He was a Jew by birth, a Roman by citizenship, and a revolutionary in spirit.

He was bent upon establishing throughout the Roman empire a series of communities, whose allegiance was not to the state but to a supranational religious kingdom. He and his associates held the belief that the world was soon to end, and that they alone would survive in some transmogrified state.

In the autumn of A.D. 59, a bald, middle-aged man with a heavy gray beard, his piercing eyes bright beneath shaggy brows, set forth by ship along the coast of Asia Minor, bound for Rome and a trial before the Emperor.

His name was Paul of Tarsus, a Jew by birth, a Roman by citizenship, and a revolutionary by choice — and he was making the journey to the center of his world, where he would in time be put to death by the Emperor Nero.

In expansive, vivid prose which quotes Scripture, Roman authors and contemporary scholarship, Ernle Bradford here brings to life the man we know as Saint Paul, the thirteenth apostle and great Christian missionary of the first century.

The son of a Pharisee, born into the Jewish aristocracy of Asia Minor, Paul voyaged to Jerusalem to study in the Temple, and was part of the crowd which stoned to death the first Christian martyr, Stephen. In this book, Paul is a proud man of many opinions, and his conversion on the road to Damascus echoes throughout the centuries as an example to those who find their saviour in Christianity.

The miracle was the turning point of Paul's life, as he journeys from Syria across the length and breadth of the Mediterranean world spread the good news of the story and teachings of Christ. Bent on establishing a series of communities whose allegiance was not to the state, but to a supernatural religious kingdom, Paul went underground, founding cell groups, speaking to secret meetings, writing letters that shared his faith and experience with his fellow revolutionaries.

Despite being stoned, scourged, imprisoned, beaten with rods, even shipwrecked, nothing deterred Paul from his mission. Tirelessly he went from Jerusalem to Antioch, from Crete to Greece, from Lycia to Cyprus; he met prisoners and merchants, priests of the ancient fertility cults and Roman officials; and in the end he made his last journey to die a martyr's death in the Rome that was to become the center of his church.

Paul was a dynamic and complex man — proud, stubborn and infinitely compassionate. Drawing on his thorough knowledge of the ancient philosophers and historians, as well as on his personal experience of the lands and seas which Paul crossed so many times, Ernle Bradford has fashioned an enthralling narrative and an eloquent biography of a man whose life may truly be said to have changed history.

Ernle Bradford (1922-1986) was an historian who wrote books on naval battles and historical figures. Among his subjects were Lord Nelson, the Mary Rose, Christopher Columbus, Julius Caesar and Hannibal. He also documented his own voyages on the Mediterranean Sea.

Sign up now to get the most out of Books2Read

Discover something great at Books2Read.

Thanks for signing up for Books2Read notifications!