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Paul the Traveller: Saint Paul and his World
The life of the first-century man born Saul of Tarsus, who went on to become Paul the Apostle, by the acclaimed historian and author of Thermopylae. Paul, born into Asia Minor’s Jewish aristocracy and a passionate student of scripture, was part of the crowd that killed Stephen, a deacon regarded as the first Christian martyr. But on the road to Damascus, Paul experienced a miracle that would change his life and in turn change history. His conversion left him convinced that his true master was the man who would come to be known as Jesus Christ. Drawing on his vast command of ancient history and blending it with superb storytelling skills, author Ernle Bradford weaves a tale that takes the reader from city to city as Paul spreads the teachings of Christ despite being beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked. It’s a thrilling tale and stirring biography of a man whose devotion and rhetorical genius laid the groundwork for the religion that soon swept the civilized world. Written by a historian known for immersing himself in his subjects, which range from the ancient world to World War II, this is a fascinating look at the convert who helped shape Christianity as a worldwide force.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1974
259 people are currently reading
176 people want to read
About the author
Ernle Bradford
106 books88 followersErnle Dusgate Selby Bradford was a noted British historian specializing in the Mediterranean world and naval topics. Bradford was an enthusiastic sailor himself and spent almost thirty years sailing the Mediterranean, where many of his books are set. He served in the Royal Navy during World War II, finishing as the first Lieutenant of a destroyer. He did occasional broadcast work for the BBC, was a magazine editor, and wrote many books.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 12, 2025
I really enjoyed this. Just back from a trip to Turkey, I wanted to know more about the Apostle Paul’s travels through Asia Minor. It seemed that he had been to every place we went. Ephesus, of course, but also Antalya, Konya, Cappadocia, even Troy
— and there’s lots of distance between those places and mountains in between them . . . He was born and raised in Tarsus, in eastern Turkey.
Book was published in 1974, by a British historian and sailor who lived and sailed around the Mediterranean and Aegean area for decades. I don’t think he is a professional academic historian but he quotes the Roman historians and tells a good story about Paul’s world. There is a good index and map, even if no footnotes or bibliography. 238 pages was perfect; it kept my attention throughout.
Author admires both Paul (who he describes as “the embodiment of energy, with none of it directed toward worldly advancement”) and the Roman Empire of his time, which as created a time and place where travel is safe. (Shipwrecks still happen, the Romans can control pirates but not weather.). No deep theology just a story of Paul’s life, with the emphasis on his travels and the world in which he lived. 4.5
— and there’s lots of distance between those places and mountains in between them . . . He was born and raised in Tarsus, in eastern Turkey.
Book was published in 1974, by a British historian and sailor who lived and sailed around the Mediterranean and Aegean area for decades. I don’t think he is a professional academic historian but he quotes the Roman historians and tells a good story about Paul’s world. There is a good index and map, even if no footnotes or bibliography. 238 pages was perfect; it kept my attention throughout.
Author admires both Paul (who he describes as “the embodiment of energy, with none of it directed toward worldly advancement”) and the Roman Empire of his time, which as created a time and place where travel is safe. (Shipwrecks still happen, the Romans can control pirates but not weather.). No deep theology just a story of Paul’s life, with the emphasis on his travels and the world in which he lived. 4.5
April 18, 2018
Paul the Traveller
This is a wonderfully written and scholarly book. I so appreciated all the history and legends of many of the areas the Apostle Paul travelled. I will enjoy his letters in Scripture even more than I already do. I learned so much about customs and beliefs of these ancient areas that they seemed to come to life. This book will hold your attention.
This is a wonderfully written and scholarly book. I so appreciated all the history and legends of many of the areas the Apostle Paul travelled. I will enjoy his letters in Scripture even more than I already do. I learned so much about customs and beliefs of these ancient areas that they seemed to come to life. This book will hold your attention.
March 31, 2025
Good overview of Paul's life and key events described in the Bible. Writers perspective is helpful describing how the world was organized in this time
April 10, 2021
COVID has prevented me from traveling for the past year, but through Ernie Bradford’s books I feel like I’ve traveled around the Mediterranean. I’m a big fan of these books, and it’s a shame that he’s long dead and his works have seemingly gone unappreciated.
Saul the Jew, Paul the Roman, St. Paul the Apostle. A man of many names and without a doubt, one of the most influential people to ever live. Jesus was the founder of Christianity, but without Paul, it would have been a footnote in history. A long bygone sect of Judaism that would have died out two thousand years ago.
Born a Jew but Roman Citizen in Tarsus (present day Turkey), Paul was raised in the synagogs and under Jewish Law. He became a persecutor of Christians after Jesus’s crucification until his conversion on the road to Damascus, where he had a vision that changed his life. From that day forward he spread the gospel around the Mediterranean world, establishing churches from Antioch to Malts and everywhere in between.
Paul, though he we know so little about him, was a remarkably intelligent man (who spoke Greek, Latin, and Aramaic), and one of the most eloquent poets in history (as attested in his many letters in the New Testament).
He was a revolutionary, but not one of violence. He preached love and the promise of afterlife. Christianity was able to spread because both Jew and gentile alike could convert. Women also played a very important role in early Christianity.
His travels, despite constant threat of execution, torture, etc. spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire and changed history. How different would Europe be without Christianity? Would some still practice old pagan religions? Would Islam have spread through Europe with no Christianity there to check its progress?
Paul The Traveler is more than just a book about Paul or early Christianity. Bradford always does an excellent job of putting interesting tidbits in his books and this is really a book about the Roman world in the first century. It gives one an interesting view into the Roman Empire, the early emperors, Judaism at the time, and Greco-Roman religion.
How does a man that has been dead for nearly two millennia speak to us in the present day? How do his words, written so long ago apply to us now? Here’s a famous quote from Paul:
“Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own [will], is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Saul the Jew, Paul the Roman, St. Paul the Apostle. A man of many names and without a doubt, one of the most influential people to ever live. Jesus was the founder of Christianity, but without Paul, it would have been a footnote in history. A long bygone sect of Judaism that would have died out two thousand years ago.
Born a Jew but Roman Citizen in Tarsus (present day Turkey), Paul was raised in the synagogs and under Jewish Law. He became a persecutor of Christians after Jesus’s crucification until his conversion on the road to Damascus, where he had a vision that changed his life. From that day forward he spread the gospel around the Mediterranean world, establishing churches from Antioch to Malts and everywhere in between.
Paul, though he we know so little about him, was a remarkably intelligent man (who spoke Greek, Latin, and Aramaic), and one of the most eloquent poets in history (as attested in his many letters in the New Testament).
He was a revolutionary, but not one of violence. He preached love and the promise of afterlife. Christianity was able to spread because both Jew and gentile alike could convert. Women also played a very important role in early Christianity.
His travels, despite constant threat of execution, torture, etc. spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire and changed history. How different would Europe be without Christianity? Would some still practice old pagan religions? Would Islam have spread through Europe with no Christianity there to check its progress?
Paul The Traveler is more than just a book about Paul or early Christianity. Bradford always does an excellent job of putting interesting tidbits in his books and this is really a book about the Roman world in the first century. It gives one an interesting view into the Roman Empire, the early emperors, Judaism at the time, and Greco-Roman religion.
How does a man that has been dead for nearly two millennia speak to us in the present day? How do his words, written so long ago apply to us now? Here’s a famous quote from Paul:
“Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own [will], is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
May 23, 2024
Ernle Bradford's "Paul the Traveller" is an engaging account of St Paul's mission to preach the gospel to the whole world, or the known world of his time. Bradford's vast knowledge of the Mediterranean civilizations in the first century AD is evident, and he draws from both Scriptural and Historical documentation to reveal the depth of Paul's character and motives.
My understanding of the Roman Empire, the Mediterranean cultures, the early Christian church, and the person of St. Paul has grown remarkably from reading this non-fiction account. First, the Roman Empire; we all learned in social studies class about the excesses of the Roman's which lead to the downfall of the nation. However, I had no idea just how grave these excesses were. If you think our current society is "going to hell in hand handbasket," the behavior of the Romans will make you appreciate our current mores. Roman society was extremely barbaric, glorifying violence and cruelty for entertainment, and the people of the era reveled in idolatry and perversion.
Also of interest were the relationships between the Jewish sect of the time, the Romans, and the Greeks. Paul was born and raised a devout Jew, and uniquely, a Roman citizen. His conversion to Christianity strained his relationship with his Jewish brothers and sisters because he was the foremost defender of Gentile converts not having to practice Jewish law.
I had previously felt bad for Paul; his recollection of his seemingly-never ending list of hardships always caused me to see him as a suffering servant. Ernie Bradford presents Paul as multi-dimensional, suffering, yes, but while a master of his own fate. His boldness, and his intentional perseverance directly lead him to conflict after conflict, that a different apostle would have avoided. Towards the end of his life, he is deliberate in his intent to go to Jerusalem and on to Rome, where surely there will be no happy ending.
Paul was a fascinating man of an unquenchable spirit of whom his Lord must have said, "Well done, good and faithful servant." This book is very enlightening on the time period and the individual.
My understanding of the Roman Empire, the Mediterranean cultures, the early Christian church, and the person of St. Paul has grown remarkably from reading this non-fiction account. First, the Roman Empire; we all learned in social studies class about the excesses of the Roman's which lead to the downfall of the nation. However, I had no idea just how grave these excesses were. If you think our current society is "going to hell in hand handbasket," the behavior of the Romans will make you appreciate our current mores. Roman society was extremely barbaric, glorifying violence and cruelty for entertainment, and the people of the era reveled in idolatry and perversion.
Also of interest were the relationships between the Jewish sect of the time, the Romans, and the Greeks. Paul was born and raised a devout Jew, and uniquely, a Roman citizen. His conversion to Christianity strained his relationship with his Jewish brothers and sisters because he was the foremost defender of Gentile converts not having to practice Jewish law.
I had previously felt bad for Paul; his recollection of his seemingly-never ending list of hardships always caused me to see him as a suffering servant. Ernie Bradford presents Paul as multi-dimensional, suffering, yes, but while a master of his own fate. His boldness, and his intentional perseverance directly lead him to conflict after conflict, that a different apostle would have avoided. Towards the end of his life, he is deliberate in his intent to go to Jerusalem and on to Rome, where surely there will be no happy ending.
Paul was a fascinating man of an unquenchable spirit of whom his Lord must have said, "Well done, good and faithful servant." This book is very enlightening on the time period and the individual.
February 1, 2025
An excellent biography cum travelogue of perhaps the greatest wanderer after Odysseus. From scant written Biblical as well as authentic sources, Bradford draws the picture of a man dedicated to Christ, headstrong in his declarations, a man who is at once provocative and divisive, a man of such utter faith that the hand of Christ hovers protectively over him till the very end.
This book is especially praiseworthy for its lack of melodrama and sentimentality in a biography that is written as if it were popular fiction. Most such biographies end as hagiographic tributes. An interesting light is shed on the conversion on the road to Dascascus: no special effects of celestial beings and music and lights in front; instead a very prosaic, and plausible, explanation of what might actually have taken place.
For all its devoutness (and the author is a great admirer of Paul), nevertheless it is scholarly and cites the sources for all its statements, so much of which is necessarily speculative. The geographical details are fascinating, if a little too long, as the author traces the non-stop journey of the great Apostle.
This is the biography of a man who laid the foundations of Christianity as we know it 2000 later, defending it from Gentile and Jew, from the pagan societies and ancient cults, and even from the nascent Christian societies who still clung to the Law of Moses.
This book is especially praiseworthy for its lack of melodrama and sentimentality in a biography that is written as if it were popular fiction. Most such biographies end as hagiographic tributes. An interesting light is shed on the conversion on the road to Dascascus: no special effects of celestial beings and music and lights in front; instead a very prosaic, and plausible, explanation of what might actually have taken place.
For all its devoutness (and the author is a great admirer of Paul), nevertheless it is scholarly and cites the sources for all its statements, so much of which is necessarily speculative. The geographical details are fascinating, if a little too long, as the author traces the non-stop journey of the great Apostle.
This is the biography of a man who laid the foundations of Christianity as we know it 2000 later, defending it from Gentile and Jew, from the pagan societies and ancient cults, and even from the nascent Christian societies who still clung to the Law of Moses.
July 10, 2020
This is a biased dramatization of the life of Paul, the writer of many books in the Christian New Testament. It starts out in media res with the final recorded shipwreck Paul is supposed to have experienced before he made his final stop in Rome.
Look, there was oodles of supposition in this book. I know the author was simply trying to put a human spin on the character of Paul, but there is nowhere recorded the information to create such a characterization. It was interesting the ideas advanced about Paul's nature. From what is written in the New Testament I have always thought Paul a mean-spirited weirdo with woman issues. The books attempts apology to those ideas but I am not dissuaded.
This was another free Kindle Prime Book and unless I had found a paper copy at a Goodwill for a $1 I would never have spent money for this. I can't really recommend it to anyone. There was a bit of insight to some aspects of 1st century life and I was reminded that The ruins of Pompeii date to that era. But there is not enough here for neither a theologian nor a student of history.
Look, there was oodles of supposition in this book. I know the author was simply trying to put a human spin on the character of Paul, but there is nowhere recorded the information to create such a characterization. It was interesting the ideas advanced about Paul's nature. From what is written in the New Testament I have always thought Paul a mean-spirited weirdo with woman issues. The books attempts apology to those ideas but I am not dissuaded.
This was another free Kindle Prime Book and unless I had found a paper copy at a Goodwill for a $1 I would never have spent money for this. I can't really recommend it to anyone. There was a bit of insight to some aspects of 1st century life and I was reminded that The ruins of Pompeii date to that era. But there is not enough here for neither a theologian nor a student of history.
April 1, 2021
I’m giving it 3 stars for the level of “ immersion” this author put in the study of Paul & the history of the period. But no stars for writing a work of interest that would bring a better understanding of
It was tedious reading of the different Emperors & Roman hierarchy & their exploits & intrigues. & a lot of assumptions, in my estimate, of how they impacted his formative years and subsequent adult life.
But I trudged through it looking for a bait that would hook me & so make it more interesting.
I didn’t find it.
This book could easily be a text book, an assigned reading, for students studying the Roman period.
That was not my goal.
It was tedious reading of the different Emperors & Roman hierarchy & their exploits & intrigues. & a lot of assumptions, in my estimate, of how they impacted his formative years and subsequent adult life.
But I trudged through it looking for a bait that would hook me & so make it more interesting.
I didn’t find it.
This book could easily be a text book, an assigned reading, for students studying the Roman period.
That was not my goal.
June 15, 2025
This book is well written and fun to read. If it were a novel, I would have given it four stars. Sadly, the author claims it's non-fiction. There is a lot of factual information used in the story but, just in the first 20 pages, there were at least 7 inaccuracies. To be fair, some of the inaccuracies were not the author's but came from ancient sources that other historical text and archaeological evidence have proven to be wrong. Others came from representing rumors as fact, embellishing a known event with details that aren't known. A few events in the book are either completely from imagination of the author or someone else.
February 28, 2025
Narrative Nonfiction at Its Best
This biography of Saint Paul is obviously factual, yet is lively and descriptive, reading as easily as if it were fiction. While I appreciate the ease of reading this book, I also wish for more documentation of sources. Footnotes could spoil the flow of the narrative, but endnotes or at least a bibliography would be much appreciated. Although the book lives up to its title by relating Paul’s travels in great detail, I would have liked to see more of his teaching and activities in his various ports of call.
This biography of Saint Paul is obviously factual, yet is lively and descriptive, reading as easily as if it were fiction. While I appreciate the ease of reading this book, I also wish for more documentation of sources. Footnotes could spoil the flow of the narrative, but endnotes or at least a bibliography would be much appreciated. Although the book lives up to its title by relating Paul’s travels in great detail, I would have liked to see more of his teaching and activities in his various ports of call.
October 20, 2017
Too much unnecessary history and geography for me. Hard to plow through especially at first. I was almost completely ignorant of the story of St. Paul, which is why I wanted to read this book. I still don't feel I know him. I did learn some facts about him, early history, and geography. I do feel a little closer and enlightened when hearing the readings and homilies at church that involve him.
February 8, 2025
This is a historical and cultural account of the Apostle Paul and his times. It is not a Christian study of Paul, but does provide good background of the significant characters and events during the time of Paul's life. The author does not present a biblical Christian viewpoint, and sometimes refutes the accuracy of the biblical narrative based on his own historical investigations. Although the book is historically accurate and scholarly, parts of it were beyond my interest and comprehension.
February 25, 2025
Worthwhile reading for every Christian
This book is a great companion to the book of Acts, Worthwhile for any Christian looking to put Paul's missions & ministry in the context of secular history of the world in his lifetime. It would be useful to have a map or two on hand to help with the geography of the areas where he traveled
This book is a great companion to the book of Acts, Worthwhile for any Christian looking to put Paul's missions & ministry in the context of secular history of the world in his lifetime. It would be useful to have a map or two on hand to help with the geography of the areas where he traveled
November 8, 2022
Paul Comes Alive
Paul’s life is illuminated as never before. You feel as if you are part of that life. His writings are tied together and the backgrounds that is provided makes you know this incredible apostle as never before. Most excellent book. Highly recommended!
Paul’s life is illuminated as never before. You feel as if you are part of that life. His writings are tied together and the backgrounds that is provided makes you know this incredible apostle as never before. Most excellent book. Highly recommended!
March 18, 2025
insight into a evangelist
Well written and the detailed geographic descriptions made this book come to life in ancient times.
I lead me to a deeper insight of the life and times of St.Paul.
Well written and the detailed geographic descriptions made this book come to life in ancient times.
I lead me to a deeper insight of the life and times of St.Paul.
February 10, 2020
Not too good. Author took a lot of liberties with the text.
December 26, 2022
A well-written book mostly about Saint Paul's world, and not that much about him. Very detailed descriptions of the world made this a somewhat laborious read.
January 2, 2025
Originally published in 1975? I think it must be older than that. Interesting read, especially with maps on my phone. No maps in the book.
February 17, 2025
The life and times of Paul the apostle.
March 29, 2020
Brilliant narrative of St Paul's journeys and ordeals.
It reads like a novel and is completely gripping. Gives great insight into St Paul's character. I feel like I know St Paul a lot better and will read his letters with a !ot more understanding.
It reads like a novel and is completely gripping. Gives great insight into St Paul's character. I feel like I know St Paul a lot better and will read his letters with a !ot more understanding.
February 25, 2020
The journey of Saint Paul
This is an interesting version of the Story of Paul of Tarsus. From his conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus it follows his Journey as written in the Acts of the Apostles to his ending in Rome. Ernle Bradford writes with feeling about Paul's courage and determination to spread The Way along the Mediterranean. I would have been interested to read a list of references used. An intriguing book.
This is an interesting version of the Story of Paul of Tarsus. From his conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus it follows his Journey as written in the Acts of the Apostles to his ending in Rome. Ernle Bradford writes with feeling about Paul's courage and determination to spread The Way along the Mediterranean. I would have been interested to read a list of references used. An intriguing book.
June 30, 2016
Thoroughly enjoyed Ernle Bradford's fictional rendition of Paul's life.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews