In other words, "the particular character of the Judaic culture and religion easily found its place within such all-pervading institution as the Roman Empire"; "more difficult and painful", instead, "was the position of the group of those people who, either Jews or Gentiles, would faithfully adhere to the person of Jesus of Nazareth, insofar as they would distinguish themselves from both Judaism and the rampant paganism". Two are in any case, according to the Pope, the "factors that drove Paul’s work": the first one was "the Greek, or better, Hellenistic culture", the second one was "the political-administrative structure of the Roman Empire, which guaranteed peace and stability, from Britannia through to southern Egypt, uniting a territory the size of which had never been seen before". A "space", this one, in which "one could move freely and safely enough, finding in any port of all some basic cultural features that, without being detrimental to the local values, still constituted a ‘truly impartial’ common ground of unification". (continued)
