{{Infobox saint | name=Paul the Apostle | birth_date=ca. AD 5 | death_date=ca. AD 67 was one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with his writings forming a considerable portion of the New Testament. His influence on Christian thinking has been significant due to his role as a prominent apostle of Christianity during the spreading of the Gospel through early Christian communities across the Roman Empire.

According to the Bible, Paul was known as Saul prior to his conversion, and was dedicated to the persecution of the early disciples of Jesus in the area of Jerusalem. While traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus on a mission to "bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem", the resurrected Jesus appeared to him in a great light. Saul was struck blind, but after three days his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus, and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God.

Along with Simon Peter and James the Just he was one of the most prominent early Christian leaders. He was also a Roman citizen—a fact that afforded him a privileged legal status with respect to laws, property, and governance.

Fourteen epistles in the New Testament are attributed to Paul. His authorship of seven of the fourteen is questioned by modern scholars. Augustine of Hippo developed Paul's idea that salvation is based on faith and not "Works of the Law". Martin Luther's interpretation of Paul's writings heavily influenced Luther's doctrine of sola fide.

Paul's conversion dramatically changed the course of his life. Through his missionary activity and writings he eventually transformed religious belief and philosophy around the Mediterranean Basin. His leadership, influence and legacy led to the formation of communities dominated by Gentile groups that worshiped the God of Israel, adhered to the Judaic "moral code", but relaxed or abandoned the "ritual" and dietary obligations of the Mosaic law all on the basis of Paul's teachings of the life and works of Jesus Christ and his teaching of a new covenant (or "new testament") established through Jesus' death and resurrection. The Bible does not record Paul's death.

Sources

The main source for historical information about Paul's life is the material found in several of his epistles and the Book of Acts. However, these epistles contain comparatively little information about Paul's past. The Book of Acts also recounts Paul's career but leaves several parts of Paul's life out of its narrative, such as his (alleged) execution in Rome. Scholars such as Hans Conzelmann and 20th century theologian John Knox (not to be confused with the 16th century John Knox) dispute the historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles. Paul's own account of his background is found particularly in Galatians. According to some scholars, the account in ''Acts'' of Paul visiting Jerusalem contradicts the account in Paul's letters. (See the Acts of the Apostles article). Some scholars consider Paul's accounts to be more reliable than those found in Acts.

Names

Along with being ethnically Jewish, Paul was born a Roman citizen . "Paul" was part of his three-part Roman name. His given name was Saul (), perhaps after the biblical King Saul, a fellow Benjaminite and the first king of Israel who was replaced by King David, the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel. In , in Latin ''Paulus'' or ''Paullus'', in ''Šaʾul HaTarsi'' (''Saul of Tarsus'')

When Jesus spoke to him prior to his conversion to Christianity on the Road to Damascus, Jesus called him "Saul" in confronting him for persecuting the Christians: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Shortly thereafter, in addressing a disciple named Ananias, Jesus referred to "a man from Tarsus named Saul."

The earliest biblical reference to his being called "Paul" is recorded in : "...Saul, who was also called Paul...." All subsequent New Testament verses refer to him as "Paul" or with the appended title "Apostle Paul."

Prior to conversion

Paul, whose Hebrew name was Saul, claimed to be "of the stock of Israel, ''of'' the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee." But the Bible reveals very little about Paul's family. Paul's "sister's son" is mentioned in . ''Acts'' also quotes Paul indirectly referring to his father by saying he was "a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee".

''Acts'' identifies Paul as from the Mediterranean city of Tarsus (in present-day south-central Turkey), well-known for its intellectual environment . He was also born a citizen of Rome, an honor not often granted to "outsiders." It is possible that Paul's family purchased the Tarsian citizenship with money earned from their trade. His family were tent-makers, a trade that Paul uses to support himself throughout his ministry. Scripture does not say how Paul's family acquired a Roman citizenship, but scholars speculate that his father or grandfather may have been honored with it for some sort of military service.

Although born in Tarsus, Paul was raised in Jerusalem "at the feet of Gamaliel" , a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the mid 1st century CE. Gamaliel once gave very level headed advice to the Sanhedrin in , to "refrain" from slaying the disciples of Jesus. This is in great contrast to the rashness of his student Saul, who zealously persecuted the "saints".

Paul confesses that "beyond measure" he persecuted the "church of God" prior to his conversion. ''Acts'' records how Paul as a young man stood by and guarded the coats of those who stoned Stephen, the first Christian martyr.

Conversion and mission

Paul's conversion can be dated to 31 – 36 by his reference to it in one of his letters. According to the Acts of the Apostles, his conversion (or metanoia) took place on the road to Damascus where he claimed to have experienced a vision of the resurrected Jesus after which he was temporarily blinded. Luke, the author of Acts of the Apostles, likely learned of his conversion from one of these three sources: Paul himself, from the church in Jerusalem, or from the church in Antioch.

Post-conversion testimony

In the opening verses of , Paul provides a litany of his own apostolic claim and his post-conversion convictions about the risen Christ:

Paul describes himself as

*a servant of Christ Jesus

*called to be an apostle

*set apart for the gospel of God

Paul describes Jesus as

*having been promised by God "beforehand" through his prophets in the holy Scriptures

*being the Son of God

having biological lineage from David ("according to the flesh")

*having been declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead

*being Jesus Christ our Lord

*the One through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, "including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ."

Paul's writings give some insight into his thinking regarding his relationship with Judaism. He is strongly critical both theologically and empirically of claims of moral or lineal superiority of Jews while conversely strongly sustaining the notion of a special place for the Children of Israel.

Paul asserted that he received the Gospel not from any person, but by a personal revelation of Jesus Christ. Paul claimed independence from the Jerusalem community (possibly in the Cenacle), but was just as quick to claim agreement with it on the nature and content of the gospel. What is remarkable about such a conversion is the changes in the thinking that had to take place. He had to change his concept of who the messiah was, particularly the absurdity of accepting a crucifed messiah. Perhaps more challenging was changing his conception of the ethnic superiority of the Jewish people. There are debates as to whether Paul understood himself as commissioned to take the gospel to the Gentiles at the moment of his conversion.

Early ministry

After his conversion, Paul went to Damascus, where Acts states he was healed of his blindness and baptized by Ananias of Damascus. Paul says that it was in Damascus that he barely escaped death . Paul also says that he then went first to Arabia, and then came back to Damascus. Paul's trip to Arabia is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, and some suppose he actually travelled to Mt. Sinai for meditations in the desert. He describes in Galatians how three years after his conversion he went to Jerusalem. There he met James and stayed with Simon Peter for 15 days.

Paul asserted that he received the Gospel not from any person, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.. Paul claimed almost total independence from the Jerusalem community. At the end of this time, Barnabas went to find Paul and brought him back to Antioch.

When a famine occurred in Judea, around 45–46, Paul and Barnabas journeyed to Jerusalem to deliver financial support from the Antioch community. According to Acts, Antioch had become an alternative center for Christians following the dispersion of the believers after the death of Stephen. It was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called "Christians."

First missionary journey

The author of the Acts arranges Paul's travels into three separate journeys. The first journey, led initially by Barnabas, takes Paul from Antioch to Cyprus then southern Asia Minor (Anatolia), and back to Antioch. In Cyprus, Paul rebukes and blinds Elymas the magician who was criticizing their teachings. From this point on, Paul is described as the leader of the group.

They sail to Perga in Pamhylis. John Mark leaves them and returns to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas go on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they go to the Synagogue. The leaders invite them to speak. Paul reviews Israelite history from life in Egypt to King David. He introduces Jesus as a descendant of David brought to Israel by God. He said that his team came to town to bring the message of salvation. He recounts the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. He quotes from the Hebrew scriptures to show that Jesus was the promised Messiah who brought them forgiveness for their sins. Both the Jews and the 'God-fearing' Gentiles invited them talk more the next Sabbath. At that time almost the whole city gathered. This upset some influential Jews who spoke against them. Paul used the occasion to announce a change in his mission which from then on would be to the Gentiles.

Antioch served as a major Christian center for Paul's evangelizing.

Second missionary journey

Paul leaves for his second missionary journey from Jerusalem, in late Autumn 49, after the meeting of the Jerusalem council where the circumcision question was debated. On their trip around the Mediterranean sea, Paul and his companion Barnabas stopped in Antioch where they had a sharp argument about taking John Mark with them on their trips. The book of Acts said that John Mark had left them in a previous trip and gone home. Unable to resolve the dispute, Paul and Barnabas decided to separate; Barnabas took John Mark with him, while Silas joined Paul.

Paul and Silas initially visited Tarsus (Paul's hometown), Derbe and Lystra. In Lystra, they met Timothy, a disciple who was spoken well of, and decided to take him with them. The Church kept growing, adding believers, and strengthening their faith daily.

In Philippi, men who were not happy about the conversion of their slave turned the city against the missionaries and Paul and Silas were put in jail. After a miraculous earthquake, the gates of the prison fell apart and Paul and Silas were able to escape; this event led to the conversion of the jailor. They continued traveling, going by Berea and then to Athens where Paul preached to the Jews and God-fearing Greeks in the synagogue and to the Greek intellectuals in the Areopagus.

Around 50–52, Paul spent 18 months in Corinth. The reference in Acts to proconsul Gallio helps ascertain this date (cf. Gallio inscription). Paul met Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth who became faithful believers and helped Paul through his other missionary journeys. The couple followed Paul and his companions to Ephesus, and stayed there to start one of the strongest and most faithful churches at that time. In 52, the missionaries sailed to Caesarea to greet the Church there and then traveled north to Antioch where they stayed for about a year before leaving again on their third missionary journey.

Third missionary journey

Paul began his third missionary journey by traveling all around the region of Galatia and Phrygia to strengthen, teach and rebuke the believers. Paul then traveled to Ephesus, an important center for early Christianity, and stayed there for almost 3 years. He performed numerous miracles, healing people and casting out demons, and he apparently organized missionary activity into the hinterlands. Paul left Ephesus after an attack from a local silversmith resulted in a pro-Artemis riot involving most of the city. During his stay in Ephesus, Paul wrote 4 letters to the church in Corinth admonishing them for their pagan behavior.

Then Paul went through Macedonia and up to Greece, and as he was getting ready to leave for Syria, he changed his plans because of Jews who had made a plot against him and had to go back through Macedonia. At this time it is likely that Paul visited Corinth for three months (56–57). In Paul wrote that he visited Illyricum, but he may have meant what would now be called Illyria Graeca that was part of the Roman province of Macedonia, which is now modern day Albania.

Paul and his companions hit other cities on their way back to Jerusalem such as Philippi, Troas, Miletus, Rhodes, and Tyre. Paul finished his trip with a stop in Caesarea where he and his companions stayed with Philip the Evangelist before finally arriving at Jerusalem.

Journey to Rome and beyond

After Paul's arrival in Jerusalem at the end of his third missionary journey, he became involved in a serious conflict with some Asian Jews. The conflict eventually led to Paul's arrest and eventual imprisonment in Caesarea for about a year and a half. Finally, Paul and his companions sailed for Rome where Paul would eventually stand trial for his alleged crimes. ''Acts'' states that Paul preached in Rome for two years from his rented home while awaiting trial. It does not state what happened after this time, but it is likely Paul was freed by Nero and continued to preach in Rome. It is possible that Paul also traveled to other countries like Spain and Britain before dying as a martyr. See the ''Arrest and death'' section below.

Persecution

Many plots were made against Paul in the last years of his life, especially by Jews who would stir the crowd and excite them when Paul was preaching . He was beaten more than once, and put in prison. He was persecuted in every one of his missionary journeys. He was persecuted because of a “lack of understanding, preconceptions, irritations and provocation.” The message of a risen Christ and Savior was aggravating for Jews as well as many pagan believers. During his first missionary journey, Paul was stoned in the city of Lystra for healing a crippled man. Some Jews dragged him out of the city thinking he was dead but when his disciples came around him, he miraculously got up and went into the city. Paul was also put in prison while he was in Philippi and also in Jerusalem.

Council of Jerusalem

Most scholars agree that a vital meeting between Paul and the Jerusalem church took place some time in the years 48 to 50, described in and usually seen as the same event mentioned by Paul in . The key question raised was whether Gentile converts needed to be circumcised. At this meeting, Paul claims in his letter to the Galatians that Peter, James, and John accepted Paul's mission to the Gentiles. See also Circumcision controversy in early Christianity.

Jerusalem meetings are mentioned in Acts, in Paul's letters, and some appear in both. For example, the Jerusalem visit for famine relief apparently corresponds to the "first visit" (to Cephas and James only). F. F. Bruce suggested that the "fourteen years" could be from Paul's conversion rather than the first visit to Jerusalem.

Incident at Antioch

Despite the agreement achieved at the Council of Jerusalem, as understood by Paul, Paul recounts how he later publicly confronted Peter, also called the "Incident at Antioch" over Peter's reluctance to share a meal with Gentile Christians in Antioch.

Writing later of the incident, Paul recounts: "I opposed [Peter] to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong". Paul reports that he told Peter: "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?" Paul also mentions that even Barnabas (his traveling companion and fellow apostle until that time) sided with Peter.

The final outcome of the incident remains uncertain. The Catholic Encyclopedia states: "Paul's account of the incident leaves no doubt that Peter saw the justice of the rebuke." In contrast, L. Michael White's ''From Jesus to Christianity'' claims: "The blowup with Peter was a total failure of political bravado, and Paul soon left Antioch as persona non grata, never again to return."

The primary source for the ''Incident at Antioch'' is Paul's letter to the Galatians.

Visits to Jerusalem in Acts and the epistles

This table is adapted from White, ''From Jesus to Christianity.'' Note that the matching of Paul's travels in the Acts and the travels in his Epistles is done for the reader's convenience and is not approved of by all scholars.

	* First visit to Jerusalem	** "after many days" of Damascus conversion	** preaches openly in Jerusalem with Barnabas	** meets apostles		* First visit to Jerusalem	** three years after Damascus conversion	** sees only Cephas (Peter) and James
	* Second visit to Jerusalem,	** for famine relief		* There is debate over whether Paul's visit in Galatians 2 refers to the visit for famine relief (Acts 11:30, 12:25) or the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15). If it refers to the former, then this was the trip made "after an interval of fourteen years" (Gal. 2:1).
	* Third visit to Jerusalem	** with Barnabas	** "Council of Jerusalem"	** followed by confrontation with Barnabas in Antioch		* Another visit to Jerusalem	** 14 years later (after Damascus conversion?)	** with Barnabas and Titus	** possibly the "Council of Jerusalem"	** Paul agrees to "remember the poor"	** followed by confrontation with Peter and Barnabas in Antioch
	* Fourth visit to Jerusalem	** to "greet the church"		* Apparently unmentioned.
	* Fifth visit to Jerusalem	** after an absence of several years	** to bring gifts for the poor and to present offerings	** Paul arrested		* Another visit to Jerusalem	** to deliver the collection for the poor

Arrest and death

Paul arrived in Jerusalem in 57 with a collection of money for the community there. Acts reports that he was warmly received. But Acts goes on to recount how he was interrogated by James for 'teaching all the Jews living among the gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs'.(Acts 21, 21) Paul underwent a purification ritual in order to give the Jews no grounds to bring accusations against him for not following their law. Paul however continued to preach against circumcision, Jewish dietary restrictions, and other requirements of the Torah. This made a final rift inevitable with the Jews. Paul caused a stir when he appeared at the Temple, and he escaped being killed by the crowd by being taken into custody. He was held as a prisoner for two years in Caesarea until a new governor reopened his case in 59. When accused of treason, he appealed to Caesar, claiming his right as a citizen of Rome to appear there before a proper court and to defend himself of the charges.

Acts recounts that on the way to Rome Paul was shipwrecked on "Melite" (Malta), where he was met by Publius and the islanders, who showed him "unusual kindness". He arrived in Rome ''c'' 60 and spent two years under house arrest. All told, during his ministry the Apostle Paul spent roughly 5½ to 6 years as a prisoner or in prison.

Irenaeus of Lyons in the 2nd century believed that Peter and Paul had been the founders of the Church in Rome and had appointed Linus as succeeding bishop. Paul was not a bishop of Rome nor did he bring Christianity to Rome since there were already Christians in Rome when he arrived there (Acts 28:14-15). Also Paul wrote his letter to the church at Rome before he had visited Rome (Romans 1:1,7,11-13; 15:23-29). However, Paul would have played an important role in the life of the early church at Rome.

Neither the Bible nor other history says how or when Paul died. According to Christian tradition, Paul was beheaded in Rome during the reign of Nero around the mid-60s at ''Tre Fontane Abbey'' (English: Three Fountains Abbey). By comparison, tradition has Peter being crucified upside-down. Paul's Roman citizenship accorded him the more merciful death by beheading.

In June 2009, Pope Benedict announced excavation results concerning the tomb of Paul at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. The sarcophagus was not opened but was examined by means of a probe, which revealed pieces of incense, purple and blue linen, and small bone fragments. The bone was radiocarbon dated to the 1st or 2nd century. According to the Vatican, these findings were consistent with the traditional claim that the tomb is Paul's.

Writings

Fourteen epistles in the New Testament are attributed to Paul. Seven of these -- Romans, 1st Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Phillipians, 1st Thessalonians and Philemon -- are almost universally accepted as being actually written by Paul. Scholars generally agree that four others were not written by Paul, those being 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews. As to the remaining three -- Ephesians, Colossians and 2nd Thessalonians -- scholars are almost evenly divided. Of those written by Paul, all except Galatians appear to have been dictated through a secretary, who would paraphrase the message, as was the practice among 1st-century scribes. The epistles were circulated in the Christian community and read aloud by church members along with other works. Paul's epistles were viewed from early times as scripture and later established as Canon of Scripture. Critical scholars regard Paul's epistles, which were written between 50 and 62 AD, to be the earliest books of the New Testament. They are referenced as early as c. 96 by Clement of Rome.

Authorship

Paul's letters are largely written to churches which he had visited; he was a great traveler, visiting Cyprus, Asia Minor (modern Turkey), mainland Greece, Crete, and Rome. His letters are full of expositions of what Christians should believe and how they should live. He does not tell his correspondents (or the modern reader) much about the life of Jesus; his most explicit references are to the Last Supper and the crucifixion and resurrection. His specific references to Jesus' teaching are likewise sparse, raising the question, still disputed, as to how consistent his account of the faith is with that of the four canonical Gospels, Acts, and the Epistle of James. The view that Paul's Christ is very different from the historical Jesus has been expounded by Adolf Harnack among many others. Nevertheless, he provides the first written account of what it is to be a Christian and thus of Christian spirituality.

Of the fourteen letters attributed to Paul and included in the Western New Testament canon, there is little or no dispute that Paul actually wrote at least seven, those being Romans, First Corinthians, Second Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, First Thessalonians, and Philemon. Hebrews (no relation to the Gospel according to the Hebrews), which was ascribed to him in antiquity, was questioned even then, never having an ancient attribution, and in modern times is considered by most experts as not by Paul (see also Antilegomena). The authorship of the remaining six Pauline epistles is disputed to varying degrees.

The authenticity of Colossians has been questioned on the grounds that it contains an otherwise unparalleled description (among his writings) of Jesus as 'the image of the invisible God,' a Christology found elsewhere only in John's gospel. On the other hand, the personal notes in the letter connect it to Philemon, unquestionably the work of Paul. Internal evidence shows close connection with Philippians. Ephesians is a very similar letter to Colossians, but is almost entirely lacking in personal reminiscences. Its style is unique. It lacks the emphasis on the cross to be found in other Pauline writings, reference to the Second Coming is missing, and Christian marriage is exalted in a way which contrasts with the reference in . Finally, according to R.E. Brown, it exalts the Church in a way suggestive of a second generation of Christians, 'built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets' now past. The defenders of its Pauline authorship argue that it was intended to be read by a number of different churches and that it marks the final stage of the development of Paul of Tarsus's thinking. It has to be noted, too, that the moral portion of the Epistle, consisting of the last two chapters has the closest affinity with similar portions of other Epistles, while the whole admirably fits in with the known details of St. Paul's life, and throws considerable light upon them.

The Pastoral Epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus have likewise been put in question as Pauline works. Three main reasons are advanced: first, their difference in vocabulary, style, and theology from Paul's acknowledged writings; Defenders of the authenticity note, that they were then probably written in the name and with the authority of the Apostle by one of his companions, to whom he distinctly explained what had to be written, or to whom he gave a written summary of the points to be developed, and that when the letters were finished, St. Paul read them through, approved them, and signed them. Secondly, the difficulty in fitting them into Paul's biography as we have it. They, like Colossians and Ephesians, were written from prison but suppose Paul's release and travel thereafter. However, Christianity was not yet declared a religio illicita at the time they were written, and according to Roman law there was nothing deserving of death against him. Finally, the concerns expressed are very much the practical ones as to how a church should function. They are more about maintenance than about mission.

2 Thessalonians, like Colossians, is questioned on stylistic grounds, with some noting, among other peculiarities, a dependence on 1 Thessalonians yet a distinctiveness in language from the Pauline corpus. This, again, is explainable by the possibility of St. Paul requesting one of his companions to write the letter for him under his instructions.

Atonement

Paul wrote down much of the theology of atonement. Paul taught that Christians are redeemed from the Law (see Supersessionism) and from sin by Jesus' death and resurrection. His death was an expiation; as well as a propitiation, and by Christ's blood, peace is made between God and man. By baptism, a Christian shares in Jesus' death and in his victory over death, gaining, as a free gift, a new, justified status of sonship.

Relationship with Judaism

Some scholars see Paul (or Saul) as completely in line with 1st-century Judaism (a "Pharisee" and student of Gamaliel), others see him as opposed to 1st-century Judaism (see Marcionism), while still others see him as somewhere in between these two extremes, opposed to "Ritual Laws" (see for example Circumcision controversy in early Christianity) but in full agreement on "Divine Law". These views of Paul are paralleled by the views of Biblical law in Christianity.

Paul's theology of the gospel accelerated the separation of the messianic sect of Christians from Judaism, a development contrary to Paul's own intent. He wrote that the faith of Christ was alone decisive in salvation for Jews and Gentiles alike, making the schism between the followers of Christ and mainstream Jews inevitable and permanent. He argued that Gentile converts did not need to become Jews, get circumcised, follow Jewish dietary restrictions, or otherwise observe Mosaic laws. Nevertheless, in Romans he insisted on the positive value of the Law, as a moral guide.

E. P. Sanders' publications have since been taken up by Professor James Dunn who coined the phrase "The New Perspective on Paul" and N.T. Wright, the Anglican Bishop of Durham. Wright, noting a difference between Galatians and Romans, the later being much more positive about the continuing covenant between God and his ancient people than the former, contends that works are not insignificant but rather proof of attaining the redemption of Jesus Christ by grace (free gift received by faith) and that Paul distinguishes between works which are signs of ethnic identity and those which are a sign of obedience to Christ.

World to come

According to Ehrman, Paul believed that Jesus would return within his lifetime. He states that Paul expected that Christians who had died in the mean time would be resurrected to share in God's kingdom, and he believed that the saved would be transformed, assuming supernatural bodies.

Paul's teaching about the end of the world is expressed most clearly in his letters to the Christians at Thessalonica. Heavily persecuted, it appears that they had written asking him first about those who had died already, and, secondly, when they should expect the end. He assures them that the dead will rise first and be followed by those left alive. This suggests an imminence of the end but he is unspecific about times and seasons, and encourages his hearers to expect a delay. The form of the end will be a battle between Jesus and the man of lawlessness whose conclusion is the triumph of Christ.

Role of women

A verse in the first letter to Timothy, 1 Timothy 2:12 ("I suffer not a woman"), traditionally attributed to Paul, is often used as the main biblical authority for prohibiting women from becoming ordained clergy and or holding certain other positions of ministry and leadership in Christianity, though Paul's authorship of this letter is debated. The Letter to Timothy is also often used by many churches to deny women a vote in church affairs, reject women from serving as teachers of adult Bible classes, prevent them from serving as missionaries, and generally disenfranchise women from the duties and privileges of church leadership. The apparent message of this verse may seem anachronistic to 21st century Western societies with their emphasis on gender egalitarianism and non-discrimination.

The KJV translation of this passage seems to be saying that women in the churches are to have no leadership roles vis a vis men. Whether it also forbids women from teaching children and women is dubious as even those Catholic churches that prohibit female priests, permit female abbesses to teach and exercise authority over other females. Any interpretation of this portion of Scripture must wrestle with the theological, contextual, syntactical, and lexical difficulties embedded within these few words. Fuller Seminary theologian J. R. Daniel Kirk finds evidence in Paul’s letters of a much more inclusive view of women. He writes that is a tremendously important witness to the important role of women in the early church. Paul praises Phoebe for her work as a deaconess and Junia who was (according to some scholars) an Apostle. Kirk points to recent studies that have led "many scholars" to conclude that the passage in ordering women to "be silent" during worship was a later addition, apparently by a different author, and not part of Paul’s original letter to Corinth. Other scholars such as Giancarlo Biguzzi, claim that Paul's restriction on women speaking in is genuine to Paul but applies to a particular case of prohibiting asking questions or chatting and is not a general prohibition on any woman speaking since in Paul affirms the right of women to prophesy. Kirk's third example of a more inclusive view is : "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, ''male nor female'', for you are all one in Christ Jesus (italics added). In pronouncing an end within the church to the divisions which are common in the world around it, he concludes by highlighting the fact that "...there were New Testament women who taught and had authority in the early churches, that this teaching and authority was sanctioned by Paul, and that Paul himself offers a theological paradigm within which overcoming the subjugation of women is an anticipated outcome."

Influence on Christianity

Paul's influence on Christian thinking arguably has been more significant than any other New Testament author. Paul declared that faith in Christ made the Torah unnecessary for salvation, exalted the Christian church as the body of Christ, and depicted the world outside the Church as under judgment.

Lord's Supper

Paul's writings include the earliest reference to the supper of the Lord, a rite traditionally identified as the Christian Eucharist.

Eastern tradition

In the East, church fathers reduced the element of election in Romans 9 to divine foreknowledge. The themes of predestination found in Western Christianity do not appear in Eastern theology.

Western tradition

Augustine's foundational work on the gospel as a gift (grace), on morality as life in the Spirit, on predestination, and on original sin all derives from Paul, especially Romans.

In the Reformation, Martin Luther expressed Paul's doctrine of faith most strongly as justification by faith alone. John Calvin developed Augustine's predestination into double predestination.

Modern theology

In his commentary The Epistle to the Romans (Ger. Der Römerbrief; particularly in the thoroughly re-written second edition of 1922) Karl Barth argued that the God who is revealed in the cross of Jesus challenges and overthrows any attempt to ally God with human cultures, achievements, or possessions. Some theologians believe this work to be the most important theological treatise since Friedrich Schleiermacher's On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers.

As in the Eastern tradition in general, Western humanists interpret the reference to election in Romans 9 as reflecting divine foreknowledge.

Church tradition

Various Christian writers have suggested more details about Paul's life.

1 Clement, a letter written by the Roman bishop Clement of Rome, around the year 90 reports this about Paul:

"By reason of jealousy and strife Paul by his example pointed out the prize of patient endurance. After that he had been seven times in bonds, had been driven into exile, had been stoned, had preached in the East and in the West, he won the noble renown which was the reward of his faith, having taught righteousness unto the whole world and having reached the farthest bounds of the West; and when he had borne his testimony before the rulers, so he departed from the world and went unto the holy place, having been found a notable pattern of patient endurance."

Commenting on this passage, Raymond Brown writes that while it "does not explicitly say" that Paul was martyred in Rome, "such a martyrdom is the most reasonable interpretation." Eusebius of Caesarea, who wrote in the 4th century, states that Paul was beheaded in the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero. This event has been dated either to the year 64, when Rome was devastated by a fire, or a few years later, to 67. The San Paolo alle Tre Fontane church was built on the location where the execution was believed to have taken place. A Roman Catholic liturgical solemnity of Peter and Paul, celebrated on June 29, may reflect the day of his martyrdom, other sources have articulated the tradition that Peter and Paul died on the same day (and possibly the same year). The apocryphal Acts of Paul, the apocryphal Acts of Peter suggest that Paul survived Rome and traveled further west. Some hold the view that he could have revisited Greece and Asia Minor after his trip to Spain, and might then have been arrested in Troas, and taken to Rome and executed. A tradition holds that Paul was interred with Saint Peter ''ad Catacumbas'' by the via Appia until moved to what is now the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. Bede, in his ''Ecclesiastical History'', writes that Pope Vitalian in 665 gave Paul's relics (including a cross made from his prison chains) from the crypts of Lucina to King Oswy of Northumbria, northern Britain. However, Bede's use of the word "relic" was not limited to corporal remains.

Paul, who was quite possibly martyred in Rome, has long been associated with that city and its church. Paul is the patron saint of London.

Critical views

Elaine Pagels, professor of religion at Princeton University and an authority on Gnosticism, argues that Paul was a Gnostic and that the anti-Gnostic Pastoral Epistles were "pseudo-Pauline" forgeries written to rebut this.

British Jewish scholar Hyam Maccoby contended that the Paul as described in the Book of Acts and the view of Paul gleaned from his own writings are very different people. Some difficulties have been noted in the account of his life. Paul as described in the Book of Acts is much more interested in factual history, less in theology; ideas such as justification by faith are absent as are references to the Spirit, according to Maccoby. He also pointed out that there are no references to John the Baptist in the Pauline Epistles, although Paul mentions him several times in the Book of Acts.

Others have objected that the language of the speeches is too Lukan in style to reflect anyone else's words. Moreover, George Shillington writes that the author of Acts most likely created the speeches accordingly and they bare his literary and theological marks. Conversely, Howard Marshall writes that the speeches were not entirely the inventions of the author and while they may not be accurate word-for-word, the author nevertheless records the general idea of them.

F. C. Baur (1792–1860), professor of theology at Tübingen in Germany, the first scholar to critique Acts and the Pauline Epistles, and founder of the Tübingen School of theology, argued that Paul, as the "Apostle to the Gentiles", was in violent opposition to the original 12 Apostles. Baur considers the Acts of the Apostles were late and unreliable. This debate has continued ever since, with Adolf Deissmann (1866–1937) and Richard Reitzenstein (1861–1931) emphasising Paul's Greek inheritance and Albert Schweitzer stressing his dependence on Judaism.

Maccoby theorized that Paul synthesized Judaism, Gnosticism, and mysticism to create Christianity as a cosmic savior religion. According to Maccoby, Paul's Pharisaism was his own invention, though actually he was probably associated with the Sadducees. Maccoby attributed the origins of Christian anti-Semitism to Paul and claims that Paul's view of women, though inconsistent, reflects his Gnosticism in its misogynist aspects.

Professor Robert Eisenman of California State University, Long Beach argues that Paul was a member of the family of Herod the Great. Professor Eisenman makes a connection between Paul and an individual identified by Josephus as "Saulus," a "kinsman of Agrippa." Another oft-cited element of the case for Paul as a member of Herod's family is found in where Paul writes, "Greet Herodion, my kinsman."

Among the critics of Paul the Apostle was Thomas Jefferson who wrote that Paul was the "first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus." Howard Brenton's 2005 play "Paul" takes a skeptical view of his conversion.

F.F. Powell argues that Paul, in his epistles, made use of many of the ideas of the Greek philosopher Plato, sometimes even using the same metaphors and language. For example, in ''Phaedrus'', Plato has Socrates saying that the heavenly ideals are perceived as though "through a glass dimly." These words are echoed by Paul in .

See also

Achaichus

Conversion of Paul

Jesusism

New Covenant

Old Testament: Christian views of the Law

Paul of Tarsus and Judaism

Pauline Christianity

Pauline Epistles

Persecution of Christians in the New Testament

Persecution of religion in ancient Rome

St. Paul's Cathedral

References

Notes

Bibliography

Aulén, Gustaf. ''Christus Victor'' (SPCK 1931)

Brown, Raymond E. ''An Introduction to the New Testament.'' Anchor Bible Series, 1997. ISBN 0–385–24767–2.

Brown, Raymond E. '' The Church the Apostles left behind''(Chapman 1984)

Bruce, F.F. 'Is the Paul of Acts the Real Paul?' ''Bulletin John Rylands Library'' 58 (1976) 283–305

Bruce, F.F., ''Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free'' (ISBN 0–8028–4778–1)

Conzelmann, Hans, ''the Acts of the Apostles—a Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles'' (Augsburg Fortress 1987)

Davies, W. D. "The Apostolic Age and the Life of Paul" in Matthew Black, ed. Peake's Commentary on the Bible. London: T. Nelson, 1962. ISBN 0-8407-5019-6

Davies, W. D. ''Paul and Rabbinic Judaism: Some Rabbinic Elements in Pauline Theology.'' S.P.C.K., 3rd ed., 1970. ISBN 0-281-02449-9

Dunn, James D.G., 1990, ''Jesus, Paul and the Law'' Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 0-664-25095-5

Dunn, James D. G., ''Jesus, Paul, and the Gospels'' (Grand Rapids (MI), Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2011).

Hanson, Anthony T. ''Studies in Paul's Technique and Theology.'' Eerdmans, 1974. ISBN 0-8028-3452-3

Harris, Stephen L. ''Understanding the Bible.'' Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. ISBN 978-1-55934-655-9

Holzbach, Mathis Christian, Die textpragmat. Bedeutung d. Kündereinsetzungen d. Simon Petrus u.d. Saulus Paulus im lukan. Doppelwerk, in: Jesus als Bote d. Heils. Stuttgart 2008, 166-172.

Irenaeus, ''Against Heresies,'' i.26.2

Maccoby, Hyam. ''The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity.'' New York: Harper & Row, 1986. ISBN 0–06–015582–5.

Kim, Yung Suk. ''A Theological Introduction to Paul's Letters''. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2011. ISBN 978-1608997930

MacDonald, Dennis Ronald, 1983. ''The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon'' Philadelphia: Westminster Press.

Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome, ''Jesus and Paul: Parallel lives'' (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2007) ISBN 0-8146-5173-9

Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome, ''Paul the Letter-Writer: His World, His Options, His Skills'' (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1995) ISBN 0-8146-5845-8

Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome, ''Paul: A Critical Life'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) ISBN 0-19-826749-5

Ogg, George. “Chronology of the New Testament.” Matthew Black, ed. ‘’Peake's Commentary on the Bible.’’ Nelson, 1962. ISBN 0-8407-5019-6

Rashdall, Hastings, ''The Idea of Atonement in Christian Theology'' (1919)

Ruef, John, ''Paul's First letter to Corinth'' (Penguin 1971)

Sanders, E.P., ''Paul and Palestinian Judaism'' (1977)

Segal, Alan F. ''Paul, the Convert'', (New Haven/London, Yale University Press, 1990) ISBN 0-300-04527-1.

Segal, Alan F., "Paul, the Convert and Apostle" in ''Rebecca's Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World'' (Harvard University Press 1986).

External links

2008 Saint Paul year

Catholic Encyclopedia: Paul of Tarsus

Catholic Perspective on Paul

Documentary film on Apostle Paul

Encyclopædia Britannica: Paul, 1911

Maps of Paul's three missionary journeys and final captive journey

Novena to Saint Paul Apostle

Paul's mission and letters From PBS Frontline series on the earliest Christians.

Representations of Saint Paul

Saint Paul of Tarsus: the true story

"Saint Paul, the Apostle." Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2009.

The Apostle and the Poet: Paul and Aratus Dr. Riemer Faber

The Apostle Paul's Shipwreck: An Historical Examination of Acts 27 and 28

Why Paul Went West: The Differences Between the Jewish Diaspora Biblical Archaeology Review

Category:1st-century Christian martyr saints Category:1st-century executions Category:1st-century Romans Category:1st-century writers Category:60s deaths Category:Anatolian Roman Catholic saints Category:Biblical apostles Category:Christian religious leaders Category:Christian writers Category:Early Hebrew Christians Category:Judeo-Christian topics Category:Letter writers Category:New Testament people Category:People executed by decapitation Category:People executed by the Roman Empire Category:Prophets in Christianity Category:Saints from Anatolia Category:Saints of the Golden Legend Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar Category:Theologians Category:Anglican saints Category:Converts to Christianity from Judaism Category:Judaism-related controversies Category:Christian mystics Category:Book of Acts Category:Hellenistic Jewish writers

af:Paulus van Tarsus am:ጳውሎስ ar:بولس الطرسوسي an:Sant Pavlo arc:ܦܘܠܘܣ ܫܠܝܚܐ az:Həvari Pavel zh-min-nan:Pó-lô be:Павел, апостал be-x-old:Апостал Павал bs:Sveti Pavao br:Paol Tars bg:Павел (апостол) ca:Pau de Tars cs:Pavel z Tarsu cy:Yr Apostol Paul da:Paulus de:Paulus von Tarsus et:Paulus el:Απόστολος Παύλος es:Pablo de Tarso eo:Sankta Paŭlo eu:San Paulo fa:پولس hif:Saint Paul fr:Paul de Tarse fy:Paulus (apostel) ga:Naomh Pól gl:Paulo de Tarso gan:聖·保羅 hak:Pó-lò ko:파울로스 hy:Պողոս առաքյալ hr:Sveti Pavao id:Paulus dari Tarsus is:Páll postuli it:Paolo di Tarso he:פאולוס jv:Santo Paulus ka:პავლე მოციქული rw:Mutagatifu Pawulo sw:Mtakatifu Paulo la:Paulus lv:Svētais Pāvils lt:Apaštalas Paulius ln:Polo ya Tarsu hu:Pál apostol mk:Апостол Павле ml:പൗലോസ് അപ്പസ്തോലൻ mt:Pawlu minn Tarsu mr:सेंट पॉल arz:القديس بولس ms:Paulus mn:Паул my:စိန့်ပေါလ် nl:Paulus (apostel) ja:パウロ no:Apostelen Paulus nn:Paulus oc:Pau de Tars pnb:پال pms:Pàul ëd Tars pl:Paweł z Tarsu pnt:Απόστολος Παύλος pt:Paulo de Tarso ro:Pavel (apostol) rm:Paulus da Tarsus qu:Apustul Pawlu rue:Павел (апостол) ru:Апостол Павел sc:Paolo di Tarso sco:Saunt Paul sq:Shën Pali scn:Pàulu di Tarsu simple:Paul the Apostle sk:Apoštol Pavol sl:Sveti Pavel sr:Апостол Павле sh:Pavle iz Tarsa fi:Paavali sv:Paulus tl:Pablo ang Alagad ta:பவுல் (திருத்தூதர்) th:เปาโลอัครทูต tr:Pavlus uk:Павло (апостол) vec:San Pagoło vi:Sứ đồ Phao-lô war:Pablo nga Apostoles yo:Páùlù ará Társù bat-smg:Apaštals Paulios zh:保羅

name	Eddie Izzard
birth name	Edward John Izzard
birth date	February 07, 1962
birth place	Colony of Aden, Aden Protectorate (now Aden, Yemen)
medium	Stand-up, Television, Film, Stage
nationality	British
active	1987–present
genre	Improvisational comedy,Observational comedy
subject	World history, Celebrities, Religion, Language, Sex
influences	Monty Python, Billy Connolly, Lenny Bruce, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, Spike Milligan
influenced	Harry Hill, Dara Ó Briain, Demetri Martin, Hal Sparks
notable work	''Live at the Ambassadors'' ''Definite Article'' ''Dress to Kill'' ''Glorious'' ''Circle'' ''Lenny Bruce'' in ''Lenny'' ''Wayne Malloy/Doug Rich'' in ''The Riches'' ''Roman Nagel'' in ''Ocean's Thirteen'' ''Erich Fellgiebel'' in ''Valkyrie'' ''Mr. Kite'' in ''Across the Universe''
website	eddieizzard.com

}}

Edward John "Eddie" Izzard (born 7 February 1962) is an English stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime.

Izzard's works include stand-up sets ''Unrepeatable'', ''Definite Article'', ''Glorious'', ''Dress to Kill'', ''Circle'', ''Sexie'' and ''Stripped''. He had a starring role in the television series ''The Riches'' as Wayne Malloy and has appeared in many motion pictures such as ''Ocean's Twelve'', ''Ocean's Thirteen'', ''Mystery Men'', ''The Cat's Meow'', ''Across the Universe'', The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and ''Valkyrie''.

He has cited his main comedy role model as Monty Python, and John Cleese once referred to him as the "Lost Python". In 2009, he completed 43 marathons in 51 days for Sport Relief in spite of having no prior history of long distance running.

He is also known for his transvestism.

Early life

Izzard was born in Aden, Yemen, then the Colony of Aden in the Aden Protectorate. He was the younger son of British parents Dorothy Ella, a midwife and nurse, and Harold John Izzard, an accountant who was working in Aden with British Petroleum. A year after his birth, the family moved to Bangor in Northern Ireland and lived there until he was five. The family then moved to Skewen in South Wales where his mother died of cancer when Izzard was six and his brother Mark was eight. Following his mother's death, Izzard attended boarding schools: St John's School in Porthcawl, St. Bede's Preparatory School, and Eastbourne College.

Career

Early career

Izzard began to toy with comedy at the University of Sheffield with partner and student friend Rob Ballard. After leaving his accountancy degree course, he and Ballard took their act to the streets, often in Covent Garden. After his split with Ballard, Izzard spent a great deal of the early 1980s working as a street performer in Europe and the United States. He then moved his act into the stand-up comedy venues of Britain. His first gig was at the Banana Cabaret in Balham, London. In 1987, he made his first stage appearance at The Comedy Store, London. In 1989, he met actress Sarah Townsend who was running a Fringe venue at the Edinburgh Festival. He refined his material throughout the 1980s, and in the early 1990s he finally began earning some measure of recognition through his improvisation, in part at his own club "Raging Bull" in Soho.

Success as a comedian

In 1991, Izzard got a spot on the Fry and Laurie produced AIDS benefit ''Hysteria 3,'' where he did his "Wolves" sketch, which broke him into the mainstream comedy circuit and television. His resultant stand-up work brought him British Comedy Awards in 1993 (for ''Live at the Ambassadors''), a part in "Filth" which was a stand up presentation by left-wing sympathetic comedians in aid of raising money for the Terence Higgins Trust in 1994, and 1996 (for ''Definite Article'').

In 1996, he got a part in his first United States-produced film, ''The Secret Agent,'' where he met and befriended Robin Williams. Williams already knew of Izzard's act, and discussed bringing his act to the United States. As a result, Izzard took ''Definite Article'' on a successful stint in New York City in the same year, and as a support act to Williams took ''Dress to Kill'' to San Francisco in 1998. His U.S. breakthrough came in 1999, when ''Dress to Kill'' was shown on the American television channel HBO, about a year or so after he performed the show on tour in the USA, UK and France. Suddenly, America was aware of Izzard, and the show went on to earn him two Emmy Awards in 2000 (for performance and writing).

In 1999, after complaints that his act recycled jokes appearing on his DVDs, the BBC's consumer programme ''Watchdog'' investigated Izzard's live act. Izzard explained that like most comedy performers, he used some of his most successful routines in each show. Nonetheless, Izzard was issued a warning by the Department of Trade and Industry. Since then, Izzard has rarely performed his stand-up act on television, saying that it uses up material at too high a rate, whereas stage material can be continually re-used in front of different audiences for several months.

In 2005, Izzard used his rambling style to provide the voice-over for the British government's television advertisements promoting recycling. The tagline of the ads was "Recycle. The possibilities are endless!" Izzard also performed on stage with Scottish musician Midge Ure at Live8 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He played the piano on the song "Vienna".

In January 2006, the U.S. television network FX announced the production of a new drama series called ''The Riches'' (formerly ''Low Life''). Izzard and British actress Minnie Driver star as a married couple, Wayne and Dahlia Malloy, who have been part of a caravan of con-artist Irish travellers swindling their way across the U.S. with their children. After finding another family killed in a car accident, the Malloys assume their identities and start a new life as law-abiding suburbanites in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The youngest son has shown a preference for wearing girls' clothing, leading to some speculation that the role was based upon Izzard's experiences. Izzard has stated in several interviews that the character of Sam had been given transvestite tendencies long before he was cast as Wayne Malloy, but he has contributed his perspective to keep the character believable.

Theatrical, TV and film appearances

In 1994, Izzard made his West End drama debut as the lead in the world premiere of David Mamet's ''The Cryptogram'' with Lindsay Duncan, in the production at London's Comedy Theatre. The success of that role led to his second starring role in David Beaird's black comedy ''900 Oneonta''. In 1995, he portrayed the title character in Christopher Marlowe's ''Edward II''.

In 1998 Izzard appeared briefly on stage with the Monty Python team in ''The American Film Institute's Tribute to Monty Python'' (also referred to as ''Monty Python Live at Aspen''). He walked on stage with the five surviving Pythons and he was summarily escorted off by Eric Idle and Michael Palin as he attempted to participate in a discussion about how the group got together.

Izzard portrayed comedian Lenny Bruce in the 1999 production of Julian Barry's 1971 play ''Lenny''. In 2001, he replaced Clive Owen in Peter Nichols' 1967 play ''A Day in the Death of Joe Egg'' at the Comedy Theatre. Izzard and Victoria Hamilton then repeated their lead roles when the show was brought to Broadway in 2003, with The Roundabout Theatre Company production. The revival received four Tony Award nominations including Best Revival of a Play, Best Leading Actor and Actress for its stars Izzard and Hamilton in their Broadway debuts, and Best Direction for Laurence Boswell. In June 2010, Izzard replaced James Spader in the role of Jack Lawson in David Mamet's play ''Race'' on Broadway.

Izzard has appeared in numerous films, starting with 1996's ''The Secret Agent''. He has appeared as several real-life individuals, including Charlie Chaplin in ''The Cat's Meow'', actor Gustav von Wangenheim in ''Shadow of the Vampire'' and General Erich Fellgiebel in ''Valkyrie''. Other roles have included Mr. Kite in ''Across the Universe'', Lussurioso in ''Revengers Tragedy'' and criminal expert Roman Nagel in ''Ocean's Twelve'' and ''Ocean's Thirteen''. Voice work has included the titular It in ''Five Children and It'', Nigel in ''The Wild'' and the mouse warrior Reepicheep in ''The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.'' He said in 2009 that he would not be reprising his role as Reepicheep and the role was ultimately played by Simon Pegg in ''The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader''.

Izzard appeared in the BBC science fiction miniseries ''The Day of the Triffids'' based on the 1951 novel, alongside Jason Priestley, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, Dougray Scott and Brian Cox. He played Dr. Hatteras, a skeptical psychology professor, in the Showtime series ''United States of Tara''.

Comic style

Izzard's style is heavily influenced by Monty Python, especially in his use of a stream-of-consciousness delivery that jumps between topics as he free associates on stage. He does not generally work from a script, owing to his dyslexia. Instead, he interrupts himself with new joke ideas, the characters he portrays turn into other characters, and he nonchalantly leaps from topic to topic. This often results in brief pauses in the routine which he fills with 'so, yeah', and other verbal tics that have become his trademarks. Thinking aloud is also part of Izzard's ongoing attempt to make the process of writing the show itself part of the humour. As he put it in a 2004 interview with ''The Guardian'', "It's the oral tradition. Human beings have been doing it for thousands of years". He frequently notes the reaction to a joke midstream by pretending to write on his hand ("Should be funnier"; "Lost them there"; "They didn't believe me"; "They didn't follow, never do that again", "never link those two[references] together ever again.") He asks the audience questions and verbally engages with hecklers.

Among Izzard's comic talents are mimicry and mime. He portrays God as an authority figure using the voice of James Mason and casts Sean Connery as Noah; these impersonations appear in many of his performances. Izzard also imitates activities such as sawing wood, vacuum cleaning, and mowing the lawn, anthropomorphising the machines with accents and personalities. Successful impressions, such as his Scottish clarinet teacher, Mrs. Badcrumble, become running gags which recur in different shows. He tackles topics both contemporary and historic, including frequent re-imaginings of historical events which result in scenes like 'Cake or Death: Church of England runs the Inquisition', or 'Jesus Ministers to the Dinosaurs'.

When asked about his comedy style by George Stroumboulopoulos, host of CBC Television's talk show, ''The Hour'', Izzard described his use of history by saying,

"I just talk complete bullshit. The history, the politics, I noticed that no one was using history, so there's a lot of history lying about the place, and it's all free, and it's on Wikipedia! You know, I use Wikipedia like a crazy idiot, now. Then I take all this stuff, and I regurgitate it into a weird angle".

In 2008, in his ''Stripped'' tour, Izzard began using Wikipedia itself as part of his stand-up act, reading from a live copy of an article and mocking Wikipedia's self-referential editorial style.

Traditionally, Izzard has focused on the creative possibilities of thinking through absurd situations in real time. He also turns much of the attention on himself and his personality, including his cross-dressing ("It is my manifest destiny to wear a dress on all seven continents"). Contemporary pop culture (Harry Potter, ''Star Wars'', etc.) is also a frequent subject, brought up both to critique its weaknesses and to enhance his anecdotes.

His bent towards the surreal even went so far as to produce a sitcom called Cows in 1997 for Channel 4, a live action comedy with actors dressed in cowsuits.

Transvestism

Izzard started to freely talk about his transvestism in venues like Edinburgh Festival as early as 1992. In his show, ''Dress to Kill'', Izzard describes himself as an "executive", "action" and "professional" transvestite, as "a male tomboy" rather than a drag queen or a "weirdo" transvestite (he cites J. Edgar Hoover and Hermann Göring as examples of the latter). He regularly cross-dresses both on and off stage and makes it clear that cross-dressing is, for him, neither a part of his performance nor a sexual fetish. He remarks in his show ''Unrepeatable'', "Women wear what they want and so do I". According to Izzard, "Most transvestites fancy women". He dismisses claims that he is a male homosexual, saying he is "a straight transvestite or a male lesbian". He has also described himself as "a lesbian trapped in a man's body", transgender, and "a complete boy plus half a girl".

Activism

Izzard has engaged in campaigning work. He is especially well-known as a pro-European Union campaigner supporting the further integration of the UK into the EU. In May 2005 he appeared on the BBC's political debate show ''Question Time'', describing himself as a 'British-European', comparing this with other cultural identities such as 'African-American'. As part of his integration campaigning, he was one of the first people to spend a euro in London. This pan-European approach has influenced his work: he regularly performs in French, in which he is fluent, and occasionally in German, in addition to English. In July 2003, Izzard received an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England for "pro-Europe campaigning", "his contribution to promoting modern languages and tolerance of other cultures and lifestyles" and for having "transcended national barriers" with his humour.

He has also campaigned unsuccessfully against the closure of the departments of Drama and Languages, Linguistics and Translation at the University of East Anglia, although the department of Drama was later reprieved. In 1998, Izzard was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party. He appeared in a party political broadcast for the Labour Party in the run up to the 2005 general election. He donated nearly £10,000 to the party in 2008, appeared again in a party political broadcast for the 2009 European election and again in a 2010 election video entitled 'Brilliant Britain'. Izzard appeared in literature to support changing the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote for electing Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in the Alternative Vote referendum in 2011.

On 20 July 2006, he received an honorary doctorate in Letters from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Sheffield, where he spent one year on an Accounting and Financial Management course in the early 80s. During his time at the University he established the now-defunct Alternative Productions Society in the Union of Students with the aim of promoting fringe-based arts. On 4 March 2010 he was elected as the Honorary President of the University of Sheffield Union of Students.

On 7 July 2007, Izzard was one of the presenters from the London leg of Live Earth. During an interview for the 2008 Stripped tour, Izzard spoke about becoming more active in European politics as well as running for political office in Europe within the next decade. Izzard added a stop in New Orleans during his 2008 ''Stripped'' tour. All proceeds from the performance of 23 June 2008 were donated to Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans.

Marathons

On 27 July 2009, with only 5 weeks' training and no significant prior history of running, Izzard began seven weeks of back-to-back marathon runs (with Sundays off) across the UK to raise money for Sport Relief. He ran from London to Cardiff, to Belfast, to Edinburgh, and back to London carrying flags of England, Scotland or Wales depending on which country he was in, and carried a self-designed green flag bearing a white dove when in Northern Ireland. The blog Eddie Iz Running was a document of his road running marathon, in which he ran 43 marathons in 51 days. He completed the run on 15 September 2009, after having run at least 27 miles each day, 6 days a week for 7 weeks straight, covering more than 1,100 miles across the UK.Izzard received a special award at BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2009 for his achievements.

Izzard ran his final marathon in five hours and 30 seconds, narrowly outside his projected time. However, had he not stopped and waited 20 minutes for his film crew to catch up with him he could have finished well under his target time. In March 2010, Izzard took part in the Sport Relief Mile event.

Following the completion of the marathon runs, Izzard has started training to take part in an Ironman Triathlon, saying he has become fascinated with fitness "because there's no point in throwing away all that training".

Personal life

During his ''Stripped'' tour, Izzard said he realised he was an atheist. "I was warming the material up in New York, where one night, literally on stage, I realised I didn’t believe in God at all. I just didn’t think there was anyone upstairs."

He keeps his romantic life private, saying one of the reasons is due to the wishes of his companions not wanting to become content for his show. Izzard dated Sarah Townsend, the director of the documentary ''Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story'', whom he first met while she was running a Fringe venue at the Edinburgh Festival in 1989.

Izzard speaks French and has performed stand up in French during his shows. He also speaks German and used it in the 2001 film ''All the Queen's Men''.

Critical reception

On 18 March 2007, Izzard was listed as number 3 of the 100 Greatest British National Comedians (just behind Peter Kay at number 2 and Billy Connolly at number 1) as part of British television station Channel 4's ongoing ''100 Greatest...'', series. However in the 2010 updated version of the list he was ranked 5th In a 2005 poll to find ''The Comedian's Comedian'', Izzard was voted amongst the top 20 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. He was number 75 in Comedy Central's ''100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time''.

During the 1999 television special ''It's... the Monty Python Story'', which Izzard hosted, John Cleese said Izzard was the "Lost Python"; Izzard furthered that idea via his substitution for Graham Chapman in public performance of Python material with the rest of the original members of the troupe. He also made a cameo appearance in the Python reunion interview ''Monty Python Live At Aspen''.

In 2008, Izzard received the James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society of UCD, Dublin, Ireland. In March 2010, the Students Union of the University of Sheffield overwhelmingly elected him their honorary President.

Discography and appearances

Stand-up

''Live at the Ambassadors'' (15 November 1993)

''Unrepeatable'' (14 March 1994)

''Definite Article'' (21 October 1996)

''Glorious'' (17 November 1997)

''Dress to Kill'' (9 November 1998)

''Circle'' (18 November 2002)

''Sexie'' (26 November 2003)

''Stripped'' (23 November 2009)

Stage

''900 Oneonta'' (1994)

''The Cryptogram'' (1994)

''Edward II'' (1995)

''Lenny'' (1999)

''A Day in the Death of Joe Egg'' (2001–2002, 2003)

''Trumbo'' (2003)

''Race'' (2010)

Filmography

''The Oncoming Storm'' (1995) as Luthor Keeton

''The Secret Agent'' (1996) as Vladimir

''Velvet Goldmine'' (1998) as Jerry Devine

''The Avengers'' (1998) as Bailey

''Mystery Men'' (1999) as Tony P

''The Criminal'' (1999) as Peter Hume

''Circus'' (2000) as Troy

''Shadow of the Vampire'' (2000) as Gustav von Wangenheim

''The Cat's Meow'' (2001) as Charlie Chaplin

''All the Queen's Men'' (2001) as Tony Parker

''Revengers Tragedy'' (2002) as Lussurioso

''Alien Invasion'' (2003) as Brik

''Blueberry'' aka ''Renegade'' (2004) as Prosit

''Five Children and It'' (2004) as It (voice)

''Romance & Cigarettes'' (2004) as Gene Vincent

''Ocean's Twelve'' (2004) as Roman Nagel

''The Aristocrats'' (2005) as Himself

''The Wild'' (2006) as Nigel (voice)

''My Super Ex-Girlfriend'' (2006) as Professor Bedlam

''Ocean's Thirteen'' (2007) as Roman Nagel

''Across the Universe'' (2007) as Mr. Kite

''The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'' (2008) as Reepicheep (voice)

''Igor'' (2008) as Dr. Schadenfreude (voice)

''Valkyrie'' (2008) as Erich Fellgiebel

''Rage'' (2009) as Tiny Diamonds

''Every Day'' (2009) as Garrett

''The Other Side'' (2009) as Dean Bellamy

''Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story'' (2009) as Himself

''Cars 2'' (2011) as Miles Axelrod

''Snow White and the Huntsman'' (2012) as Tiberius

TV appearances

''Barf Bites Back (Amnesty International Gala)'' (1991) – ITV

''Open Fire'' (1994)

''Have I Got News for You'' (1994, 1995 and 1996) – BBC Two

''Aristophanes: The Gods are Laughing'' (1995)

''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' (1995)

''Tales from the Crypt'' (1996) – HBO

''Clive Anderson Talks Back'' (1996)

''Inspector Derrick'' (1997)

''Channel Izzard'' (1997)

''The Roseanne Show'' (1998)

''Rex the Runt'' (1998) – BBC

''Shooting Stars'' (1998) – BBC

''Parkinson'' (3 times)

''Dennis Miller Live'' (1999) – HBO

''Python Night – 30 Years of Monty Python'' (1999) – BBC

''Good News Week'' (2000) – Network 10

''Mongrel Nation'' (2002) – Discovery Channel

''The Caroline Rhea Show'' (2002)

''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' (2002, 2004 and 2007)

''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' (2009)

''40'' (2003) – Channel 4

''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (2003, 2008) NBC

''QI'' (Unaired pilot- 2002 or 2003, and 2010)

''Top Gear'' (2004) – BBC Two

''Last Call with Carson Daly'' (2005)

''The Sharon Osbourne Show'' (2006)

''Late Show with David Letterman'' (6 times)

''Late Late show with Craig Kilborn'' (4 times)

''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)

''The Henry Rollins Show'' (2006)

''The Paul O'Grady Show'' (2009)

''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' (2006)

''Kitchen'' (2007) – five

''Comedy Cuts'' (interview) (2007)

''The Hour'' (2007)

''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' (2007 and 2009)

''The Daily Show'' (2000, 2003 and 2007)

''The Riches'' (2007–2008)

''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' (2008)

''The Graham Norton Show'' (2008)

''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' (2009)

''Kevin Pollak's Chat Show'' (2009)

''BBC Sports Personality of the Year'' (2009 award winner)

''The Day of the Triffids'' (2009)

''Marathon Man'' (2010)

''The Simpsons'' episode ''To Surveil with Love'' (2010)

''Chelsea Lately'' (2010)

''United States of Tara'' (2011)

''Alan Carr: Chatty Man'' (2011)

Video game

''102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue'' – Sgt. Tibbs the Cat (voice)

Future projects

Eddie Izzard said in a personal appearance (for his biopic ''Believe'') that he is currently putting together a script for a movie as a conclusion to ''The Riches''. He said the plan is to "pick up exactly where we left off, and we think we're going to make a film of the next bit". As of 24 May 2010 there are no indications that this film will ever be made, leaving ''The Riches'' without a conclusion.

He has announced for future tours that a dollar out of each ticket sale will be appropriated to supplying Africa with contraceptives and other means of sexual protection.

See also

Cross-dressing in film and television

References

External links

Official web site

BBC America – Eddie Izzard

Interview with Izzard – ''The Observer'', 3 October 2004

''It's stupid and I love it – the Goon Show and me'' – ''The Guardian'', 14 February 2005.

Izzard interviewed by Bono – ''The Independent'', 16 May 2006

Venus Zine Staff Picks: Eddie Izzard, Dress to Kill

Eddie Izzard Category:1962 births Category:People from Aden Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:English atheists Category:English buskers Category:English comedians Category:English film actors Category:English voice actors Category:English television actors Category:English stand-up comedians Category:Cross-dressers Category:Living people Category:Old Eastbournians Category:Emmy Award winners Category:People educated at Oakleigh House School

ar:إدي آيزارد de:Eddie Izzard es:Eddie Izzard fa:ادی ایزارد fr:Eddie Izzard gv:Eddie Izzard id:Eddie Izzard it:Eddie Izzard he:אדי איזרד hu:Eddie Izzard nl:Eddie Izzard ja:エディー・イザード no:Eddie Izzard nn:Eddie Izzard pl:Eddie Izzard ru:Иззард, Эдди simple:Eddie Izzard fi:Eddie Izzard sv:Eddie Izzard tr:Eddie Izzard

Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst, 21 September 187425 May 1934) was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite ''The Planets''.

His early works show the influence of Grieg, Wagner, Richard Strauss and fellow student Ralph Vaughan Williams, and later, through Vaughan Williams, the music of Ravel. The combined influence of Ravel, Hindu spiritualism and English folk tunes enabled Holst to free himself of the influence of Wagner and Strauss and to forge his own style. Holst's music is well known for unconventional use of metre and haunting melodies.

Holst composed almost 200 works, including operas, ballets, choral hymns and songs. An enthusiastic educator, Holst became music master at St Paul's Girls' School in 1905 and director of music at Morley College in 1907, continuing in both posts until retirement.

He was the brother of Hollywood actor Ernest Cossart and father of the composer and conductor Imogen Holst, who wrote a biography of him in 1938.

Early life

Holst was born on 21 September 1874, at 4 Pittville Terrace (named today Clarence Road). Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, EnglandThe house has been opened as a museum devoted to Holst's life and times since 1974, devoted partly to him and partly to illustrating local domestic life of the mid-19th century.

Holst's great-grandfather, Matthias von Holst, was of Scandinavian origin, and came to England in 1802 from Riga. Holst's mother, Clara von Holst, who died in 1882, was a singer who bore two sons, Gustav and Emil Gottfried (who later became Ernest Cossart, a film actor in Hollywood), Following his wife's death, Adolph von Holst eventually remarried,and had two further sons.

Holst was christened Gustavus Theodore von Holst, after his grandfather and his great-uncle Theodor, a painter. He was a frail child with neuritis in his arm which plagued him for the rest of his life. His early recollections were musical; he was taught to play the piano and violin, and began composing when he was about twelve. He also started to play the trombone when his father thought this might improve his son's asthma. He was educated at Cheltenham Grammar School for Boys. He began composition at school, writing piano pieces, organ voluntaries, songs, anthems and a Symphony in C minor (from 1892). He was also organist and choir master at Wyck Rissington in the Cotswolds.

He attended the Royal College of Music on a scholarship, where he studied composition with Charles Villiers Stanford and where in 1895 he met fellow student Ralph Vaughan Williams, who became a lifelong friend. Vaughan Williams's own music was in general quite different from Holst’s, but he praised Holst's work abundantly and the two men developed a shared interest in exploring and maintaining the English vocal and choral tradition as found primarily in folk song, madrigals and church music. Holst and Vaughan Williams were able to criticise each other's compositions as they were being written. They never lost this degree of mutual trust.

While at the Royal College of Music, Holst fell in love with the music of Wagner, which he was able to hear at Covent Garden. He also came under the influence of William Morris, joining the Hammersmith Socialist Society and attending lectures by Morris and George Bernard Shaw (with whom he shared a passion for vegetarianism ). Holst remained a socialist all his life. He was also invited to conduct the Hammersmith Socialist Choir, teaching them Madrigals by Thomas Morley, choruses by Purcell, extracts from Wagner as well as works by Mozart and himself.

Career

First steps

Holst had hoped to build his career partly as a pianist, but stricken from adolescence with a nerve condition that increasingly affected the movement of his right hand, he eventually gave up the piano for the trombone. He was good enough to earn employment with the Carl Rosa Opera Company and the Scottish Orchestra (forerunner of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra) although his salary was only just enough to live on..

He also played in a popular orchestra called the "White Viennese Band", conducted by Stanislas Wurm. The music was cheap and repetitive and not to Holst's liking, and he referred to this kind of work as "worming" (a pun on Wurm's name, which means "worm" in German) and regarded it as "criminal". His need to "worm" came to an end as his compositions became more successful, and his income was given stability by his teaching posts. With his finances secure, Holst married Emily Isobel Harrison, a fair-headed soprano, at Fulham Register Office on 22 June 1901, their union enduring until his death in 1934. Emily Isobel bore him a daughter, Imogen, on 12 April 1907; to be their only child.

The poetry of Walt Whitman also had a profound effect on Holst, as it did with many of his contemporaries, and he set Whitman's words in "Dirge for Two Veterans" and ''The Mystic Trumpeter'' (1904). He also set poetry by Thomas Hardy and Robert Bridges. Holst also wrote an orchestral ''Walt Whitman Overture'' in 1899, which was given a world premiere recording by the Munich Symphony Orchestra, as well as a recording by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

During these years Holst also became interested in Hindu mysticism and spirituality, and this interest led to the composition of several works set to translations of Sanskrit texts, including: ''Sita'' (1899–1906), a three-act opera based on an episode in the ''Ramayana''; ''Sāvitri'' (1908), a chamber opera based on a tale from the ''Mahabharata''; 4 groups of ''Hymns from the Rig Veda'' (1908–14); and two texts originally by Kalidasa: ''Two Eastern Pictures'' (1909–10) and ''The Cloud Messenger'' (1913). The texts of these last three works were translated by Holst himself. To make these translations from Sanskrit to English, Holst enrolled at University College London (UCL) to study the language as a 'non-matriculated' student. On 14 January 1909 he paid 5 guineas for Sanskrit classes during the spring and summer terms of that year. The UCL records also show that during this time he moved from 23 Grena Road in Richmond, to 10 The Terrace in Barnes. On 19 October 1909 he re-enrolled at UCL for the autumn term and paid 3 guineas "special fee" for his Sanskrit classes of "2 hours a week". The records end at this point, and so it seems he only spent one year as a student at UCL.

Teaching

In 1904 Holst took up his first teaching job as music master at James Allen's Girls' School in West Dulwich, South London.

In 1905, Holst was appointed Director of Music at St Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, London. In 1907, Holst also became director of music at Morley College. These were the most important of his teaching posts, and he retained both until the end of his life.

During the first two decades of the 20th century, musical society as a whole (and Holst's friend Vaughan Williams in particular) became interested in old English folksongs, madrigal singers, and Tudor composers. Holst shared in his friend’s admiration for the simplicity and economy of these melodies, and their use in his compositions is one of his music’s most recognisable features.

Holst was an avid rambler. He walked extensively in Italy, France and England. He also travelled outside the bounds of Europe, heading to French-controlled Algeria in 1908 on doctor's orders as a treatment for asthma and the depression that crippled him after his submission failed to win the Ricordi Prize, a coveted award for composition. His travels in Arab and Berber lands, including an extensive cycling tour of the Algerian Sahara, inspired the suite ''Beni Mora'', written upon his return.

After the lukewarm reception of his choral work ''The Cloud Messenger'' in 1912, Holst was again off travelling, financing a trip to Spain with fellow composers Balfour Gardiner and brothers Clifford and Arnold Bax with funds from an anonymous donation. Despite being shy, Holst was fascinated by people and society, and had always believed that the best way to learn about a city was to get lost in it. In Girona, Catalonia, he often disappeared, only to be found hours later by his friends having abstract debates with local musicians. It was in Spain that Clifford Bax introduced Holst to astrology, a hobby that was to inspire the later ''Planets'' suite. He read astrological fortunes until his death, and called his interest in the stars his "pet vice".

Shortly after his return in 1913, St Paul's Girls School opened a new music wing, and Holst composed the still popular ''St Paul's Suite'' for the occasion. In 1913, Stravinsky premiered ''The Rite of Spring'', sparking riots in Paris and caustic criticism in London. A year later, Holst first heard Schoenberg’s ''Five Pieces for Orchestra'', an "ultra-modern" set of five movements employing "extreme chromaticism" (the consistent use of all 12 musical notes). Although he had earlier lampooned the stranger aspects of modern music, the new music of Stravinsky and Schoenberg influenced his work on ''The Planets''.

Holst's compositions include works for wind band, and have become standards in the repertoire. His most famous are the First Suite in E-flat for Military Band of 1909 and the Second Suite in F for Military Band of 1911 (see also ''Hammersmith'', below). He also wrote the "Moorside Suite" for brass band in 1928, the first recognised 'classical' composer to treat the medium seriously.

Holst and wife Isobel bought a cottage in Thaxted, Essex and, surrounded by medieval buildings and ample rambling opportunities, he started work on the suite that became his best known work, the orchestral suite ''The Planets''. Holst himself adapted the theme from "Jupiter" as a hymn tune under the name of "Thaxted", specifically for the words "I Vow to Thee My Country". (According to the documentary by Tony Palmer ''In the Bleak Midwinter'', Holst hated this association because the text was the opposite of what he believed. This is a little surprising, though, since he had made the adaptation himself in 1921.) His daughter Imogen later recalled of "I Vow to Thee" that "At the time when he was asked to set these words to music, Holst was so over-worked and over-weary that he felt relieved to discover they 'fitted' the tune from Jupiter".

While living in Thaxted, Holst became friendly with Rev. Conrad Noel, the famous 'Red Vicar', who supported the Independent Labour Party and espoused many unpopular causes. Holst became an occasional organist and choir master at Thaxted Parish Church and began an annual music festival at Whitsuntide in 1916, at which students from Morley College and St Paul's School performed. His best-known partsong, 'This Have I Done For My True Love' , was dedicated to Noel and often performed with dancing during religious ceremonies at Thaxted. This was controversial, as the Church of England still retained much of the Puritan ethic in its services. (The singing of non-biblical texts had been allowed only as recently as 1820, and religious dancing harked back to pre-Reformation times.) As late as 1951 at the Leith Hill Festival, singers from the Anglican tradition objected to the words of Holst's partsong, which mention dance and religion together. Vaughan Williams, who was conducting, advised the objectors to vocalise and leave the words to those singers who did not share the inhibition. Controversy surrounded Holst's friendship with Noel, whose opinions grew progressively uncompromising, leading to his displaying the Red Flag and that of Sinn Fein in the church. Holst's view was that Noel's philosophy was a "gospel of comic hate", but he ceased to hold the music festival at Thaxted after three seasons, moving it to Dulwich.

Other tunes that also became attached to hymns were ''Cranham'' which is the usual tune to Christina Rossetti's poem ''In the Bleak Midwinter'' and ''Sheen'' which is attached to a versification of the recessional ''From glory to glory advancing'' from the Orthodox Christian Liturgy of Saint James.

World War I and after

left|thumb|175px|Holst drawn by William Rothenstein, 1920 At the onset of World War I, Holst tried to enlist but was rejected because of his bad eyes, bad lungs and bad digestion. He dropped the "von" from his name in 1916 in response to anti-German sentiment, making it official by deed poll in 1918. His new music, however, benefited from the growing demand for new English music. This was partly in response to an embargo on contemporary German music that saw very few performances of Richard Strauss and Max Reger throughout the war (although older generations of German composers remained as popular as ever, culminating in a run of ''Die Walküre'', conducted by Thomas Beecham, in 1918). Towards the end of the war he was offered a post within the YMCA’s educational work programme as musical director and he set off for Salonica (present day Thessaloniki, Greece) and Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1918. While he was teaching music to troops eager to escape the drudgery of army life, ''The Planets'' was being performed to audiences back home. Shortly after his return after the war’s end, Holst composed ''Ode to Death'', based upon a poem by Walt Whitman.

During the years 1920–1923, Holst's popularity grew through the success of ''The Planets'' and ''The Hymn of Jesus'' (1917) (based on the Apocryphal gospels), and the publication of a new opera, ''The Perfect Fool'' (a satire of a work by Wagner). Holst became something of "an anomaly, a famous English composer", and was busy with conducting, lecturing and teaching obligations. He hated publicity; he often refused to answer questions posed by the press and when asked for his autograph, handed out prepared cards that read, "I do not hand out my autograph". Always frail, after a collapse in 1923 he retired from all teaching (other than at St Paul's School, where he was still teaching at his death) to devote the remaining (eleven) years of his life to composition.

Later life

Holst's 'retirement' was immediately productive, with the ''First Choral Symphony'' to words by Keats (a ''Second Choral Symphony'' to words by George Meredith exists only in fragments). A short Shakespearian opera, ''At the Boar's Head'', followed quickly, although neither had the immediate popular appeal of ''A Moorside Suite'' for brass band of 1928.

Holst took advantage of new technology to publicise his work through sound recordings and the BBC’s wireless broadcasts. He began to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra for the Columbia company in 1922, using the acoustic process; his recordings of the period include ''Beni Mora'' , the ''Marching Song'' and (remarkably) the complete ''Planets''. Although, as his daughter Imogen noted, he couldn't quite achieve the gradual fade-out of women's voices and orchestra he had written (owing to the limitations of early recording), it was a landmark recording of the work. Holst conducted it again, with the same orchestra and for the same company, in an electrical recording of 1926. All performances have been issued on LP and CD format.

In 1927 he was commissioned by the New York Symphony Orchestra to write a symphony. Instead, he wrote an orchestral piece based on Thomas Hardy's Wessex, a work that became ''Egdon Heath'' and which was first performed a month after Hardy’s death, in his memory. By this time, Holst was going out of fashion, and the piece was poorly reviewed (although this may have as much to do with the austere nature of the work). However, Holst is said to have considered the short, subdued but powerful tone poem his "best work" . The piece has been much better received in recent years, with several recordings available. Holst did complete a scherzo for the symphony before his death; this music has been recorded.

Towards the end of his life, Holst wrote ''Choral Fantasia'' (1930), and he was commissioned by the BBC to write a piece for military band; the resulting ''Hammersmith'' was a tribute to the place where he had spent most of his life, a musical expression of the London borough (of Hammersmith), which begins with an attempt to recreate the haunting sound of the River Thames sleepily flowing its way. He then made an orchestral version of this work for its first performance, sharing the programme with the London premiere of Walton's ''Belshazzar's Feast''. This unlucky coincidence may account for its subsequent obscurity as an orchestral work.

Interested as ever in new mediums, Holst wrote a score for the Associated Sound Film Industries picture 'The Bells' in which Holst believed he appeared as an extra in a crowd scene. However, he was mortified when he heard the quality of the 1931 soundtrack. The film was the victim of poor marketing and no copy can now be traced. He also wrote a 'jazz band piece' that his daughter later arranged for orchestra as ''Capriccio''. A late flowering of academic life came when Harvard University offered him a lectureship for the first six months of 1932.

Holst had a lifetime of poor health, which worsened due to a concussion during a backward fall from the conductor's podium in 1923, from which he never fully recovered. In his final four years, Holst grew ill with stomach problems. One of his last compositions, the ''Brook Green Suite'', named after the land on which St Paul’s Girls’ School was built, was performed for the first time a few months before his death. Holst died on 25 May 1934, of complications following stomach surgery, in London. His ashes were interred at Chichester Cathedral in West Sussex, with Bishop George Bell giving the memorial oration at the funeral.

Memorial

On Sunday 27 September 2009, after a weekend of concerts at Chichester Cathedral in memory of Holst, a new memorial was unveiled to the public. On it are inscribed Holst's dates, and an epitaph, taken from the text of ''The Hymn of Jesus'', reading "The heavenly spheres make music for us".

Radio and television biographies

In 2007, BBC Radio 4 produced a radio play by Martyn Wade called ''The Bringer of Peace'', which is an intimate biographical portrait of Holst. The play follows his early dismay at his lack of composing success, to the creation of ''The Planets'' suite, with the play's seven tiers following the structure of ''The Planets''. Adrian Scarborough played Holst, and the producer was David Hitchinson.

''Holst: In the Bleak Midwinter'', directed by Tony Palmer, was first transmitted on 24 April 2011. The documentary charted his life with special reference to his support for socialism and for working class ventures.

Media

Extracts from ''The Planets'' can be found in the main article for the suite.

Notes

References

''Britannica Concise'', "Gustav Holst", 2006, Concise.Britannica.com webpage: ConciseBritannica-GHolst.

''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', "Gustav Holst", 2006, Britannica.com webpage: Britannica2006-GHolst.

Michael Short, ''Gustav Holst: The Man and his Music'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Kenric Taylor, "Gustav Holst (1874–1934) | Compositions" (list of works), 2006, GustavHolst.info webpage: GHolstInfo-Compositions.

Further reading

Holst, Imogen, ''Gustav Holst: A Biography'', Oxford University Press, 1938.

Holst, Imogen, ''Gustav Holst and Thaxted'' (4-page pamphlet)

Randel, Michael, ''The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music'', Harvard University Press, 1996. Cf. p. 390.

External links

www.GustavHolst.info

* Ian Lace's Biography

* List of compositions

Gustav Holst: The Lost Films (Discovered 2009)

The Planets Suite Op. 32 Live recording by Peabody Concert Orchestra (2002)

Holst Birthplace Museum, Cheltenham

Gustav Holst at Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music

Compositions by Gustav Holst

Category:English people of Swedish descent Category:English composers Category:English classical trombonists Category:20th-century classical composers Category:Opera composers Category:Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists Category:Old Patesians Category:People from Cheltenham Category:British people of Latvian descent Category:Music and musicians from Gloucestershire Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music Category:English vegetarians Category:1874 births Category:1934 deaths Category:People from Barnes, London Category:Alumni of University College London Category:Ballet composers Category:Brass band composers Category:English socialists

bg:Густав Холст ca:Gustav Holst cs:Gustav Holst cy:Gustav Holst da:Gustav Holst de:Gustav Holst et:Gustav Holst el:Γκούσταβ Χολστ es:Gustav Holst eo:Gustav Holst fa:گوستاو هولست fr:Gustav Holst gl:Gustav Holst ko:구스타브 홀스트 is:Gustav Holst it:Gustav Holst he:גוסטב הולסט la:Gustavus Holst hu:Gustav Holst nl:Gustav Holst ja:グスターヴ・ホルスト no:Gustav Holst nn:Gustav Holst pl:Gustav Holst pt:Gustav Holst ru:Холст, Густав simple:Gustav Holst sl:Gustav Holst th:กุสตาฟ โฮลส์ fi:Gustav Holst sv:Gustav Holst tr:Gustav Holst uk:Густав Холст zh:古斯塔夫·霍尔斯特

Sir John Stainer (6 June 1840 – 31 March 1901) was an English composer and organist whose music, though not generally much performed today (with the exception of '' The Crucifixion'', still heard at Eastertide in many Protestant churches of the former British Empire), was very popular during his lifetime. His work as choir trainer and organist set standards for Anglican church music which are still influential. He was also active as an academic, becoming professor of music at Oxford University in 1889. According to Peter Charlton's Stainer biography, Sir Arthur Sullivan's tribute to Stainer was blunt and memorable: "He is a genius".

Biography

Stainer was born in Southwark, London, on 6 June 1840. As a boy, he sang in the choir of St Paul's Cathedral (a house in the cathedral's present choir school is named after him). At the age of 16, he was appointed by Sir Frederick Ouseley to the post of organist at the newly founded St. Michael's College, Tenbury. Because of a childhood accident, Stainer had lost the use of one eye; for a brief period in 1875 he lost that of the other too.

In 1860 he became organist at Magdalen College, Oxford, moving to St Paul's Cathedral in 1872. Thirteen years afterwards, he was awarded an honorary degree by Durham University; and he became professor of music at Oxford University in 1889. He conducted pioneering research into early music, notably the output of Guillaume Dufay, then scarcely known even among experts. He also contributed a small treatise, ''Harmony'', and another, ''Composition'', to the famous series of Novello musical primers. For budding organists he wrote a primer called, simply, The Organ, which continues to have a following. In recognition of his services to British music-making, he received a knighthood from Queen Victoria in 1888.

While on an Italian vacation, Stainer died in Verona of heart failure on 31 March 1901, at the age of 60. His funeral was held on 6 April at St Cross Church, Holywell, Oxford, and the surrounding streets were filled with mourners.

Notable works

Stainer's output of sacred music was extensive, including the Passion cantata or oratorio ''The Crucifixion'' (1887), the ''Sevenfold Amen'' (this latter piece especially admired by the lexicographer Sir George Grove), and numerous hymn tunes, including "Cross of Jesus", "All for Jesus" (both from ''The Crucifixion''), and "Love Divine". His evening canticles (Magnificat and Nunc dimittis) are occasionally revived, as are the anthems ''How beautiful upon the mountains'' and ''I saw the Lord''.

His work as composer has lost most of its critical reputation since his death. ''The Crucifixion'' is one of the few major works of his that is still regularly performed. It is often given in English churches during Holy Week and forms part of the repertoire of numerous choirs. He also made a lasting contribution to the music of Christmas in his ''Christmas Carols New and Old'' (1871), produced in collaboration with the Revd H. R. Bramley, which marked an important stage in the revival of the Christmas carol. The book includes Stainer's arrangements of what were to become the standard versions of "What Child Is This", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "Good King Wenceslas", "The First Nowell", and "I Saw Three Ships", among others.

Incomplete list of works

A list of Stainer's more prominent works is provided below. A more complete, but still partial, list can be found here.

Anthems

''Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion''

''Drop down, ye heavens, from above''

''God so loved the world'' (chorus from ''The Crucifixion'')

''Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God''

''How beautiful upon the mountains''

''I desired wisdom''

''I saw the Lord''

''Lead kindly light''

''What are these that are arrayed in white robes''

Cantatas

''The Daughter of Jairus'' (1878)

''St. Mary Magdalen'' (1883)

''The Crucifixion'' (1887)

Services

Full services in E flat, D/A, B flat and D

Communion services in A, F and C

Bibliography

Jeremy Dibble, ''John Stainer: a life in music'' (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2007)

Peter Charlton, ''John Stainer and the musical life of Victorian Britain'' (Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles, 1984)

H. R. Bramley (ed. words) J. Stainer (ed. music) ''Christmas Carols, New and Old'' (London, Novello, 1871)

''The Oxford Book of Carols'' (Oxford University Press, 1928), pp. xvi-xvii.

External links

St. Cross Church, Oxford: Sir John Stainer, Composer, Organist & Musicologist

Listen to a free recording of ''God so loved the world'' from Coro Nostro, a mixed chamber choir based in Leicester, UK.

Lewisham Primary School named after John Stainer

{{s-ttl|title=Organist and Master of the Choristers of St Paul's Cathedral |years=1872 - 1888}}

Category:1840 births Category:1901 deaths Category:People from Southwark Category:English classical organists Category:Cathedral organists Category:Romantic composers Category:English composers Category:Classical composers of church music Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Knights Bachelor Category:English music theorists]

[[de:John Stainer fr:John Stainer it:John Stainer nl:John Stainer ja:ジョン・ステイナー sl:John Stainer fi:John Stainer