Reply #38: really?

[megatherium]

Paul wrote to established Christian churches and was in contact with the other Apostles (read Acts for Paul's role in critical disputes in the early church, such as the argument as to whether non-Jews would need to be circumcised). Paul's letters date to the late 40s to the early 60s of the common era, not very long after the ministry of Jesus.

Now Paul constructs an elaborate theology to explain (to himself perhaps) what the death and resurrection of Jesus meant, a theology I have real problems with myself. Paul is also famous for stating that women should remain quiet in church, etc. Paul wasn't infallible by any means. It is also true he did not know Jesus personally. (Paul however is the only source of the quote of Jesus, "it is better to give than to receive".)

But I think it is wrong to picture Paul as some kind of huckster. He was a student of Gameliel, one of the founders of modern rabbinic Judaism. His teachings might have been wrong, but they did reflect what the early church believed, including the resurrection of Jesus (e.g. 1 Corinthians 15, which Paul wrote in the early 50s).