25. The "Paul" of the Acts.

BORN IN THE SECOND CENTURY explores the mystery of the strange portrayal of Paul in the Acts of the Apostles. Host Chris Palmero carefully examines the stories about Paul in Acts, and explains the author's motive for depicting him as a loyal, submissive, even-tempered company man: the polar opposite of the moody, outspoken mystic who speaks from Paul's letters.

Anyone who listens to this episode can learn about the possible sources of Acts of the Apostles and the author's true motive for writing it, about that author's obsession with telling us that Paul was hardly ever alone, about whether and why Peter's career mirrors Paul's, about the author's reluctance to call Paul an "apostle," about how Acts was written in a universe that lacked the dimension of time, about Simon Magus and Stephen and Philip, about the "Hellenists" and who they really were, about Paul's supposed dual names, about the suppressed story of his conversion, about how Acts distorts two major events from his career, and whether he was bald.

Opening reading: Paul's malicious blinding of a Jewish magician is exposed as a Christian rewrite of a sectarian fable in which the Christians themselves were the original antagonists.

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