St Paul Apostle And Martyr

Ancient iconography of Paul is dominated by one image: Paul as martyr. Whether he is carrying a sword--the traditional instrument of his execution--or receiving a martyr's crown from Christ, the apostle was remembered and honored for his faithfulness to the point of death. As a result, Christians created a cult of Paul, centered on particular holy sites and characterized by practices such as the telling of stories, pilgrimage, and the veneration of relics. This study integrates literary, archaeological, artistic, and liturgical evidence to describe the development of the Pauline cult within the cultural context of the late antique West.

Acts is the sequel to Luke's gospel and tells the story of Jesus's followers during the 30 years after his death. It describes how the 12 apostles, formerly Jesus's disciples, spread the message of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean against a background of persecution. With an introduction by P.D. James

“Except for the Lord Himself,no single figure has done more for the Christian faith.” If you want to understand Christianity, you need to understand Paul. But with so many books on the apostle, where do you start? Paul the Apostle is the ideal choice if you want a solid understanding of Paul’s life, ministry, and writings without getting weighed down with minutia. Author Robert E. Picirilli, who taught college courses on Paul for over twenty-five years, found that most books on the apostle were either too technical or too basic, so he wrote a book that strikes a happy medium. It offers: A profile of Paul in his historical and cultural context Outlines and explanations of his missionary journeys Introductions and brief analyses of each of his epistles Useful for individual study or as a textbook (as it is in many universities today), Paul the Apostle is a great one-stop study of the man who wrote half the New Testament, spread the gospel to the heart of the known world, and gave his life for the Kingdom.

This study traces the development of the story of Paul's martyrdom from the New Testament period until approximately the reign of Pope Gregory the Great. H. W. Tajra reviews the historical and juridical context of the Apostle's martyrdom and analyzes the literary traditions and legends which came to envelop the historical core of the martyrdom tale.

St. Paul is one of the most important figures in Christian history. As Saul of Tarsus he vigorously persecuted Christianity, even collaborating in the death of Christianity's first martyr, Stephen. His encounter with the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus changed Paul's life, the Christian Church, and world history. More than anyone else in the early Church, Paul saw the universal nature of the Christian message. He became the Apostle to the Gentiles and the "Teacher of the Nations". As the human author of half of the New Testament, Paul is a figure who cannot be overlooked by anyone who wants to understand Jesus Christ and Christianity. In this book, Pope Benedict XVI, a profound spiritual leader in his own right and a first-rate theologian and Bible commentator, explores the legacy of Paul. Pope Benedict follows the course of the Apostle's life, including his missionary journeys and his relationship with the other apostles of Jesus such as St. Peter and St. James, and Paul's martyrdom in Rome. Benedict also examines such questions as: Did Paul know Jesus during his earthly life and how much of Jesus' teaching and ministry did he know of? Did Paul distort the teachings of Jesus? What role did Jesus' death and resurrection play in Paul's teaching? What are we to make of Paul's teaching about the end of the world? What does Paul's teaching say about the differences between Catholic and Protestant Christians over salvation and the roles of faith and works in the Christian life? How have modern Catholic and Protestant scholars come together in their understanding of Paul? What does Paul have to teach us today about living a spiritual life? These and other important issues are addressed in this masterful, inspirational, and highly-readable presentation of St. Paul and his writings by one of today's great spiritual teachers, Pope Benedict XVI. "The Apostle Paul, an outstanding and almost inimitable yet stimulating figure, stands before us as an example of total dedication to the Lord and to his Church, as well as of great openness to humanity and its cultures." Pope Benedict XVI

The apostle Paul was the first great missionary, pastor, and theologian of the early Christian church, and today we recognize that St. Pauls contributions to Christianity make him the most important biblical figure in the New Testament next to only Jesus Christ and God. Yet how much do we truly know about this resilient, strong-willed man of faith? How did this man, once a devout Jew and zealous Pharisee, come to never lose sight of his mission to spread the new theology that would later be known as Christianity? In St. Paul the Apostle, author Irving Brittle Jr. uses resources from more than one hundred academics, theologians, and researchers to sow a basic, concise biographical and historical portrait of St. Paul the apostle. He touches on Pauls life within the Roman Empire and his time as a zealot Pharisee before the transformational encounter on the road to Damascus, where Paul first had his life-changing vision and dialogue with Jesus Christ. St. Paul the Apostle also covers Pauls three missions through Asia Minor, Eastern Europe, and Rome, and it introduces the cast of companions who accompanied Paul while he spread the Gospel of Christ. Even though we may not know the exact time of his martyrdom at the hands of Nero, Paul can rest assured his Gospel of Jesus Christ and his thirteen epistles are still the cornerstone of mainstream Christianity today.