The Pauline tradition begins with the man, Saul of Tarsus. His story is told to us in the Acts of the Apostles, with its dramatic conversion scene. Paul's story is of transformation from hater and persecutor of Christians to the foremost apostle of Christ in the new millennium.
Who is Paul in the New Testament? There continues to be controversy about his contribution to the New Testament canon. Luke Johnson (1986) noted that there are at least three major issues that relate to Paul. The first basic issue is the question of where is the real Paul located. In which of the letters is the voice that of Paul, in which instances is the voice that of his followers? This is the question of authenticity, which is fundamentally irresolvable. It requires almost a prior decision about who Paul is in order to determine what writings belong to him.
The second issue that Johnson emphasized was Paul's historical importance for early Christianity. Johnson asks, is Paul's dominance of the New Testament canon a historical reality or a theological decision? Was it mere accident that his writings were the ones preserved? How did his influence continue past his death? There is a difference between Paul the Apostle and the Pauline tradition, or school.
Finally, the third issue for Johnson is Paul's religious significance as an individual. The primary question is whether Paul faithfully interpreted Jesus' method in changing circumstances or whether Paul's influence represents a change and essentially a second founding of Christianity?
In other words, Paul is a vital, central, but troubling figure for Biblical scholars. Individual interpreters tend to pick out aspects of Paul's work and try to make them the center, or to find so much contradiction in his work that it seems unlikely to belong to one human being. However, Johnson (1986) noted that the important thing to remember in thinking about Paul is that he was fundamenta...