The letters of Paul run the gamut of emotions from angry to compassionate to self -pitying to self-aggrandizing and almost always cajoling. Despite the little, we know about Paul – before and after-his epiphany on the road to Damascus, we get a picture of a very complicated and contrary individual. Given that these letters (not ALL of them) seem to be authored by a single individual, how would you characterize his self-representation and his literary strategy to recruit both Jews and Gentiles in the far reaches of the Mediterranean “diaspora”? (Seven of Paul’s letters (with consensus dates) considered genuine by most scholars.
