Anyone ever heard of this before?

David Paul
David Paul Member Posts: 6,070 ✭✭✭
edited November 2024 in English Forum

Tarsus was the town where "Saul of Tarsus" grew up after being deported as a child, probably as a slave with his parents from Gishala (modern Jish) in the mountain of Upper Galilee.(See Jerome and his "Commentaria in Epistolum ad Philemon" and "Paul, his story", by Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, page 2)

I took this quote from the Wikipedia article on "Tarsus". This is news to me. Has anyone else ever heard of this background info before, and does anyone have knowledge of this supposed document by Jerome? I was unsuccessful in finding anything about it online.

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Comments

  • Bruce Dunning
    Bruce Dunning MVP Posts: 11,157

    Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God

  • Christian Vazquez
    Christian Vazquez Member Posts: 1 ✭✭

    I as well have never hear of that before. I'm interested in where Jerome or who else got that info. Let's reason from Scripture. In Acts, Paul, for his faith, constantly is being imprisoned. Later, he APPEALS to Felix and later even to Caesar. He could not have done these things, have a trial, unless he was a Roman citizen.

  • Milford Charles Murray
    Milford Charles Murray Member Posts: 5,004 ✭✭✭

    Peace to  all!                   David and Bruce!         Thanks for your sharing!             All new to me, my friends!               Getting late today, but would like to take a look at this info tomorrow!                 Bruce, thanks so much for the link.  Quite interesting indeed, eh?

    Philippians 4:  4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand..........

  • Bruce Dunning
    Bruce Dunning MVP Posts: 11,157

    This is interesting and I'm intrigued to know more. Here is an extended quote from the passage you mentioned.

    “Paul was a Galilean by birth. His parents lived in Gischala (modern Jish), a village in the mountains of Upper Galilee that was famed for the quality of its olive oil. Paul would have been about two years old in 4 BC when the tranquil life of his parents was brutally disrupted.

    King Herod the Great died that year, and the country exploded. His people had hated him, and when he passed beyond their reach, they turned against his sons. These, however, had the backing of Rom, and to impose peace, Varus, the governor of Syria, twice brought his legions into Palestine. On his second expedition he destroyed Seppohoris, the capital of Galilee.

    It was standard Roman practice to make the vanquished pay for their defeat. This could have been done in various ways, but they opted for the simplest and most efficient one. They took prisoners, not just combatants, but also from the general population and sold them abroad as slaves. Paul’s parents were unlucky, and were taken by one of the Roman search parties that fanned out across Galilee when the uprising has been crushed.”

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  • Tes
    Tes Member Posts: 4,035 ✭✭✭

    Tarsus was the town where "Saul of Tarsus" grew up after being deported as a child, probably as a slave with his parents from Gishala (modern Jish) in the mountain of Upper Galilee.(See Jerome and his "Commentaria in Epistolum ad Philemon" and "Paul, his story", by Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, page 2)

    I took this quote from the Wikipedia article on "Tarsus". This is news to me. Has anyone else ever heard of this background info before, and does anyone have knowledge of this supposed document by Jerome? I was unsuccessful in finding anything about it online.

    Completely false. Paul mentioned that he was born in Tarsus on Acts 22:3.

    Blessings in Christ.

  • Room4more
    Room4more Member Posts: 1,730 ✭✭✭

    Tarsus was the capital city of the Roman province of Cilicia from 72 A.D. (see Ancient Empires - Rome). Before then it was a major linen and lumbering center during the time of the Greeks (see Ancient Empires - Greece and The Seleucids), and before that it was the seat of the provincial governor during the time of the Persians (Ancient Empires - Persia). Tarsus was known for its wealth and for its great schools which are said to have rivalled Athens and Alexandria. Located in what is today southern Turkey, it was situated adjacent to the Cydnus River, about 10 miles north of The Mediterranean Sea.

    Tarsus Tarsus is mentioned by name only 5 times in The Bible, all in relation to the apostle Paul who was born there.

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  • David Paul
    David Paul Member Posts: 6,070 ✭✭✭

    Just to be clear...though it should be obvious...the link is to Jerome Murphy O'Connor's book, not to Jerome the church father's work.

    I'm recommending Logos NOT add this book to its stable. You could learn more about Paul from a bowl of alphabet soup. [8-)]

    Would still appreciate it if someone could dig up a link, etc. to Jerome's book.

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    "The Unbelievable Work...believe it or not."  Little children...Biblical prophecy is not Christianity's friend.

  • Bruce Dunning
    Bruce Dunning MVP Posts: 11,157

    Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God

  • Dean J
    Dean J Member Posts: 308 ✭✭

    Jerome Murphy-O'Connor's book is a very important contribution to scholarship and is a great book. I would suggest that he be read before dismissing it. 

  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 14,266 ✭✭✭✭

    OK. For the no-Murphy voters, try the Catholic Encyclopedia:

    ''

    "If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 54,877

    http://www.biblestudytools.com/classics/machen-the-origin-of-pauls-religion/the-early-years.html

    A very interesting tradition preserved by Jerome does indeed make Paul a native of Gischala in Galilee; but no one to-day would be inclined to follow Krenkel in giving credence to Jerome rather than to Acts. The Gischala tradition does not look like a pure fiction, but it is evident that Jerome has at any rate exercised his peculiar talent for bringing things into confusion. Zahn 1 has suggested, with considerable plausibility, that the shorter reference to Gischala in the treatise "De viris illustribus"2 is a confused abridgment of the longer reference in the "Commentary on Philemon." 3 The latter passage asserts not that Paul himself but only that the parents of Paul came from Gischala. That assertion may possibly be correct. It would explain the Aramaic and Palestinian tradition which undoubtedly was preserved in the boyhood home of Paul.

    1Einleitung in das Neue Testament, 3te Aufl., i, 1906, pp. 48-50 (English Translation, Introduction to the New Testament, 2nd ed., 1909, 1, pp. 68-70). 1De vir. ill. 5 (ed. Vail, ii, 836). 'Comm. in Philem. 23 (ed. Vail, vii, 762).

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