PAUL, THE APOSTLE, SAINT

born AD 10?, Tarsus in Cilicia [now in Turkey] died 67?, Rome original name Saul of Tarsus 1st-century Jew who, after first being a bitter enemy of Christianity, later became an important figure in its history. Converted only a few years after the death of Jesus, he became the leading Apostle (missionary) of the new movement and played a decisive part in extending it beyond the limits of Judaism to become a worldwide religion. His surviving letters are the earliest extant Christian writings. They reveal both theological skill and pastoral understanding and have had lasting importance for Christian life and thought. Additional reading From the immense Pauline bibliography, which includes many commentaries on the Acts and letters, only a representative selection can be chosen. Gustav Adolf Deissmann, St. Paul, trans. from the German (1912); T.R. Glover, Paul of Tarsus (1925, reissued 1938); and James S. Stewart, A Man in Christ (1935, reissued 1975), are valuable biographical studies. H.J. Schoeps, Paul (1961, reissued 1979; originally published in German, 1959), is a modern Jewish view of Paul. Michael Grant, Saint Paul (1976, reissued 1982), is an introduction to his life and his writings for the general reader. Gnther Bornkamm, Paul (1971; originally published in German, 1969); and Frederick F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free (1978, reprinted 1984), are a critical and a conservative account, respectively, of both his life and thought. Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians (1983), is a reinterpretation of Pauline thought in light of new information on its social and political contexts. Other specialized studies include William M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen (1896, reissued 1982, with an essay on the author), a valuable contribution to historical geography; Robert Jewett, A Chronology of Paul's Life (1979); Johannes Munck, Paul and the Salvation of Mankind (1959; originally published in German, 1954), dealing with various aspects of Paul's relationship with the other Apostles; Albert Schweitzer, The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle (1931, reissued 1968; originally published in German, 1930); W.d. Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism, 4th ed. (1980); E.P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977), and Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People (1983), providing a balanced discussion of modern assessments of Paul's relationship to Judaism. D.E.H. Whiteley, The Theology of St. Paul, 2nd ed. (1974); and J. Christiaan Beker, Paul the Apostle (1980), are both thorough works on Paul's teaching. Barnabas Lindars