According to the widely known account recorded
in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul carried out three well-defined missionary
journeys (see maps). The letters reveal that Paul's missionary itinerary
was guided by three major concerns: (1) the vocation of a missionary to
work in territory as yet unreached by other Christian evangelists-hence
his plan to go as far west as Spain (see Romans 15:24, 28; see also Romans
1:14); (2) the concern of a pastor to revisit his own congregations as
problems arose-hence, for example, Paul's several visits to Corinth; and
(3) an unshakable determination to collect money from his largely Gentile
churches and to deliver the collection himself to the Jewish Christian
church in Jerusalem. Although scholars do not fully understand Paul's motive
for this endeavor, it is certain that he wished by it to bring together
the churches of his Gentile mission with those of the Jewish Christians
in Palestine.
From Acts it is known that Paul was arrested
in Jerusalem after riots incited by his Jewish opponents, and that he was
finally taken to Rome; it is also in Acts that Paul speaks of the possibility
of his own death (see Acts 20:24; see also Acts 20:38). He was executed
in Rome, probably in AD62; Christian tradition from the 4th century fixes
the day as February 22.
The New Testament contains 13 letters bearing
Paul's name as author, and 7 of these were almost certainly written by
Paul himself: 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians,
Romans, Philippians, and Philemon. These letters, in which Paul occasionally
speaks of his personal experience and his work, are the major source of
knowledge about the course of his life; most scholars concentrate on them
and consult the Acts of the Apostles as a supplementary source.
"Paul, Saint," Microsoft® Encarta®
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