ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE

The apostle Paul was the first great missionary, pastor, and the theologian of the early Christian church, and today we recognize that St. Paul's 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 Paul's 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 Paul's 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 Hero, Paul can rest assured his Gospel of Jesus Christ and his thirteen epistles are still the cornerstone of mainstream Christianity today.