it's probably ephesus and the areas immediately around ephesus that will be his most important base of operations. ephesus was a cosmopolitan environment. the inscriptions and the statues and the artwork and the buildings all tell us that this is really a crossroads of culture and religious life throughout the mediterranean world. >> when you read jesus' parables, you immediately think of agriculture, you think of peasants, you think of landowners, you think of farming. when you read paul's letters, you think of the school, you think of the philosopher, you think of the orator, you think of the city. >> in paul's view, at least, the city was the natural environment, if you will, for christianity. he has a way of coming back to the same city, he has a way of visiting new cities and talking about visiting new cities, and it was cities that he was going to, not just general geographical areas. it's important to understand, i think, that it was from these cities that christianity ultimately was spread. >> paul mostly travels around in a kind of circuit of these congregations around the aeg