A SUMMARY OF PAUL’S WORLD

A SUMMARY OF PAUL’S WORLD

For a proper encapsulation of the world of St. Paul the Apostle of the Gentile, a proper elucidation of the various socio-political and religious sects and structures that was in play in the first century Roman Empire has to be overviewed. As a matter of brevity, we shall take a cursory glance at Paul’s Mediterranean Culture, the first century Roman Empire, first century Judaism, first century pagan competition and the first century roman cities.

The Mediterranean world in which Paul lived was a Hellenized world i.e. Greek culture and language oriented as a result of Alexander the great conquest. There was a strong sense of identity or group membership thus to live is to belong as part of a particular group.  Also, this sense of identity spelt out a sharp appraisal for honor and disdain for shame. The world was sectioned in a hierarchical order of elites, retainers and non-elites. In this world, the male head of the family exercise an immense authority in family level and slavery was in vogue.    

The Roman Empire in Paul’s time was largely celebrated for maintaining peace, its community structure, its mobility and unity. The motto Pax Ramona (Roman Peace) signifies the great extent to which the empire cherishes peace and its unity and thus frowns at any sect or movement that seem to deteriorate or threaten its peace and unity. More so, the Empire expresses a strong sense of community living which was structured from the Empire, to the city and the family. Furthermore, the first century Roman Empire has a considerable road network that connected cities which in turn facilitated easy movement of goods and services through major roads and seas.

The Judaism of Paul’s time is known as Second Temple Judaism because of the various groups within it that was united by basic convictions, institution and practices. Despite the fact that the first century Jews were under the Roman domination, they however set some ritual, religious and ethical boundary markers that distinguished them from others. Moreover, there was a great sense of cosmic tussle between God and the evil forces (apocalypses). Most scholars divide the apocalypses into two types, historical or horizontal and cosmic or vertical. The first century Judaism was divided into three sects which are (a) Pharisees, Sadducees, Essence, and Zealots (b) diaspora Judaism (c) mystic and God-fearers.

Furthermore, in the first century Roman Empire is found a considerable amount of pagan cults which in turn led to competition among them. These religious cults are peculiar with particular characteristics which distinguishes them for other cults. In addition to these religious cults is a multifarious philosophical current that was quite influential. However, most of the cities in which Paul visited have a long standing Histories that dates back to classical or Hellenistic Greek times. Most of the cities have ancient structures while some among them have been destroyed by war. The cities have an adequate farming environment, good road networks and harbor. More so, every city was built around an acropolis (high city) and it is constituted by the following structures; the agora, colonnades, temples and shrines etc. most impressive among these structures were the various temples. Furthermore, it appears that the city neighborhood is often naturally organized according to ethnicity or trade. In the light of these facilitates a proper understanding of Paul’s world.