Paul from 1954...Illustrated World Encyclopedia

Paul was one of the greatest men of the early Christian Church. He wrote more of the New Testament than any other man. He was not one of the original Apostles of Jesus, but he traveled farther to preach the gospel and won more converts to Christ than any of the others, and he is called St. Paul the Apostle. Paul was born about fifteen years after Jesus was born. His birthplace was Tarsus, a city in Asia Minor, which then belonged to Rome. Paul's family were Pharisees, strict members of the Jewish religion, but were Roman citizens. Paul was actually given the name Saul, but later he used his Roman name, Paulus, instead of his original name. As a young man Saul went to Jerusalem, where he learned to be a tentmaker and a rabbi ( teacher of the Jewish religion ). Jesus had been crucified a short time before. His disciples and a few others in Jerusalem and Damascus, a nearby city, were the only Christians. Saul was a leader in the persecuting the Christians in Jerusalem, and then he was sent to Damascus to persecute the Christians there. While Saul was on the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to him in the heavens and said, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" From that time on, Saul recongnized Jesus as his master. When he reached Damascus, he preached Christianity instead of persecuting the Christians. He was almost captured and put to death in Damascus, but he made a dramatic escape from the walled city and returned to Jerusalem to join the Christians there as Paul the Apostle.