Midterm Group Report Summary: (#8) Paul the Apostle

Kaylee Herrington and Unesti Banks

            Unesti and I split our report of Saint Paul into four parts: his early life, his beliefs and philosophy, why he is still so important to many, and finally his imprisonments and death. We will include in our presentation how Saint Paul and Greek philosophy ties together, and how he used Epicurean and Stoic language to better preach his messages.

 Saint Paul was born in Tarsus of Cilicia to a very devout Jewish family. He was Jewish, but because of his father he had Roman citizenship. He was an early Pharisee that believed strongly in the Law. This was until his journey from Jerusalem to Damascus where he saw Jesus Christ in a bright light, and was then converted to Christianity. Since that time he started preaching that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and Son of God. Saint Paul being Jewish with Roman citizenship he was able to preach to both audiences and reach many people with the word of God.

The apostle Paul authored 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament, and by many is considered the second founder of Christianity. Many people believe that without him the western world would have never adapted Christianity and would today still believe in the polytheistic religions of the Roman Empire.

Saint Paul was gospel scholar and a very talented teacher. He was able to preach the word a way people could understand it and by this he got many people to follow him. Because St. Paul was preaching the word of Jesus Christ though, he was arrested many times and eventually he is believed to have been martyred for his works.