He turns from any potential as a Roman working from inside the loyalties of a Principate and instead finds even deeper power, more penetrating power, in the way Jesus defined the 'individual.'
To raise a slave to savior was an axiom he could not ignore. There before him, realizing Jesus was known to perform miracles, was the quintessential example of the power of the individual that had become the basis of a Roman's Principate.
Granted, Jesus, to most Romans would appear to be a mystical character, hence, he is a blasphermer and crucified for it. But, to Saul, whom later took the name of Paul, Jesus was the pinnicle of perfection to the Roman ideology developed over time in 'The Principate.'
Romans were 'thinkers' and 'philosophers' and held esteem regardless of their musings.
Paul was no different. He saw the power that was the life and ministry of Jesus and became a devoted disciple to his work. The preaching of Paul went on for decades following the crucifiction of Jesus by the power of Rome. He established the first Christian church about 48 - 49 AD.
Paul believed in the individual as a means to define life within the power of a soul. It was the empowerment of the individual that would further define democracy and its origins among 'any man.'
The Romans were tremendous liars. Their lies were necessary to 'establish' and 'maintain' the 'stereotypes' that empowered their 'social structure.' While 'life went on' in ways rarely discussed in Roman history, there were realities even within 'the women of Rome' that were 'measures of power' outside the 'stereotyped' definitons of its culture.
The importance of the Christian as a scapegoat to that set of stereotypes was vital to the survive of Rome, but, not the emergence of Constantinople.
The power of the individual moves forward through human history in interesting and subtle ways. To honor that concept, remember, the pyramids could not exist without the slave. The king, the queen and the emperor could not exist without the pyramid, the Parthenon or the Colosseum.
