The Roman empire, and various regions, had, to varying degrees, official policies relating to (and often forbidding) Christianity. We know that Christianity was a significant factor by the early second century, because we have strong evidence of persecution of Christians. There are far too many arguments against this claim than can be addressed here (obviously), but some key points I have so far taken from the book mentioned above include: I'm currently reading New Testament People God Volume 1: Christian Origins And The Question Of God, for example, which addresses this topic at length. The case is vast, and, quite literally, fills volumes. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God, That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Paul says that from the beginning he felt called to preach to the gentiles Romans 15:15-16: In Romans 11:13 Paul tells the Romans that he is the apostle to the gentiles:įor I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: We can perhaps credit Saint Paul with creating Christianity as a universal religion, away from its Judaic roots.

The key point in the question is probably to do with whether Paul 'internationalised Christianity. Brown says in An Introduction to the New Testament, page 561, that Paul’s letter implies that the Christian community had been in existence for a long time, since he had been wishing “for many years” to visit ( Romans 15:23). When Paul wrote to the Romans, he was writing to a Christian community that had been formed by others. Yet, we know there was a church in Jerusalem, under the leadership of James, Peter and John ( Galatians 2:9). Had he literally done so, there would have been no existing Christian communities before he began to preach.

Looking at the claim on its own merit, outside of the book, there are sound reasons to believe that Paul did not invent Christianity.

In presenting Paul as a charismatic marketer of a new faith, Vidal was not making a serious claim to historicity.

The most important argument against any claim made in Live from Golgotha, by Gore Vidal, is that the book is a novel, a work of fiction set in 96 CE.

Live from Golgotha by Gore Vidal