SOURCES

The primary sources for the period of the life of S. Paul during which he was in active personal contact with the Church of Jerusalem are the letters written by him to his converts in Galatia and at Thessalonica and Corinth. The authenticity and substantial integrity of these letters are not seriously disputed except in the case of 2 Thessalonians. This letter is not in itself of great historical importance; reasons are, however, given in the text for supposing that the objections commonly raised against its authenticity are ill-founded. The same applies to the arguments of some critics that the concluding chapters of Romans do not belong to that Epistle. In the case of 2 Corinthians reasons are given for regarding the Epistle in its present form as a combination of portions of two separate Pauline Epistles to the Corinthian community. Apart from these minor questions the Epistles of this group form our primary authority, being first-hand documents for the study of the life and work of their author.

Second only to these stands the book known as the Acts of the Apostles. It might seem natural to examine here the much-debated question of its origin, date and method of composition. Such a discussion would, however, be impossible at this point, since the answer to these questions depends very largely on the extent to which the book can be accepted as being in the main a reliable historical record of the events which it narrates.