A mnemonic (, with a silent "m"), or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids memory. Commonly encountered mnemonics are often verbal, such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something, particularly lists, but a mnemonic may instead be visual, kinesthetic or auditory. Mnemonics rely on associations between easy-to-remember constructs which can be related back to the data that is to be remembered. This is based on the principle that the human mind much more easily remembers spatial, personal, surprising, physical, sexual or humorous or otherwise meaningful information, as compared to retrieving arbitrary sequences.

The word mnemonic is derived from the Ancient Greek word μνημονικός mnemonikos ("of memory") and is related to Mnemosyne ("remembrance"), the name of the goddess of memory in Greek mythology. Both of these words refer back to μνημα mnema ("remembrance"). Mnemonics in antiquity were most often considered in the context of what is today known as the Art of Memory.

The major assumption in antiquity was that there are two sorts of memory: the "natural" memory and the "artificial" memory. The former is inborn, and is the one that everyone uses every day. The artificial memory is one that is trained through learning and practicing a variety of mnemonic techniques. The latter can be used to perform feats of memory that are quite extraordinary, impossible for most people to carry out using the natural memory alone.

First letter mnemonics

One common mnemonic for remembering lists consists of an easily remembered acronym, or phrase with an acronym that is associated with the list items. The idea lends itself well to memorizing hard-to-break passwords as well. For example, to remember the colours of the rainbow, use the mnemonic "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain". Another one is HOMES to help people remember the names of all of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.) In electronics, color codes are used on some components. A colored dot or ring around the component represents the value. The sequence of numbers (0 through 9) uses a mnemonic that has the first letter of each word being the first letter of the name of the color for that number. The mnemonic is: "Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly." Or, the more politically-correct version is "Bad Boys Race Our Young Girls Behind Victory Garden Walls." Representing the colors: Black, Brown, Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Violet, Gray and White. Black represents zero, Brown represents one, and so on until white represents nine. Usually three or four bands are used, with the last band representing a power of ten - if the color were orange (3), then three zeros would be added to after the first two or three digits.

Mnemonics for numerical sequences

Mnemonic phrases or poems can be used to encode numeric sequences by various methods, the most common using the number of letters in each word. For example, the first 15 digits of the mathematical constant pi (3.14159265358979) can be encoded as "How I need a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics". A large number of so-called piems have been devised, some containing thousands of digits; see the article on "Piphilology" for examples in multiple languages.

Arbitrariness of mnemonics

A curious characteristic of many memory systems is that mnemonics work despite being (or possibly because of being) illogical or arbitrary. "Roy" is a legitimate first name, but there is no actual surname "Biv" and of course the middle initial "G" is arbitrary. Why is "Roy G. Biv" easy to remember in order to memorise the order that the seven colours of the rainbow appear? ROYGBIV can also be expressed as the almost meaningless phrase "Roy Great Britain the Fourth" again referencing "Roy" but using the GB national code for Great Britain and the Roman numerals for 4, viz: IV. The sentence "Richard of York gave battle in vain" is commonly used in the UK. Any two of the three months ending in -ember would fit just as euphoniously as September and November in "Thirty days hath...", yet most people can remember the rhyme correctly for a lifetime after having heard it once, and are never troubled by doubts as to which two of the -ember months have thirty days. A bizarre arbitrary association may stick in the mind better than a logical one.

One reason for the effectiveness of seemingly arbitrary mnemonics is the grouping of information provided by the mnemonic. Just as US phone numbers group 10 digits into three groups, the name "Roy G. Biv" groups seven colors into two short names and an initial. Various studies (most notably The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two) have shown that the human brain is capable of remembering only a limited number of arbitrary items in working memory; grouping these items into chunks permits the brain to hold more of them in memory.

Assembly mnemonics

In assembly language a mnemonic is a code, usually from 1 to 5 letters, that represents an opcode, a number.

Programming in machine code, by supplying the computer with the numbers of the operations it must perform, can be quite a burden, because for every operation the corresponding number must be looked up or remembered. Looking up all numbers takes a lot of time, and mis-remembering a number may introduce computer bugs.

Therefore a set of mnemonics was devised. Each number was represented by an alphabetic code. So instead of entering the number corresponding to addition to add two numbers one can enter "add".

Although mnemonics differ between different CPU designs some are common, for instance: "sub" (subtract), "div" (divide), "add" (add) and "mul" (multiply).

This type of mnemonic is different from the ones listed above in that instead of a way to make remembering numbers easier, it is a way to make remembering numbers unnecessary (e.g. by relying on the computer's assembler program to do the lookup work.)

In foreign-language acquisition

Mnemonics can be helpful in learning a foreign language, for example by adapting a hard-to-remember foreign word to a pre-existent phrase in the learner's native language - using folk etymology. Linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann has proposed many Anglo-Hebraic lexical mnemonics for English-speaking students of Israeli Hebrew. For example, in trying to assist the learner to remember ohel, the Hebrew word for tent, Zuckermann proposes the memorable sentence "Oh hell, there's a raccoon in my tent". The memorable sentence "There's a fork in Ma’s leg" may help the learner remember that the Hebrew word for fork is mazleg, and so forth. The notable linguist Michel Thomas taught students to remember that estar is the Spanish word for to be by using the phrase "to be a star". These are sometimes known as linkwords.

Mnemonics are also useful for learning elements of a foreign language that do not exist in the native language of the learner. For example, in Spanish language acquisition, a student may learn the gender of nouns by associating masculine nouns with the color blue and feminine nouns with red. This allows them to create visual images such as a foot stepping on a pie and blue filling squirting out the sides. The Spanish word for "foot" is el pie, a masculine noun, so recollection of the blue filling will cue recall of the gender of the word.

See also

Art of memory

Memorization

Memory sport

Method of loci

Mnemonic dominic system

Mnemonic goroawase system

Mnemonic link system

Mnemonic major system

References

External links

[ http://www.buildyourmemory.com |Mnemonics techniques]

* Category:Educational technology Category:Educational psychology Category:Memory processes

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Robert Erickson (March 7, 1917 in Marquette, Michigan–April 24, 1997 in San Diego, California) was an American composer.

He studied with Ernst Krenek from 1936-1947: "I had already studied—and abandoned—the twelve tone system before most other Americans had taken it up." He influenced notable students Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, and Paul Dresher. He is also the author of The Structure of Music: A Listener's Guide, which he claimed helped him overcome a "contrapuntal obsession", and Sound Structures in Music (1975).

He taught at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota, San Francisco State College, University of California at Berkeley, and then the San Francisco Conservatory. Together with composer Wilbur Ogdon he founded the music department at the University of California San Diego in 1967: "We decided we wanted a department where composers could feel at home, the way scholars feel at home in other schools." While there he met faculty performers such as bassist Bertram Turetzky, trumpeter Edwin Harkins, flutist Bernhard Batschelet, and singer Carol Plantamura: "I could go to Bert, or Ed, with something I'd written down and ask 'Hey, can you do this?' And I'd get an immediate answer. It was a fabulous time for cross-feeding." He also helped start the San Francisco Tape Music Center. Pauline Oliveros, among others, praises his teaching:

Erickson was one of the first American composers to create tape music: "If you get right down to the bottom of what composers do, I think that what composers do now and have always done is to compose their environment in some sense. So I get a special little lift about working with environmental sounds." He also has used invented instruments such as stroking rods, used in Taffy Time, Cardinitas 68, and Roddy (electronic tape composition), tube drums, used in Cradle, Cradle II, and Tube Drum Studies, and the Percussion Loops Console designed with Ron George, used in Pecussion Loops.

Many UCSD faculty performers appear on his 1991 CRI release Robert Erickson: Sierra & Other Works (CD 616), playing works written for and with them: #Kryl (1977), Harkins, named after the travelling cornet player Bohumir Kryl. The piece from time to time creates a hocket between the singing and playing. #Ricercar À 3 (1967), Turetzky. For bass soloist live and on two tape tracks. #Postcards (1981), Plantamura and lutenist Jürgen Hübscher #Dunbar's Delight (1985), timpanist Dan Dunbar. Virtuoso solo piece for timpani. #Quoq (1978), flutist John Fonville. Named after "Finnegans Wake". #Sierra (1984), baritone Philip Larson, SONOR Ensemble conduced by Thomas Nee. Commissioned by Thomas Buckner. For more information on the above pieces see the liner notes. He also has an album Pacific Sirens on New World Records.

He wrote Ricercar a 5 for Trombones for Stuart Dempster. The piece uses baroque imitation as well as singing, whistling, fanfares, slides, and other extended techniques.

He received several Yaddo Fellowships in the fifties and sixties, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1966, a Ford Foundation Fellowship, was elected as a Fellow of the Institute for Creative Arts of the University of California in 1968, and his string quartet Solstice won the 1985 Friedham Award for Chamber Music. There are two books about Erickson's life and music: Thinking Sound Music: The Life and Work of Robert Erickson by Charles Shere and Music of Many Means: Sketches and Essays on the Music of Robert Erickson by Robert Erickson and John MacKay.

He suffered from a wasting muscle disease, polymyositis, and was bedridden and pained for fifteen years before his death, though his final work was Music for Trumpet, Strings, and Tympani (1990).

Bibliography

Erickson, Robert. 1988. "Composing Music". Perspectives of New Music 26, no. 2 (Summer): 86–95.

Erickson, Robert. 1991. Sierra & Other Works. CRI CD 616. Liner notes by Alan Rich, Music Critic, L.A. Daily News.

Erickson, Robert, and John MacKay. 1995. Music of Many Means: Sketches and Essays on the Music of Robert Erickson. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3014-0

MacKay, John. 1988. "On the Music of Robert Erickson: A Survey and Some Selected Analyses". Perspectives of New Music 26, no. 2 (Summer): 56–85.

Oliveros, Pauline. 1995. "A Former UCSD Professor Speaks Up: An Email Exchange" Fall 1995 - International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM list).

Reynolds, Roger. 1988. "Wonderful Times". Perspectives of New Music 26, no. 2 (Summer): 44–55.

Shere, Charles. 1995. Thinking Sound Music: The Life and Work of Robert Erickson. Berkeley: Fallen Leaf Press. ISBN 0-914913-33-6

Shere, Robert. 2001. "Erickson, Robert". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.

Sources

External links

University of Akron Bierce Library Smith Archives Composer Profile: Robert Erickson

ClassicToday.com Review of Pacific Sirens by Robert Erickson Artistic quality: 8, Sound quality: 9.

Dunbar's Delight Review of Sierra & Other Works by Elliott Schwartz, American Music, Fall, 1998

[ AllMusic "Robert Erickson" biography] by Joslyn Layne

Interview with Robert Erickson by Bruce Duffie, February 27, 1988

Listening

Art of the States: Robert Erickson two works by the composer: General Speech (1969) and East of the Beach (1980)

Category:1917 births Category:1997 deaths Category:20th-century classical composers Category:American composers

de:Robert Erickson

{{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

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Coordinates	7°18′48″N72°24′40″N
nationality	American
jr/sr	Junior Senator
state	Minnesota
term start	July 7, 2009
preceded	Norm Coleman
alongside	Amy Klobuchar
name	Al Franken
birthname	Alan Stuart Franken
birth date	May 21, 1951
birth place	New York City, New York
occupation	U.S. Senator, comedian, actor, author, screenwriter, political commentator, politician, and radio host
party	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
alma mater	Harvard College (A.B.)
residence	Minneapolis, Minnesota
spouse	Franni Bryson Franken
children	ThomasinJoe
religion	Judaism
website	Official Senate website
signature	Al Franken Signature.svg }}

Alan Stuart "Al" Franken (born May 21, 1951) is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party.

Franken achieved note as a writer and performer for the television show Saturday Night Live from its inception in 1975 before moving to writing and acting in films and television shows. He then became a political commentator, author of five books and host of a nationally syndicated radio show on the Air America Radio network.

In 2008, Franken narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman, by 312 votes, after a mandatory statewide manual recount. Coleman contested the outcome in court, but the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously upheld Franken's victory on June 30, 2009. Franken was sworn in to the Senate on July 7, 2009.

Early life

Franken was born in New York City to Phoebe G. Kunst – a homemaker and real estate agent – and Joseph P. Franken, a printing salesman. The family later moved to St. Louis Park, a suburb near Minneapolis. Franken had a Jewish upbringing. His older brother Owen is a photojournalist; MSNBC's Bob Franken is his cousin. Franken was graduated in 1969 from The Blake School, where he was on the wrestling team. He attended Harvard College and graduated with an A.B. cum laude in 1973 in political science.

Family

Franken met his wife, Franni (née Bryson), in his first year of college. In 2005, they moved back to Minnesota and reside in Minneapolis. The Frankens have two children: daughter Thomasin (born 1981) has degrees from Harvard and the French Culinary Institute and is a former elementary school teacher turned "food educator and private chef"; son Joe (born 1984) holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Princeton.

Saturday Night Live

Franken began his performing career in high school at The Blake School, where he and long-time writing partner Tom Davis were known for their humor. Franken honed his writing and performing skills at Minneapolis' Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop theater, specializing in political satire. He and Davis soon found themselves in "a life of near-total failure on the fringes of show business in Los Angeles."

Franken and Davis were recruited as two of the original writers (and occasional performers) on Saturday Night Live (1975–1980, 1985–1995). In the latter period, only Franken returned as a performer, while Davis usually stayed behind the camera.

In Season 1 of SNL, as apprentice writers, the two shared a salary of $350 per week. Franken, who received seven Emmy nominations and three Emmy Awards for his television writing and producing, created such characters as self-help guru Stuart Smalley and such routines as proclaiming the 1980s to be the "Al Franken Decade." Franken was associated with SNL for over 15 years and, in 2002, interviewed former Vice President Al Gore while in character as Smalley. Franken and Davis wrote the script to the 1986 comedy film One More Saturday Night, appearing in it as rock singers in a band called "Bad Mouth." They also appeared in cameo roles in The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash and in the Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd film Trading Places.

Franken's most notorious SNL performance may have been "A Limo for the Lame-O," a commentary he delivered near the end of the 1979–80 season during a Weekend Update segment. Franken mocked controversial NBC president Fred Silverman as "a total unequivocal failure" and displayed a chart showing the poor ratings of NBC programs. Franken proclaimed that Silverman did not deserve a limousine. As a result of this sketch, Silverman refused Lorne Michaels' request that Franken succeed him as SNL's head producer, prompting Franken to leave the show when Michaels did, at the end of the 1979–80 season. Franken later returned to the show in 1985, mostly as a writer, but also as an occasional performer best known for the Stuart Smalley character. He acknowledged using cocaine while working for Saturday Night Live but says he no longer uses any illegal drugs. Franken left the show in 1995 in protest over losing the role of Weekend Update anchor to Norm Macdonald.

Post-SNL

Franken is the author of five New York Times best-selling books, three of which reached #1, including Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations.

USO service

Franken has served as a volunteer with the United Service Organizations since he first visited Kosovo in 1999. Franken has conducted several overseas tours to both Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to participating in numerous celebrity handshake tours at military hospitals to visit wounded soldiers. On March 25, 2009, Franken was presented with the USO's Merit Award for his 10 years of service to the organization through visiting injured and deployed servicemembers.

Fox News lawsuit

In 2003, Penguin Books published Franken's book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, which included a cover photo of Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly and a chapter accusing O'Reilly of lying. In August of that year, Fox News sued, claiming infringement of its registered trademark phrase "Fair and Balanced". A federal judge found the lawsuit to be "wholly without merit". The incident with Fox focused media attention on Franken's book and, according to Franken, greatly increased its sales (see Streisand effect).

Radio show

Franken signed a one-year contract in early 2004 to host a talk show for Air America Radio's flagship program with co-host Katherine Lanpher, who remained with the show until October 2005. The network was launched March 31, 2004. Originally named The O'Franken Factor but renamed The Al Franken Show on July 12, 2004, the show aired three hours a day, five days a week for three years. The stated goal of the show was to provide the public airwaves with more progressive views to counter what Franken perceived to be the dominance of conservative syndicated commentary on the radio. "I'm doing this because I want to use my energies to get Bush unelected," he told a New York Times reporter in 2004.

Franken is a Grateful Dead fan, and he used their songs as bumper music on his radio show. Franken's last radio show on Air America Radio was on February 14, 2007, at the end of which Franken announced his candidacy for the United States Senate.

Other projects

Franken wrote the original screenplay and starred in the film Stuart Saves His Family, which was panned by critics (receiving a rating of 29% on the website Rottentomatoes.com). He also co-wrote the film When a Man Loves a Woman. He co-created and starred in the NBC sitcom LateLine until it was canceled in Season 2. He appeared in the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate.

In 2003, Franken served as a Fellow with Harvard's Kennedy School of Government at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.

Since 2005, Franken has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post. His most recent book, The Truth (With Jokes), was released in 2005.

Franken has long been associated with the International Order of Odd Fellows (Manchester Unity), but in September 2009, his spokesperson said he is not a member.

Political activism prior to 2008

According to an article by Richard Corliss published in Time, "In a way, Franken has been running for office since the late '70s." Corliss also hinted at Franken's "possibly ironic role as a relentless self-promoter" in proclaiming the 1980s "the Al Franken Decade" and saying, "Vote for me, Al Franken. You'll be glad you did!" In 1999, Franken released a parody book, Why Not Me?, detailing his campaign for the Presidency in 2000. He had been a strong supporter of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone and was deeply affected by the senator's death in a plane crash shortly before the 2002 Senate election. After the funeral, Rush Limbaugh and several other commentators identified by Franken as "rightwing bloggers" and "Republicans" accused the organizers and participants of Wellstone's remembrance ceremony of using the tragedy for political purposes. Conservative columnists Peggy Noonan and Chris Caldwell asserted that 20,000 people booed Trent Lott. Franken, who attended, denied there was widespread jeering: "Along with everyone else, I cried, I laughed, I cheered. It was, to my mind, a beautiful four-hour memorial. I didn't boo. Neither did 22,800 of the some 23,000 people there." In Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Franken wrote that Noonan and Caldwell had later told him that they had not personally been at the memorial service. Franken felt that "the right wing line on the Wellstone Memorial" was accepted by some "mainstream" journalists such as Howard Kurtz.

Franken said he learned that 21% of Americans received most of their news from talk radio, then an almost exclusively conservative medium. Said Franken, "I didn't want to sit on the sidelines, and I believed Air America could make a difference." In November 2003, Franken talked about moving to his home state of Minnesota to run for the Senate. The seat once held by Wellstone, then occupied by Republican Norm Coleman, was to be contested in the 2008 election. In 2005, Franken announced his move to Minnesota: "I can tell you honestly, I don't know if I'm going to run, but I'm doing the stuff I need to do in order to do it." He said that he would run as a Democrat.

In late 2005, Franken started his own political action committee, called Midwest Values PAC. By early 2007, the PAC had raised more than $1 million.

Franken was the subject of the 2006 documentary film Al Franken: God Spoke, which premiered in April 2006 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. It was released nationally on September 13 of that year.

Tax issues

During the 2008 election, New York state officials asserted that Al Franken Inc. had failed to carry required workers' compensation insurance for employees who assisted him with his comedy and public speaking from 2002 to 2005. Franken paid the $25,000 fine to the state of New York upon being advised his corporation was out of compliance with the state's workers' compensation laws. At the same time, the California Franchise Tax Board reported that the same corporation owed more than $4,743.40 in taxes, fines, and associated penalties in the state of California for 2003 through 2007 because the corporation did not file tax returns in the state for those years. A Franken representative said that it followed the advice of an accountant who believed when the corporation stopped doing business in California that no further filing was required. Subsequently, Franken paid $70,000 in back income taxes in 17 states dating to 2003 mostly from Franken's speeches and other paid appearances. Franken said he paid the income tax in his state of residence, and he will seek retroactive credit for paying the taxes in the wrong states.

Views

Franken had initially supported the Iraq War but opposed the 2007 troop surge. In an interview with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, Franken said that he "believed Colin Powell", whose presentation at the United Nations convinced him that the war was necessary. However, since then he had come to believe that "we were misled into the war" and urged the Democratically-controlled Congress to refuse to pass appropriations bills to fund the war if they don't include timetables for leaving Iraq. In an interview with Josh Marshall, Franken said of the Democrats, "I think we've gotta make [President George W. Bush] say, 'OK, I'm cutting off funding because I won't agree to a timetable.'"

Franken favors transitioning to a universal health care system, with the provision that every child in America should receive health care coverage, immediately. He has spoken in favor of protecting private pensions and Social Security. He has also advocated cutting subsidies for oil companies, increasing money available for college students, and cutting interest rates on student loans.

U.S. Senate

2008 election

On January 29, 2007, Al Franken announced his departure from Air America Radio. On the day of his final show, February 14, Franken formally announced that he would run for the United States Senate from Minnesota in 2008. Challenging him for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party endorsement was Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, a professor, author, and activist. Other candidates were trial lawyer Mike Ciresi, and Jim Cohen, an attorney and human rights activist who had dropped out of the race earlier.

On April 13, 2007, Franken's campaign filed a campaign finance report. He raised $1.35 million in the first quarter of 2007. The incumbent Senator, Norm Coleman, raised $1.53 million. On July 8, 2007, the Franken campaign stated that it expected to announce that Franken had raised more money than Coleman during the second quarter of the year, taking in $1.9 million to Coleman's $1.6 million, although as of early July 2007, Coleman's $3.8 million cash on hand exceeded Franken's $2 million.

In late May 2008, the Minnesota Republican Party released a letter regarding an article Franken had written for Playboy in 2000 entitled "Porn-O-Rama!" The letter, signed by six prominent GOP women, including a state senator and state representative, called on Franken to apologize for what they referred to as a "demeaning and degrading" article. Several DFL leaders expressed personal and political discomfort with the article as well. A Franken campaign spokesman responded that, "Al had a long career as a satirist. But he understands the difference between what you say as a satirist and what you do as a senator. And as a senator, Norm Coleman has disrespected the people of Minnesota by putting the Exxons and Halliburtons ahead of working families. And there’s nothing funny about that."

On June 7, 2008, Franken was endorsed at the DFL convention. In a July 2008 interview with CNN, Franken was endorsed by Ben Stein, the noted entertainer, speechwriter, lawyer and author who is known for his conservative views and generally supports Republican candidates. Stein said of Franken, "He is my pal, and he is a really, really capable smart guy. I don't agree with all of his positions, but he is a very impressive guy, and I think he should be in the Senate."

On September 9, 2008, Franken won the Democratic primary for the Senate seat.

During his campaign for the Senate, Franken was criticized for advising SNL creator Lorne Michaels on a political sketch ridiculing Senator John McCain's ads attacking Barack Obama. Coleman's campaign reacted, saying, "Once again, he proves he's more interested in entertainment than service, and ridiculing those with whom he disagrees."

Preliminary reports on election night November 4 had Coleman ahead by over 700 votes; but the official results certified on by November 18, 2008, had Coleman leading by only 215 votes. As the two candidates were separated by less than 0.5 percent, the Secretary of State of Minnesota, Mark Ritchie, authorized the automatic recount stipulated in Minnesota election law. In the recount, ballots and certifying materials were examined by hand, and candidates could file challenges to the legality of ballots or materials for inclusion or exclusion with regard to the recount. On January 5, 2009, the Minnesota State Canvassing Board certified the recounted vote totals, with Franken ahead by 225 votes.

On January 6, 2009, Coleman's campaign filed an election contest, which led to a trial before a three-judge panel. The trial ended on April 7, when the panel ruled that 351 of 387 disputed absentee ballots were incorrectly rejected and ordered them counted. Counting those ballots raised Franken's lead to 312 votes. Coleman appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court on April 20. On April 24, the Minnesota Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. and oral arguments were conducted on June 1.

On June 30, 2009, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously rejected Coleman's appeal and said that Franken was entitled to be certified as the winner. Shortly after the court's decision, Coleman conceded. Governor Tim Pawlenty signed Franken’s election certificate that same evening. Franken was sworn in to the Senate on July 7, 2009, using the Bible of late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone.

Tenure

Franken was sworn in to the Senate on July 7, 2009, 246 days after the November 2008 election. He became the fifth senator to be sworn in since the class of 2008 was sworn in January 2009. The desk where he sat was the same desk that Paul Wellstone used, which Senate leaders had kept open for Franken.

On August 6, 2009, Franken presided over the confirmation vote of Sonia Sotomayor to be an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. A year later on August 5, 2010, Franken presided over the confirmation vote of Elena Kagan. His first piece of legislation was the Service Dogs for Veterans Act (), which he wrote jointly with Sen. Johnny Isakson (R). The bill, which passed the Senate via unanimous consent, established a program with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to pair disabled veterans with service dogs.

A video began circulating on the Internet of Franken at the Minnesota State Fair on September 2, 2009, engaging in a discussion with a group of Tea Party protesters on health care reform, and soon found itself going viral. The discussion was noted for its civility, in contrast to the explosive character of several other similar discussions between members of the 111th Congress and their constituents that had occurred over the summer.

Citing the case of Jamie Leigh Jones, Franken offered an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR "if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court." It passed the U.S. Senate, 68 to 30, in a roll-call vote.

In May 2010 Franken proposed a financial reform legislation amendment which would create a board to select which credit rating agency would evaluate a given security; currently any companies issuing a security may select which company evaluates the security. The amendment was passed; however, the financial industry lobbied to have Franken's amendment removed from the final bill. Negotiations between the Senate and House of Representatives, whose version of financial reform did not include such a provision, resulted in the amendment's being watered down to require only a series of studies being done upon the issue for two years. After the studies, if the SEC has not implemented another solution to the conflict of interest problem, Franken's solution will go into effect.

A March 2010 poll taken by Rasmussen Reports placed Franken's approval rating at 50% with Minnesotans.

In August 2010, Franken made faces and hand gestures and rolled his eyes while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered a speech in opposition to the confirmation of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. Franken's actions prompted McConnell to remark, "This isn't 'Saturday Night Live', Al." Following Kagan's confirmation, Franken delivered a handwritten apology to McConnell and issued a public statement saying that McConnell had a right "to give his speech with the presiding officer just listening respectfully."

Committee assignments

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

*Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety

*Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging

Committee on the Judiciary

* Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights

* Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law

* Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law (Chair)

* Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts

Committee on Indian Affairs

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

Special Committee on Aging

Bibliography

Books

I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!: Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley (Dell Books, 1992) ISBN 0-440-50470-8

Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations (Delacorte Press, 1996) ISBN 0-385-31474-4

Why Not Me? (Delacorte Press, 1999) a parody-journal of the fictional “Franken campaign” for President ISBN 0-385-31809-X

Oh, the Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or Failing That, Happiness (Plume Books, 2003) ISBN 0-452-28450-3

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right (Dutton Books, 2003) ISBN 0-525-94764-7

The Truth (With Jokes) (Dutton Books, 2005) ISBN 0-525-94906-2

CDs and compilations

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Truth About Corporate Cons, Globalization, and High-Finance Fraudsters with Greg Palast (2004)

The O'Franken Factor Factor — The Best of the O'Franken Factor

The Al Franken Show Party Album

Filmography

As Performer

Saturday Night Live (1975-1995) (TV)

Franken and Davis at Stockton State (1984) (TV)

Tunnel Vision (1976)

The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978) (TV)

Grateful Dead: Dead Ahead (1980)

Trading Places (1983)

One More Saturday Night (1986)

Stuart Saves His Family (1995)

LateLine (1998) (TV)

From the Earth to the Moon (1998) (TV)

Harvard Man (2001)

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Indian Point: Imagining the Unimaginable (2004) HBO documentary (TV)

The Al Franken Show (2004) (TV)

Tanner on Tanner (2004) (TV)

Al Franken: God Spoke (2006)

As Writer

Saturday Night Live (1975-1995) (TV)

The Paul Simon Special (1977) (TV)

Steve Martin's Best Show Ever (1981) (TV)

Bob and Ray, Jane, Laraine and Gilda (1981) (TV)

The Coneheads (with Tom Davis) (1981) (TV)

Franken and Davis at Stockton State (1984) (TV)

The New Show (1984) (TV)

One More Saturday Night (with Tom Davis) (1986)

When a Man Loves a Woman (with Ron Bass) (1994)

Stuart Saves His Family (1995)

3rd Rock From The Sun (1996) (Guest Star) (TV)

Lateline (1998) (Creator) (TV)

The Al Franken Show (2004) (TV)

Electoral history

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See also

Saturday Night Live cast

References

External links

Senator Al Franken official U.S. Senate site

Al Franken for Congress official campaign site

in 2002 in 2003 in 2004

Al Franken profile in Moment Magazine in 2005

{{S-ttl|title=DFL nominee for U.S. Senator from Minnesota(Class 2) |years=2008}} {{U.S. Senator box |before= Norm Coleman |state=Minnesota |class=2 |years=2009-present |alongside=Amy Klobuchar}}

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