Paper 3 (Re-evaluation of Paul)

After re-reading my initial post regarding what I knew about Paul, I am horrified! My knowledge was no more than your typical “Sunday school taught Christian” and lacked so much information. I talked mainly of Paul’s life as a “christian” whereas now, my viewpoint is vastly different. I think the biggest surprise was reading about Paul’s influence on Judaism through Christianity and how he never left judaism but bridged the gap between the two religions. Some may claim that he isn’t a christian but I believe his works and teachings of the scripts allow him to remain with one foot in each door. I was completely caught off guard by the different accounts of his life story between Acts and Galations. When you read the Bible, theologically, you tend to overlook those contrasting stories. It was really fascinating to learn of his failures and rejections from many societies. That’s almost a taboo topic to talk about how often he was sent out of cities, but it definitely didn’t stop him. One thing that remained with me from the beginning of the course was his mission to share the gospel and bring people to Jesus. My knowledge of Paul’s mission and life happenings never drastically changed but my knowledge of Paul as a person and influencer has completely turned my mind around. Before this course, I would’ve said that Paul “converted” to christianity, but after this course, I believe that he never converted, more-so expanded his knowledge and adapted to more than one religion.

I am still uncertain about one topic regarding Paul not being considered a Christian and would love to watch/ Read more about why people believe this. But overall, I feel that I have learned a lot this semester about Paul, his writings and the biblical accounts that tell of his life, as he lived it.