ABSTRACT
It has been said that Christianity could have been created without Jesus, but it most certainly could not exist without Paul. While such a sentiment may not be popular, and may even be construed by some as heresy, there is much truth in the statement. The bulk of the New Testament (NT) is either written by Paul (the genuine Pauline epistles), attributed to Paul (the psuedoepigrapha, epistles written by followers of Paul and attributed to him), or is about Paul (the Acts of the Apostles). As the gospels are most commonly read through the lens of John, that is, with the Johannine theology (theology of John) and Christology (ideas about Christ)2 in mind, so too the thoughts of Paul indelibly have shaped Christianity. Yet, to those who wish to find the Jesus of history, Paul offers precious little evidence.
