|  Article 2 – Life and Times of St. Paulby Parishioner Ben CerimeleYear of St. Paul Article Links:The Year of St. Paul ArticlesArticle 2: The Life and Times of St. PaulBirth Paul was born in Tarsus in south-central Turkey, around 10 AD, to Jewish parents of the tribe of Benjamin. Tarsus was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, the capital of the Roman province, Cilicia, which provided Rome with a window to the East. Tarsus was traversed by the Cyndus River which emptied into the Mediterranean Sea. Though located inland Tarsus operated as a protected seaport via river access and so had a strategic commercial advantage as a junction of land and sea routes connecting caravans in the north with shipping to the south. It was an important marketing, educational, and cultural center with an economy fostered by international commerce, hardy agriculture, and mining industries. As a seaport and commercial center, it harbored a diversity of peoples and culture, including a Jewish population. Primary regional languages included Aramaic, the ancient commercial language of the Near East, and Greek, the cultural lingua franca of the empire. Upbringing Paul's Jewish name was Saul, apparently conferred in honor of the Benjamite King Saul – the first Jewish king. Saul was circumcised in his infancy and raised as a Hellenistic Jew of the Diaspora (Jewish emigrants). Jewish citizens of Tarsus either purchased or were granted Roman citizenship, and Paul apparently inherited Roman citizenship from his parents. Saul took for his everyday use the Latin name Paulus, abridged to Paul with a sound similar to that of his Jewish birth name. He was reared in accord with the Pharisaic (midrash) interpretation of the Torah, and adhered to their teachings which he later revised and blended with Christian revelation. In his schooling Paul was educated in Jerusalem under the tutelage of the prominent sage and rabbi Gamaliel who was an influential Pharisaic leader in the governing Sanhedrin. Along with his Jewish upbringing, Paul received a robust education in Greek language and rhetoric. The Man Paul Apocryphal literature describes Paul as short, bowlegged, paunchy, and bald. In dialogue he was outspoken but not well-spoken. In temperament he was energetic, resourceful, and zealous, although irascible and anxious. He was an urban sophisticate and a savvy and undaunted traveler of the empire. Paul refers to an unspecified persistent health problem, his "thorn in the side," which is conjectured to have been vision impairment. Apparently Paul never married and may have been consecrated for a time to God as a Nazarite. He earned his livelihood by plying the trade of tent-making — a lucrative occupation that required expertise and special tools. In the context of Church history Paul was (and continues to be) a controversial visionary – a premier theologian and principal architect of the Church. He promoted the fundamental tenet that the people of God are not defined by nationality, gender, social class, or law but by belief in Jesus as the incarnate, resurrected Son of God and love for Jesus warranted by his sacrificial, messianic redemption of humanity. Political Environment The conquests of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC over the Eastern Mediterranean region established a milieu of Greek sensibility, known as Hellenism. Subsequent to the death of Alexander and the ensuing breakup of his empire, the Romans emerged as the next world superpower that encompassed the entire Mediterranean region, both East and West, as part of the mighty Roman Empire. The post-Alexandrian Greek language, aesthetics, and learning retained their cultural eminence, fostered in a Roman state that provided civic organization, legal governance, martial peace (Pax Romana), and an extensive network of roadways. Thus Jesus and the early Church resided in an orderly Greco-Roman era of history, essentially Hellenistic in culture and Roman in political sovereignty. Aside from a brief interlude of political independence under the Hasmonean dynasty, the Jews subsequent to the Alexandrian era were pawns in the power struggles among Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans. Before the birth of Jesus (and Paul), Rome appointed a puppet king over Israel — Herod the Great. Herod was an opportunistic, ruthless Idumæan – a sinister foreigner resented by the Jews. His title of greatness refers to his ingenuity in remarkable construction projects which included renovation of the Jerusalem temple. Herod and his progeny reigned over Israel until the Roman devastation of Israel by 70 AD. In spite of foreign conquests and persecutions, the Jews retained their spiritual heritage as a religious people covenanted with Yahweh who resided in the temple at Jerusalem. Jewish Social Structure In early Christianity Israeli society comprised three notable groups that exerted major influence on Jewish life; viz., priests, Sadducees, and Pharisees. The priestly class consisted in members of the tribe of Levi who were appointed to perform religious services and render maintenance connected with the temple. The high priest was to be a direct descendant of Aaron — the first high priest who was a brother to Moses. Following the period of judges, the decline of prophecy, and the demise of the monarchies, the high priest assumed the position of highest authority in Jewish society. However credibility and respectability for the high priestly office had been seriously compromised due to political abuses by the Hasmonean kings. The Sadducees formed an elite, wealthy, and politico-religious community of priestly and lay leaders who dominated the Sanhedrin — the administrative assembly in Jerusalem. They were associated with the operation of the temple in Jerusalem, were aligned with Roman authority, and were opposed to the Pharisees. They adhered only to the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. Consequently they held a limited core of beliefs and practices which denied the existence of angels and spirits, the resurrection of the dead, and the prospect of an afterlife. The Pharisees were a lay sect of religious zealots who accepted most of the OT scriptures and elaborated the Oral Law to which they mandated strict compliance. They espoused an elaborate system of rites including rigid observance of the Sabbath, ritual purity, dietary food laws, biweekly fasting, discriminating table fellowship, and prescribed tithing. They were noted for their authoritative interpretation of Jewish Law and were most influential with the Jewish populace. Their disputations with Jesus are notoriously reported in the gospels. The Diaspora Jews comprised an important Jewish subgroup who emigrated from Israel to foreign Jewish settlements such as Alexandria in Egypt, Rome in Italy, and Damascus in Syria. Their religious practices were connected to the local synagogue, but they valued pilgrimages to the holy city of Jerusalem. These expatriates built local synagogues as assembly venues for meetings, teaching, and prayer. The rabbi, a learned religious leader, served in leading worship and in studying scriptures at the synagogue. Animal sacrifice was restricted to the Jerusalem temple which made the temple a pilgrimage site for all Jewry. Typically the Diaspora Jew learned the Greek language, read scripture from the Septuagint (Greek translation), and inculturated Hellenism into Judaism. Summary In summary Paul was a Diaspora Jew from Tarsus in Asia Minor who was an advocate of the Pharisaic religious sect. His first language was Greek and he was steeped in a Hellenistic mentality broader and deeper than the Aramaic perspective of the first Christians. Thus in blending the favorable aspects of Hellenistic wisdom with Jewish spirituality and emboldened by Roman stalwartness, Paul was an ideal candidate to serve as a Christian missionary to the Gentile world. Respectfully submitted, Ben Cerimele Contact InformationIf you wish to contact us on any articles, have any questions, you can initiate contact either by: |