Paul and Peter
Background information about Paul Paul whose name was Saul was an early Christian missionary and theologian, known as the Apostle to the Gentiles was born a Jew in Tarsus, Rome. As a minor, he was trained as a rabbi but earned his living as a tentmaker. A zealous Pharisee, he persecuted the first Christians until a vision of Jesus, experienced while on the road to Damascus, converted him to Christianity. Three years later he met St. Peter and Jesus ' brother James and was henceforth recognized as the 13th Apostle. From his base in Antioch, he traveled widely, preaching to the Gentiles. By asserting that non-Jewish disciples of Christ did not have to observe Jewish law, he helped to establish Christianity as a separate religion rather than a Jewish sect. On a journey to Jerusalem, he aroused such hostility among the Jews that a mob gathered, and he was arrested and imprisoned for two years. The circumstances of his death are unknown. Paul 's ministry and religious views are known largely from his letters, or epistles, collected in the New Testament, which are the first Christian theological writing and the source of much Christian doctrine. It was due to Paul more than anyone else that Christianity became a world religion.
Two ways in which Paul contributed to the early church and Christianity
Paul is an extremely significant figure in Christianity and is said to have an unequalled place, through his key contributions of Writings and letters which now form a fundamental section of the New testament, his significance at the Council of Jerusalem and his key role in establishing Christianity its own entity as separate from Judaism. Paul is considered to be the greatest missionary of early Christianity and some call him the second founder of Christianity. Through Paul 's writings and missionary Journeys to the communities of Antioch, Galatians, Romans, Philippians and many more he was able to establish Christianity as