early in his Christian life as part of the elementary Christian “catechism” of the day. But this suggests that detailed knowledge of the actual wording of traditions that would a generation later be written up in the Gospels existed already in the 30s, since Paul’s conversion dates to within two to three years of Christ’s crucifixion! In 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16, Paul compares the persecution the Thessalonian Christians endured to that of the Judean Christians at the hands of their countrymen who