Paul

Paul, known in his earlier life as Saul, was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, born in Tarsus in Cilicia and a Roman citizen by birth. According to the Acts of the Apostles and his own letters, he was brought up in Jerusalem and educated in the Pharisaic tradition, studying under Gamaliel. In the years after the crucifixion of Jesus he became a vigorous opponent of the nascent Christian movement, taking part in the persecution of believers in Jerusalem and beyond, and he is associated in Acts with the death of Stephen. His later writings describe this period as one of zeal for the ancestral traditions of Israel.

While traveling to Damascus to continue that campaign, Saul experienced a revelatory encounter with the risen Jesus, an event Christian tradition places in the mid-first century and that he himself treated as the foundation of his apostleship. After a time in Damascus and a sojourn in Arabia, he eventually made contact with the Jerusalem community, including Peter and James. He then undertook an extended ministry among Gentiles, working especially in Syria, Cilicia, Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Achaia. Over the course of several journeys he founded or strengthened churches in cities such as Antioch, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, and Ephesus, often supporting himself by the trade of tentmaking.

A substantial body of letters attributed to him survives in the New Testament. The undisputed epistles—among them Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon—address justification, the relationship of Jew and Gentile in the church, ethics, and eschatology, and they became foundational for later Christian theology. Paul insisted that Gentile converts need not take on the full yoke of the Mosaic law, a position that generated conflict with some Jewish Christians and that was debated at the gathering in Jerusalem commonly called the Council of Jerusalem. His thought centers on the death and resurrection of Christ, union with Christ, and the gift of the Spirit. He presents himself in those letters as unmarried and commends that state for those able to remain so.

According to Acts, Paul was arrested in Jerusalem after a riot in the Temple precincts, detained at Caesarea, and, having appealed to the emperor as a Roman citizen, was sent to Rome. Early Christian tradition, already reflected in the late first-century letter of Clement of Rome, holds that he was martyred in Rome during the Neronian persecution, by beheading in keeping with his civic status. He was buried along the Ostian Way; the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls later rose over the site associated with his tomb. Venerated from the earliest centuries as apostle to the nations, he is commemorated with Peter on 29 June, and his conversion is kept on 25 January. He is invoked as patron of missionaries, theologians, and numerous places and professions. His letters and the narrative of Acts have shaped Christian doctrine, missionary practice, and spirituality across East and West.