Who was Paul?

Saul of Tarsus was a Jew of the diaspora, a Roman citizen and a zealous Pharisee who persecuted the first Christians. On the road to Damascus the risen Christ appeared to him and asked: why do you persecute me? His life changed completely.

Paul became the apostle of the nations. On three long journeys he founded communities across what is now Turkey and Greece, and he finally reached Rome as a prisoner. Tradition says he was beheaded there, under Nero, around the year 67.

His letters, written to communities and friends, are the oldest writings in the New Testament. At their centre is one discovery: Christ loved me and gave himself for me.

Saul was not renamed Paul at his conversion. Like many Jews of the diaspora he had two names: Saul, a Hebrew name, and Paul, a Roman one. Acts simply starts calling him Paul when he begins his mission among the pagans (Acts 13:9).

Thirteen letters in the New Testament bear Paul's name. Scholars agree that at least seven are his own; for others, they debate whether they come from Paul or from his disciples writing in his name. The Church receives all of them as inspired Scripture.

Paul's great themes — grace, faith, the Church as the Body of Christ, the Resurrection, charity — shaped Christian thought for two thousand years, and Augustine and Luther, among many others, were changed by reading him.