"Breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, [he] went to the high priest and asked for letters to the synagogue in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains" (Acts 9:1-2) (Saint Paul Quotes, n.d.). Paul did not begin his crusade on the side of the Christians. On the contrary, he was an extremely enthusiastic persecutor of the Christians. He hunted them down and had them imprisoned. He believed the Christian’s beliefs were lies and an enormously dangerous threat to the Jewish teachings and beliefs. Paul was essentially first introduced when he was Saul of Tarsus while he was standing over the first Christian martyr Stephen as he was being stoned to death. He had permission from the High Priest to persecute those found worshipping the Lord (Acts 9:1, 2) (Peach, 2012).
It is extraordinarily difficult to put together a timeline for the life of St. Paul. We have details in his epistles and in the book of Acts in the New Testament that assist us in understanding what a prominent figure he was in the early history of the Christian church and the spread of Christianity. Roman, Greek, and Jewish authors along with …show more content…
He visited numerous places in Asia Minor and established churches at Pisidian, Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Ephesus was ultimately made the central place for his missionary activity (St. Paul Biography, n.d.). The early Christian churches were abundant with cultural diversity. These communities were spread all across the Roman Empire and beyond. They had countless different languages, traditions, history, customs, and religious beliefs. This resulted in countless differences in the scriptures and traditions from one church to another. This made the unification of Christianity an exceedingly difficult and challenging
It is extraordinarily difficult to put together a timeline for the life of St. Paul. We have details in his epistles and in the book of Acts in the New Testament that assist us in understanding what a prominent figure he was in the early history of the Christian church and the spread of Christianity. Roman, Greek, and Jewish authors along with …show more content…
He visited numerous places in Asia Minor and established churches at Pisidian, Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Ephesus was ultimately made the central place for his missionary activity (St. Paul Biography, n.d.). The early Christian churches were abundant with cultural diversity. These communities were spread all across the Roman Empire and beyond. They had countless different languages, traditions, history, customs, and religious beliefs. This resulted in countless differences in the scriptures and traditions from one church to another. This made the unification of Christianity an exceedingly difficult and challenging