The History of Christianity: From the Disciples to the Dawn of the Reformation

Lecture 5: Paul and Christianity’s First Expansion

of community that had great appeal, but it also had the capacity to

disrupt the order of society.

•    Already in Paul’s letters, it is possible to see how Christianity forced

open accustomed cultural values and began to reshape them—not

all at once, never completely, and not always successfully, but it is

difficult to account for Christianity’s appeal through the centuries

without recognizing this power for social change as one of

its elements.

Hemer, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic Historiography.

Meeks and Fitzgerald, The Writings of Saint Paul.

Murphy-O’Connor, Paul: A Critical Life.

1. How is the diversity of earliest Christianity—reflected in the writings of
   the New Testament—grounded in the conditions of its first expansion?


2. Discuss the proposition that Paul is the real “founder” of Christianity.
   Does this accurately capture his role?

Suggested Reading

Questions to Consider