Talk 1
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St. Paul Introduction. (Slide 1)Though the overall aim of the 5 weeks is to introduce the life and teachings of St. Paul, my primary aim is to encourage you to get to know St. Paul for yourselves. Paul is one of the characters in the Bible we hear lots about and certainly a large part of the NT is written by him, 7 books are largely uncontested, 6 others with differing claims. So a possible 13 out of 27 could be written by Paul. ( Though most scholars would deem this unlikely.) People seem to love him or hate him! If you consider how important Paul is in the history of Christianity there don't seem to be many churches named after St Paul. It would be interesting to find out the number of churches named after St. Paul that differing Christian denominations have. I did try to find out on the Internet but time ran out!Context in history He is undoubtedly one of the most important figures in the history of the Western world. The earliest Christian documents we have are by him and the Acts of the Apostles is really about 1 apostle after chapter 9. In his life he travelled tens of thousands of miles to spread the Good News. It was Paul's theology and teaching that transformed a small branch that was developing in Judaism into a faith that embraced all who would recognise Jesus as Lord. Some scholars would even suggest that if Paul hadn't been converted on the way to Damascus we would might never have known about a young Jewish carpenter who died and rose again to save us all. Sources Our sources for the life and teaching of Paul are primarily the works in the Bible. Acts and Paul's letters are the sources. Acts was written by the same author of Luke's Gospel and seems to have known Paul. Acts may have been part 2 of Luke.s Gospel but there is much in it about Paul's teaching and life. Paul’s letters differ from Acts at times. Why? Paul's letters would be the more reliable source. But possibly the author of Acts is writing at a later time and distance can always distort facts. Though the use of we in the text suggests that Luke was present with Paul it can also be seen as a literary device. What sort of world did Paul live in?(Slides 2/3/4) (Maps of OT and NT)Judaism at the time of PaulThere were 4 ½ million Jews in the Roman Empire at this time, 7% of the population of the Empire. The population of Jews outside Palestine was far greater than that of Jews within Palestine itself. Egypt and Syria had 3 million (mainly in Alexandria, Antioch and Damascus.) The Diaspora, the Exile of Jews from their land by the Babylonians had led to many Jewish colonies over the Middle East. The word Diaspora was used to refer specifically to the populations of Jews exiled from Judea in 586 BC by the Babylonians. The Jews had rights and privileges enjoyed by no other group within the Empire. They had self jurisdiction in anything that did not infringe upon the common law of the Empire. Uniquely so among the conquered nations they were exempt from Emperor worship and military service. They were not obliged to worship the Roman gods either because they would not fit in and compromise their religion. Josephus, the great Jewish historian, points this out.He wrote, "No people hold on to their customs the way we do. Even the Spartans gave them up! They did not cling to their constitution the way that the Jews cling to their constitution."It was the Jews who held out against the merger of Greco- Roman identities, and the Christians in their turn would follow them. The Jews retained their autonomy and their national characteristics; they wouldn't just surrender them to Greco-Roman sameness. It didn't prevent them from becoming Roman citizens. Paul would not have been unusual here, though it would perhaps have a been a feature of Hellenistic Judaism more than Palestinian Judaism. Paul would have been his Roman name. (Acts 13:9, Saul who is also called Paul).Early Life. (Slide 5) What do we actually know about Paul?Physical appearance.Luke doesn't give a description on Paul's appearance. All we have is a reference to him in the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla, a 2nd century document. It says he was"Small of stature, bow legged, large eyes, eyebrows meeting, nose slightly hooked." Yet it continues "His appearance was full of grace: sometimes he looked more like an angel than a man." John Chrysostom, a 4th century writer has possibly a more flattering description of Paul,"5 feet high but with a reach beyond the stars."BackgroundWhat do we actually know about Paul's background? Our sources are almost entirely in the Bible but there are references to Paul in the tradition preserved by Clement of Rome at the end of the 1st century AD and in the work referred to earlier, Acts of Paul and Thecla. Some of the chronology of Acts can be referred to external historical sources. We know that Herod Agrippa died in 44 AD, that Gallio was provincial governor in Corinth either 50-1 AD or 51-52 AD and also that Felix was consul at Caesarea in 58-60 AD. Also Festus was procurator of Judaea in AD 60 These are helpful in dating Paul's life and show to some extent that the author of Acts was correct in these details. So what can we know using Acts and Paul's letters? This is an approximate timeline which may or mot be accepted by all scholars, especially on the dating but is as accurate as I can be I think. Timeline (Slide 6)
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