become a truly international and intellectually coherent religion. Paul has indeed been called the “second founder of Christianity,” who has, “compared with the first, exercised beyond all doubt the stronger … influence.”3 Even if that should be regarded as an overblown assessment of Paul’s significance, the fact remains that Paul’s influence and writings have shaped Christianity as the writings/theology of no other single individual have. The Synoptic Gospels certainly take us back closer to the