Paul the Apostle of Tarsus
c. 5–c. A.D. 67
Google searches: 3.35 million+ per month
Number of books: c. 7 million
Paul is quite possibly more responsible for the dissemination of
Christianity, its ideals, theology, and principles, than anyone else.
He is venerated in all branches, as a saint in many, or at least as a
profoundly respected teacher, preacher, and the chief Christian apologist.
And he did all this via 13 letters to various churches and people
throughout Asia Minor.
He was the first person to write anything that was later canonized into
what we call the New Testament. He probably wrote his first epistle, to
the churches in Galatia, in about A.D. 50, give or take 5 years. Mark
wrote his Gospel 5 to 10 years later. Paul’s theological thesis throughout
his 13 or so Epistles is a more detailed statement of Jesus’s philosophy
of ethics and salvation given in the Gospels. Paul’s central point is that
all you have to do is believe that Jesus is the Son of God, Savior of the
world, rose again from the dead and ascended into Heaven, and you will
not die. Your transition may be painful, but you’ll go to Heaven. If that’s
all you have to do, as most people have accepted his teaching, it’s
obvious why Paul’s brand of evangelism caught on so quickly, firmly, and widely.
He is far more immediately known than any of the Twelve Apostles, only rivaled, through the fame of the popes, by Peter. By his death, he
ermanently cemented his legacy for the ages: he was arrested in Rome
for inciting political discord and beheaded south of the city center, at
what is now San Paolo alle Tre Fontane, or the basilica of Saint Paul at
the Three Fountains.
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