Paul and Jesus

7. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/st_paul_burial_place_confirmed/. Tradition has it that Paul’s body was reburied in this sarcophagus in the late fourth century, with his head moved to the Lateran. The sarcophagus measures 8.4 x 4.1 x 3.2 feet.

8. The traditional date of Paul’s death on the Catholic calendar is June 29, A.D. 67. Most scholars would put it a year or two earlier and A.D. 64 is a possibility, since we know of Nero’s persecution of the Christians in Rome in the summer of that year following a fire that burned down a large portion of the city; see Tacitus Annales 15.44. The Church of the Martyrdom of St. Paul, at Tre Fontane, constructed in 1599, enclosed a fifth-century church containing a much older shrine (Ad Aquas Salvias) that venerated the stone column said to be the one over which Paul stretched his neck for the beheading. That column is visible today in a tiny alcove just to the left of the main altar enclosed by an iron gate, alongside three fountains. Legend has it that when Paul was executed, his decapitated head bounced three times, and each time a fountain sprang up as divine testimony to his greatness. The fountains are also incorporated inside the church today, just to the left of the stone column. The church is a small one with the deaths of both Peter and Paul depicted in vivid detail on paintings and carved frescoes. One hears the constant splashing of running water in its dimly lit interior. In 1867 excavations conducted at the site revealed the original mosaic floor of the church, the Roman-period street, and some coins from the time of Nero.

9. See Eusebius, Church History 2.25.5–7. Eusebius notes the general location on the Ostian Way. Later tradition explains that a wealthy Christian woman named Lucina offered the burial space. Other contradictory traditions have Peter and Paul killed at the same time and buried alongside one another at the site of St. Peter’s Basilica. A highly embellished legendary account is found in the third-century Acts of Paul 11.

10. The pope’s announcement coincided with the last day of the “Year of Saint Paul,” which had run from June 29, 2008, through June 29, 2009, commemorating the two-thousandth anniversary of Paul’s birth. Veneration of Paul during that year was declared an occasion of special “indulgence” for sins committed; see the pope’s proclamation at the basilica: http://www.annopaolino.org/interno.asp?id=2⟨=eng

11. http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0903064.htm.

INTRODUCTION: PAUL AND JESUS

1. The only solid chronological peg we have in the letters of Paul is his reference in 2 Corinthians 11:32–33 to the period of his initial vision of Christ in the territory of Damascus during the reign of Nabatean ruler Aretas IV, who ruled the city between A.D. 37 and 39. This dating coincides with a valuable newly recovered early Christian document, the Syriac Ascents of James, which mentions Saul’s journey to Damascus taking place seven years after the crucifixion. See Robert E. Van Voorst, The Ascents of James (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989), p. 59.

2. See Steve Mason, Josephus, Judea, and Christian Origins: Methods and Categories (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2009), pp. 283–328. There is a summary of Mason’s main argument at http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/mason3.shtml.

3. Ibid., pp. 283–302.

4. Among these, in chronological order, were Judas the Galilean (4 B.C.); Simon of Perea (4 B.C.); Anthroges, called the “Shepherd king” (4 B.C.); an unnamed Samaritan (c. A.D. 36); Theudas; an unnamed figure Josephus calls the “Egyptian” (c. A.D. 56); Menahem son of Judas (A.D. 66); and John of Gischala (A.D. 66). See any index to the works of Josephus for the various references. Theudas and the “Egyptian” are also mentioned in the book of Acts, most probably based upon Josephus (Acts 5:36; 21:38); see Steve Mason, “Josephus and Luke-Acts,” in Josephus and the New Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1992), pp. 185–229. In addition to the figures that Josephus mentions there was the “Teacher of Righteousness,” mentioned often in the Dead Sea Scrolls (e.g., Damascus Document 1:11; 20:32; 1QpHab 2:2). He is never named, though he apparently lived in the first century B.C., and like the others, was persecuted and killed for his claims. See the fascinating treatments by Michael O. Wise, The First Messiah: Investigating the Savior Before Christ (New York: Harper, 1999), and Israel Knohl, The Messiah Before Jesus: The Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002).