page_title: Paul the Apostle
section_title: Available sources
hierarchical_section_title: Paul the Apostle / Biography / Available sources
context_page_description: Paul the Apostle, commonly known as Saint Paul and also known by his Hebrew name Saul of Tarsus, was an apostle who taught the gospel of Christ to the first-century world. Paul is generally considered one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age and from the mid-30s to the mid-50s AD he founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe.
  According to the New Testament book Acts of the Apostles, Paul persecuted some of the early disciples of Jesus, possibly Hellenised diaspora Jews converted to Christianity, in the area of Jerusalem prior to his conversion. In the narrative of Acts, Paul was traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus on a mission to "arrest them and bring them back to Jerusalem" when the ascended Jesus appeared to him in a great light. He was struck blind, but after three days his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God. Approximately half of the book of Acts deals with Paul's life and works.
  Thirteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament have traditionally been attributed to Paul.
context_section_description: The main source for information about Paul's life is the material found in his epistles and in Acts. However, the epistles contain little information about Paul's pre-conversion past. The book of Acts recounts more information but leaves several parts of Paul's life out of its narrative, such as his probable but undocumented execution in Rome. Some scholars believe the book of Acts to also contradict Paul's epistles on multiple accounts, in particular concerning the frequency of Paul's visits to the church in Jerusalem.
  Sources outside the New Testament that mention Paul include:
  Clement of Rome's epistle to the Corinthians (late 1st/early 2nd century);
  Ignatius of Antioch's letters To the Romans and to the Ephesians (early 2nd century);
  Polycarp's letter to the Philippians (early 2nd century);
caption: The Conversion of Saul, fresco by Michelangelo, 1542–1545
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