The History of the Origins of Christianity. Book III

One man would carry the Christian message beyond its earliest communities and help transform a small religious movement into a faith reaching across the Roman world.In The History of the Origins of Christianity, Book III: Saint Paul, Joseph Ernest Renan follows the extraordinary missionary career of Paul the Apostle. From Antioch and Cyprus to Asia Minor, Macedonia, Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus, Renan traces Paul’s journeys, his encounters with Jewish and Gentile communities, the churches established through his preaching, and the conflicts that emerged as Christianity moved beyond its Jewish beginnings. Drawing extensively upon Acts and the Pauline Epistles, Renan examines the historical circumstances surrounding these missions while exploring the character, convictions, and powerful personality of the apostle at their centre.More than a biography, Saint Paul investigates a decisive transformation in early Christianity: the struggle over the Law, the admission of Gentiles, the growing separation between Pauline Christianity and the Jerusalem community, and the development of ideas concerning faith, grace, salvation, and Christ. Combining historical reconstruction, biblical criticism, and vivid portraits of the ancient Mediterranean world, Renan presents a sweeping account of the missionary movement that carried Christianity outward from the East and prepared the way for its emergence as a universal religion.