The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1808 page)

Patron saint
.

A
saint
who is recognized, or has been chosen as the special protector or advocate in heaven of a particular place, church, organization, trade, etc.

 
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Pa-tuan-chin
.

A series of eight Taoist physical exercises, dating from the 12th cent. CE, to which others were added at a later date. They exist in two forms, northern (harder) and southern (easier).

 
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(d.
c.
65 CE)
. The most important early Christian
missionary
apostle
and theologian.
The main source for Paul's biography is
Acts
, which however must be tested against the sparse data in Paul's own letters. Paul (originally ‘Saul’) was a Jewish native of Tarsus in Cilicia. He was brought up as a
Pharisee
and probably studied in Jerusalem. He opposed the Christian movement, but while on a mission to Damascus (
c.
33 CE) to arrest Christians he was converted by an encounter with the risen
Christ
(described in Acts 9. 1–19), probably while practising
merkabah mysticism
. Paul's main missionary work appears to have begun fourteen or seventeen years later (Galatians 1–2). According to Acts it took the form of three missionary journeys beginning and ending at
Antioch
: 13–14, 15. 36–18. 23, 18. 23–21. He thus established congregations in south and central Asia Minor, Ephesus, and Greece. These were largely Gentile congregations, although he continued to preach in
synagogues
. He was constantly harassed by local authorities and Jewish communities (2 Corinthians 11. 24–7). He was at last arrested in Jerusalem, and sent for trial to Caesarea, and then (on his appealing to Caesar) to Rome (Acts 21–8). An early tradition holds that Paul was acquitted, and then preached in Spain before being re-arrested and put to death by the sword under Nero. The church of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome was built over the site of his burial. Feast days: with Peter, 29 June; conversion, 25 Jan.
Of the thirteen letters in Paul's name in the New Testament (
Hebrews
makes no claim to be by Paul), scholars generally, but not unanimously, distinguish seven as certainly genuine (
Romans
, 1–2
Corinthians
,
Galatians
,
Philippians
, 1
Thessalonians
,
Philemon
) and six as ‘deutero-Pauline’. The latter (
Ephesians
,
Colossians
, 2
Thessalonians
, 1–2
Timothy
,
Titus
) reflect Paul's thought more or less weakly, but are by no means certainly not written by Paul. The genuine letters date from the period from
c.
51 (1 Thessalonians) to
c.
58 (Romans). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians, known as ‘captivity epistles’, if from Paul, may have been written later in Rome, or from an earlier time in prison in Ephesus or Caesarea.
Although they are not systematic writings, Paul's letters laid the foundations for much of later Christian theology. Paul's doctrine, starting from the traditions he ‘received’ (1 Corinthians 15. 3–11), was further worked out in controversy with right-wing Jewish Christians, against whom Paul held that sinful humanity is redeemed and justified by God's
grace
through
faith
in Jesus Christ, independently of keeping the Jewish
law
. Christ's death had abrogated the Law and ushered in the new era of the
Holy Spirit
. Christians therefore form a new ‘
Israel
of God’ (Galatians 6. 16) and inherit the promises of God to Israel (see especially Galatians and Romans). The local congregation is likened to a body by Paul, and in Colossians 1. 24 the whole church is called the body of Christ. Paul expected a speedy return of Christ to judge the world (e.g. 1 Thessalonians 4) but this theme recedes in the later letters.

 
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(1468–1549)
.
Pope
, 1534–49. He received a humanist education and was made cardinal deacon by pope Alexander VI in 1493 (his nickname was ‘cardinal petticoat’, because his sister was the pope's mistress). He was not ordained priest until 1519, but he nevertheless held benefices and bishoprics. As bishop of Parma (1509), he put the reforms of the Fifth Lateran Council into effect, and began to reform his own life. Elected pope unanimously, he became ‘a renaissance pope’, encouraging artists and architects. He also undertook reform of the Church (he is sometimes called ‘the first pope of Catholic reform’) to meet the threat of
Protestantism
. He supported Charles V in his campaign to destroy the alliance of Protestants known as the Schmalkaldic League, and he excommunicated Henry VIII in 1538.

 
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(1897–1978)
.
Pope
from 21 June 1963. Born Giovanni Battista Montini near Brescia, he entered the papal secretariat of state in 1924 and served there until appointed archbishop of Milan in 1955. As pope he pledged himself to continue the policies of
John XXIII
: he continued the Second
Vatican Council
, instituted a regular
synod
of bishops to assist in governing the church, reformed the
curia
and the diplomatic service, legislated for revised
liturgical
rites, and abolished the
Index
. In 1967 he published
Humanae Vitae
which reiterated the traditional RC rejection of artificial means of birth control, and this overshadowed his more progressive actions, such as the 1975 Apostolic Exhortation
Evangelii Nuntiandi
with its implicit endorsement of some elements of
liberation theology
.