To understand Christianity you need to understand who Saul was and what his earthly career consisted of. Aside from Jesus Christ, Saul was the most important figure in the history of religion and has influenced every believer to this day. Was his career more of a calling, or was it considered more of a lifestyle because it was his passion and it was what he loved to do. Jesus was not the founder of Christianity as we know it today. Most of the New Testament isn't even about the historical Jesus while the main influence is the apostle Paul and through the church he founded in Ephesus a Greek convert named John. Saul never met Jesus in the flesh, only claimed some strange visions, and proceeded to paganism according to the teachings of Jesus (who preached an enlightened form of Judaism), until he created Pauline Christianity. Since there are no known writings of Jesus, the actual Apostles, or anyone who actually knew Him in the flesh (other than perhaps James), most of what He taught is lost forever, except perhaps the disputed Gnostic Gospels. The apostle Paul was born around the year 3 AD in the Jewish community of Tarsus, originally Saul. When he was born, his strict Pharisee parents dedicated him to the service of God and did everything possible to raise him as a good Jew. From the age of five to ten he studied under his father, a Jewish Pharisee. His father taught him the Scriptures and traditional writing. Saul was sent to Jerusalem at about the age of ten to attend Gamaliel's rabbinical school. Gamaliel was the most famous rabbi mentioned in the New Testament (Acts 5:34). Gamaliel soon discovered that Saul was an enthusiastic student and expected great things from him. He felt he would be a great leader… middle of paper… up. The modern study of Paul has sought to move beyond the controversies and see Paul in his true context of the rise of Christianity. Paul stands out as a Jewish Christian whose conversion experience convinced him that Christ was the universal Lord under God, the agent and leader of the kingdom of God. Paul thus argued that through Christ every barrier is broken down: «Not there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Paul of Tarsus was one of the greatest orators who ever lived, and his writings and ways of speaking are still practiced today by preachers and lay people around the world. Paul went from a manual laborer to one of the most influential writers of this century and forever changed the way Jesus Christ, my Lord, would be studied and taught throughout the world.