Is Paul the founder of Christianity?
In this view, Jesus was a Jewish preacher who urged his fellow Jews to repent of their sins and turn back to the Jewish God by observing what he demanded of Jews, so they could enter the coming Kingdom [on earth].
But Christians did not think repentance and obedience could bring Christian salvation at all. It was the death and resurrection of Jesus that mattered.
Moreover, it is often said that Paul was the one who transformed Jesus' gospel about the coming Kingdom into a gospel of Jesus' death and resurrection. Is that true?
Wouldn't that mean that Paul and Jesus had different religions? And if so, then isn't Paul, rather than Jesus, the founder of Christianity?
In this episode, Megan Lewis asks Bart Ehrman about:
- Jesus’ religion was Judaism. Would it be reasonable to say that his teachings aren’t attempting to construct a theology but to explain how Jewish law should be followed and to prepare for the immanent kingdom of the Jewish god?
- Was Paul, who was Jewish, attempting to construct a new theology?
- Did Paul know that he was participating in the formation of a new religion? Would he have identified himself as a Christian?
- Paul saw himself as an apostle to the gentiles and made it clear that non-Jewish followers of Jesus did not need to convert to Judaism. How much did this contribute to the formation of Christianity as a new and distinct religion? If Paul had either focused on the Jewish community, or required conversion, do you think that followers of Jesus would have remained an offshoot of Judaism?
- Because Paul insisted on gentiles and non-conversion, and this is what pushed Christianity away from being a Jewish sect, doesn’t that make Paul the founder of Christianity?
- Does the importance of the death and resurrection of Jesus appear in his own teachings?
- Is Paul responsible for putting together writings that would be used to create a comprehensive Christian theology?
- How did so many texts associated with Paul come to be included in the New Testament? If we only have seven actual letters, why is Paul so important?
- As apostle to the Gentiles, Paul deliberately traveled to cities without a church in order to introduce Christianity and found churches. How much of an impact did he have on the spread of the religion?
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