St. Paul Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, is more commonly known as St. Paul and is potentially the most important missionary of early Christendom. He was born around 5 AD or perhaps as early as 10 BCE and lived until approximately 67 AD. He is also known as Saul of Tarsus because this was his name before his conversion to Christianity (Acts 9:11). Paul was born in Cilicia in what is now Turkey and eventually became a great follower of Christianity and would spread the word of Jesus Christ far and wide. At that time, Cilicia was part of the Roman Empire and thus Paul was born a Roman citizen (Borg 2012,-page 67). Despite being a Roman citizen, Paul's early life was controlled by his Jewish views and indeed he held opinions that the members of the Jewish population were ethnically superior to all other people (Horrell 2006,-page 30). Very little information is known about Paul's early life or his family. His father is referenced briefly when he is called "a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee" (Acts 23:6). Later in the book of Acts, a reference is made to Paul's "sister's son" which indicates both that he had a sister at some point and that she bore a boy which was Paul's nephew (Acts 23:16). His conversions of non-Christians led to the spread of the religion throughout the world.

The man who became known as St. Paul was a man who started life hating the Christians. He was born into a strict Jewish family who practiced the orthodox religion...

As a young man he contributed to the torture and abuse of the followers of Jesus (Acts 8:1). It is assumed that Paul belonged to the Shammaite School which was a group who often committed atrocities against Christians (Wright, page 694). His hatred of Christians is ironic when examining what he was to do for the religion later in the life. During his years of hate mongering he even contributed to the stoning to St. Stephen one of the early martyrs of Christendom. It is said that one day between 31 and 36 AD, Paul was on his way to Damascus where he was intent to hunt down more of Jesus' followers. However on the way he was witness to a miracle (Barnett 2002,-page 21). There was light all around him which made him blind and then the voice of Jesus Christ spoke to him and encouraged him to go to Damascus for his conversion and he would be given back his sight. He later claimed that what he envisioned was the resurrected Jesus who came to him with a specific quest which was to spread the word. After his experience he relinquished his Jewish faith and instead began preaching to all that would hear him that Jesus Christ was the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God (Acts 9:20). From a person who had once hated Christianity, Paul became the religion's greatest supporter, becoming known as the second founder of Christianity.
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