Saul=Paul

                Today in Western Civilization we continued our PowerPoint on Christianity during the Pax Romana. Jesus was one of many preachers, however he was different in a substantial way. Jesus was believed by his followers to be the Messiah, come to end the world and bring the faithful to the Kingdom of God. Jesus was considered to be human and divine, and was deemed a threat by the Roman government and crucified. His followers believed that he was Resurrected three days later and went to heaven. His apostles (close followers then started to spread His teachings). Christians began to be persecuted and killed for their beliefs, especially by Saul of Tarsus. Saul eventually had a conversion (not described here) and was rechristened Paul. Paul then spread Christianity and it’s teachings far and wide across the known Earth, and started new churches as well as keeping in contact with those churches through letters, now known as the Letters of St. Paul. Paul talked of pre-destination the most, and spread the message of Christianity farther than Jesus did, making him a major kick-starter of Christianity. Jews and Christians were monotheistic, they didn’t believe in Roman gods. This, combined with the way Jesus taught by empowering the lowly, made them prime candidates for persecution. During the early years of Christianity and Pax Romana, it was easy to spread word to different places, and the poor, desperate Romans were a receptive audience to these teachings.