The Apostle

The Apostle is the story of Saul of Tarshish, a fiercely zealous Jew, who became Paul the Apostle and preached the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the ancient world.

On a mission to punish the heretical Jews of Damascus Saul is visited in the desert by a vision of Christ. He becomes Christ’s most fervent messenger, suffering shipwreck, hunger, scourging, imprisonment and finally death to bring Christianity to the world.

The Apostle offers a vivid depiction of the Roman Empire. The orgies and intrigues of the Emperor Nero’s court. The cruelty of infanticide, the brutal oppression of the slaves in the mines and bronze pits. The sadistic decadence of the gladiatorial arena. The slaughter of the New Christians. The arrogance, lust, and intellectual insolence of Rome arrayed against the poor, powerless Christians who had only their faith to sustain them.

Sholem Asch, a prominent Yiddish novelist, saw Paul as the embodiment of the eternal link between Christians and the Jews. The Apostle sold over five hundred thousand copies and received great critical acclaim. But Asch was accused of apostasy for his sympathetic portrayal of the New Christians and ostracized by members of the Jewish community.

"Let the Nobel Committee convene as soon as may be and award this year's prize for literature to Sholem Asch."
—Clifton Fadiman , The New Yorker

"No. 4 best-seller on U.S. fiction lists last week was a religious book, The Apostle—Sholem Asch's dramatic portrayal of the life of one of the greatest Christian leaders, Paul of Tarsus."
—Time Magazine

"Pageantry, Paganism, Piety. The Apostle is packed with realistic resuscitations of First-Century life in the Roman Empire, elaborately drawn portraits of famed pagans (Emperor Caligula, Empress Poppaea, Philosopher-Statesman Seneca), vivid descriptions of the burning of Rome, Nero's persecutions, the mystery cults and the worship of Diana."
—Time.com

…“brilliant, convincing and unprecedented in its range.”
—Philip Rahv, The Nation

"No one can read The Apostle without learning a great deal about the Judeo-Christian heritage of Western civilization. No reader will finish the novel untouched by the devotion and zealous energy which one man called forth in the hearts of so many people."
—Frank N. Magill, Masterplots,

"…raves for in this rich, devout, imaginative novel based on the life of Apostle Paul of Tarsus…"
—R. Ellis Roberts, Saturday Review

"In The Apostle famed Polish-born Novelist Sholem Asch has combined storytelling skill with historical accuracy and the sympathy of a deeply religious writer. In stature, The Apostle ranks with Asch's earlier work, The Nazarene." —Time Magazine