;<em>Christ the End of the Law, Romans 10.4 in Pauline Perspective</em>&nbsp;1985&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Special:Booksources&amp;isbn=0905774930" class="internal" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;">ISBN 0905774930</a></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Raymond_E._Brown" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Raymond E. Brown">Brown, Raymond E.</a>&nbsp;<em>An Introduction to the New Testament</em>.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Anchor_Bible_Series" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Anchor Bible Series">Anchor Bible Series</a>, 1997.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Special:Booksources&amp;isbn=0385247672" class="internal" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;">ISBN 0385247672</a>.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=F.F._Bruce&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="F.F. Bruce">Bruce, F.F.</a>,&nbsp;<em>Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free</em>&nbsp;(<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Special:Booksources&amp;isbn=0802847781" class="internal" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;">ISBN 0802847781</a>)</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=James_D.G._Dunn&amp;action=edit" class="new" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #a55858; background-image: none;" title="James D.G. Dunn">Dunn, James D.G.</a>&nbsp;<em>Jesus, Paul and the Law</em>&nbsp;1990&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Special:Booksources&amp;isbn=0664250955" class="internal" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;">ISBN 0664250955</a></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Michael_H._Hart" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="Michael H. Hart">Hart, Michael</a>.&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/The_100" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;" title="The 100">The 100</a></em>. Carol Publishing Group, July 1992. Paperback, 576 pages.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Special:Booksources&amp;isbn=0806513500" class="internal" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;">ISBN 0806513500</a>.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Maccoby, Hyam.&nbsp;<em>The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity</em>. New York: Harper &amp; Row, 1986.<a href="http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Special:Booksources&amp;isbn=0060155825" class="internal" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #5a7696; background-image: none;">ISBN 0060155825</a>.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">MacDonald, Dennis Ronald, 1983.&nbsp;<em>The Legend and the Apostle&nbsp;: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon</em>Philadelphia: Westminster Press.</li>
</ul>
<a name="External_links"></a>
<h2 style="color: #000000; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 25px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 24.75px;">External links</h2>
<ul style="line-height: 24.75px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/bullet.gif); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"&gt;
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/bible8_e.htm" rel="nofollow" class="external" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #3366bb;" title="http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/bible8 e.htm">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/external.png</a>); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"&gt;Epistles of Apostle Paul&nbsp;Bishop Alexander (Orthodox Christian perspective)</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11567b.htm" rel="nofollow" class="external" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #3366bb;" title="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11567b.htm">http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/skins/monobook/external.png</a>); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"&gt;St. Paul&nbsp;(Catholic Encyclopedia)</li>
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