A bitter enemy of the Christian Church, Paul became Christianity’s leading missionary and theologian. After his conversion through a vision on the road to Damascus, he accepted his call to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. Paul the Apostle undertook three missionary journeys that brought him to cities throughout Asia Minor and Greece. His letters from these travels make up a considerable portion of the New Testament. His missionary work began the development of Christianity as a separate worldwide religion. In the first century, there were many movements representing Christianity (Peter, Thomas, Mary Magdalene, the Gnostics, etc.). After the fourth century, Paul’s theology became the dominate force in Christianity. As one of our torchbearers, he gives symbolic recognition of the many other shaping movements that formed the great witness of Christianity today.

The profound witness of Jesus and the great gift of Christianity is the affirmation that each of us, when divinely connected, is an incarnate "child" (son or daughter) of God, a metaphor expressing our imago dei, (each of us is a reflection and perhaps unrepeatable unique expression of God’s very nature).  One of the biggest sticking points in interfaith dialogue is Christianity’s claim that Jesus is the Son of God. Within Christianity itself, this affirmation is much debated. This confusion is partly due to the Trinitarian formula (embedded as it is in deep philosophical assumptions) being one of the most complex doctrines in Christian thought. Hence, through the centuries, Christologies have differed widely as to what, precisely, does it mean to say that Jesus is the "son of God." Those who argue for the exclusive nature of Jesus as the Son of God struggle to separate Jesus from his Jewish roots. Seen within the context of these roots, the affirmation that Jesus is the "Son of God" takes on an inclusive if not universal flavor. Ex. 4:22-23 indicates that the concept "Son" or "Child" of God is deeply rooted in the Hebrew tradition. Ezekiel’s vision depicts God in the likeness of a "man" on a throne. Subsequently, Ezekiel’s self-reference is ‘ben adam,’ or ‘Son of Man,’ a reference Jesus used for himself numerous times. This self-reference, also finding expression in Daniel and 1 Enoch, indicates that this concept was firmly rooted in the culture of Jesus’ time.

Plato established the fundamental assumptions of Western Philosophy. Indeed, he coined the term "philosophy" (lover of wisdom). A disciple of Socrates and believing that all final answers are within, he adopted Socrates’ dialectical method of learning (question and answer). Key to Plato’s thought (and hence, our western mentality) is a belief in the primacy of ideal forms, as opposed to their imperfect manifest replicas. His metaphor of the "cave" aptly illustrates this assumption. Like living in a cave, we experience only flickering shadows of what’s real. Only by stepping outside, into a realm beyond our senses, do we bask in what’s real. Fundamental knowledge is innate and not empirical (derived from the physical senses). For Plato, all inspiration, all ideal political governances, all ethical behavior, is derived from tapping into this higher level of ideal forms. The whole history of western thought, including Christian theological development, has drawn from the wisdom of Plato.

Famous for his view of Philosophy as a pursuit proper and necessary to all intelligent men, Socrates is one of the great examples of a man who lived by his principles, a commitment which eventually cost him his life. Socrates’ contributions to philosophy include (1) a new method of approaching knowledge called the "Socratic Method," (2) a conception of the "soul" as the seat both of normal waking consciousness and of moral character, and (3) a sense that the universe is purposefully mind-ordered. His doctrine of the soul led him to the belief that all virtues converge into one, the knowledge of one’s true self. Hence his dictum: "Know Thyself." His Socratic Method assumes that the final answers come from within.