Overview
This engaging story collection faithfully retells the life of Saint Paul, one of the founding saints of the Christian church. The key episodes from Paul’s life—including his conversion, travels, arrest, and writings—are accompanied by warmly realistic illustrations that bring life to this charismatic man. This is an informative and insightful introduction to a Christian whose name is much heard but whose deeds are rarely told to children.
Synopsis
One of the founding apostles of the Christian church, Paul played an enormous role in history, and in this collection David Self has retold Paul's story with verve and authenticity. This volume provides an illustrated introduction to a very important Christian whose deeds are rarely told to children. A great resource for churches and libraries.
Children's Literature
The book begins with the story of how Paul, a Jewish Pharisee known as Saul, became convinced that Jesus, who had been crucified, was really the Son of God. He had been watching the coats of the men who stoned to death Stephen, one of the first Christians. Just like they believed Jesus blasphemed God by claiming to be His Son, anyone who also made such claims was committing the same sin and it was punishable by death. Saul then went to Damascus where there were many other people practicing the new religion. He was going to arrest them all and bring them back to Jerusalem for execution. On his way He has a vision from God and hears a voice asking why he is persecuting Him; the voice identifies Himself as Jesus Christ and tells Paul to go to Damascus and wait for further instructions. There, he is sent to the home of Ananias, who tells Him about Jesus, and Paul believes in Him too. From there, the book describes the journeys which Paul made all around the Mediterranean Ocean teaching people about Jesus. It tells about some of the more important people in Paul's life—Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy—who became partners on his journeys and Lydia, the first known convert in Macedonia. Paul suffered many hardships from those who did not want to believe in Jesus and tried to stop him from preaching about Him. He was stoned, shipwrecked on the way to trial, often imprisoned, and finally sent to Rome to be tried by the emperor. There, he dictated letters which were delivered to the churches he had preached at or wanted to visit. The letters tell believers in Jesus how to live good lives and encourage them to keep on believing in Jesus and doing what He taught, even when they are punished for their beliefs. Those letters are in our Holy Bible and still encourage people today. The telling of the story is based on the Good News Bible and quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. A map inside the cover shows the routes of Paul's journeys and at the back of the book is a one page summary of his life. Reviewer: Christine Cassello