Conversion of Paul
Encyclopedia
The Conversion of Paul the Apostle, as depicted in the Christian Bible, refers to an event reported to have taken place in the life of Paul of Tarsus
which led him to cease persecuting early Christians and to himself become a follower of Jesus
; it is normally dated by researchers to AD 33–36. The phrases Pauline conversion, Damascene conversion, and road to Damascus allude to this event.
. In both instances, the conversion experience is described to be miraculous
or revelatory in nature. According to both sources, Paul was never a follower of Jesus nor knew him before Jesus's crucifixion; instead he persecuted the early Christians. Although Paul refers to himself as an "Apostle"
of Jesus, it is clear that Paul was not one of "The Twelve" apostles. . Paul's conversion occurred after Jesus's crucifixion, and the accounts of Paul's conversion experience describe it as miraculous, supernatural, or otherwise revelatory in nature.
who "intensely persecuted
" the followers of Jesus. Some scholars argue that Paul was a member of the "Zealot" party. Says Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians
:
Paul also discusses his pre-conversion life in his Epistle to the Philippians
, and his participation in the stoning of Stephen is described in .
( and ), he describes having seen the Risen Christ
:
Paul's Epistle to the Galatians
also describes his conversion as a divine revelation.
discusses Paul's conversion experience at three different points in the text. Compared with the accounts in Paul's letters, the Acts accounts are far more detailed. According to the accounts in Acts, around the year 36, Paul was on his way from Jerusalem for Syrian Damascus to arrest followers of Jesus
, with the intention of returning them as prisoners for questioning and possible execution. The journey is interrupted when Paul sees a blinding light, and communicates directly with a divine voice.
The account continues with a description of Ananias of Damascus
receiving a divine revelation instructing him to visit Saul at the house of Judas on the Street Called Straight
and there lay hands
on him to restore his sight (the house of Judas is traditionally believed to have been near the west end of the street). Ananias is initially reluctant, having heard about Saul's persecution, but obeys the divine command:
. Paul addresses the crowd and tells them of his conversion, with a description essentially the same as that in , but with slight differences. For example, notes that Paul's companions did not see who he was speaking to, while indicates that they did share in seeing the light (see also Differences between the accounts, below). This speech was most likely originally in Aramaic
(see also Aramaic of Jesus
), with the passage here being a Greek translation and summary. The speech is clearly tailored for its Jewish audience, with stress being placed in on Ananias' good reputation among Damascene Jews, rather than on his Christianity.
, defending himself against the accusations of antinomianism
that have been made against him . This account is briefer than the others. The speech here is again tailored for its audience, emphasising what a Roman ruler would understand: the need to obey a heavenly vision ; and reassuring Agrippa that Christians were not a secret society .
on January 25, recounting the conversion. This feast is celebrated in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican
and Lutheran churches. This feast is at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
, an international Christian ecumenical observance that began in 1908, which is an octave (an eight-day observance) spanning from January 18 (observed in Anglican and Lutheran tradition as the Confession of Peter) to January 25.
The collect
is:
, with "no fall so deep that grace cannot descend to it" and "no height so lofty that grace cannot lift the sinner to it." It also demonstrates "God's power to use everything, even the hostile persecutor, to achieve the divine purpose."
The transforming effect of Paul's conversion influenced the clear antithesis he saw "between righteousness based on the law," which he had sought in his former life; and "righteousness based on the death of Christ," which he describes, for example, in the Epistle to the Galatians
.
and seizure. In 1987, D. Landsborough published an article in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry
, in which he stated that Paul's conversion experience, with the bright light, loss of normal bodily posture, a message of strong religious content, and his subsequent blindness, suggested "an attack of , perhaps ending in a convulsion ... The blindness which followed may have been post-ictal
."
This conclusion was challenged in the same journal by James R. Brorson and Kathleen Brewer, who stated that this hypothesis failed to explain why Paul's companions heard a voice (Acts 9:7), saw a light (Acts 22:9), or fell to the ground (Acts 26:14). Furthermore, no lack of awareness of blindness (a characteristic of cortical blindness
) was reported in Acts, nor is there any indication of memory loss. Additionally, Paul's blindness remitted in sudden fashion, rather than the gradual resolution typical of post-ictal states, and no mention is made of epileptic convulsion
s; indeed such convulsions may, in Paul's time, have been interpreted as a sign of demonic influence, unlikely in someone accepted as a religious leader.
, and generated debate about the best translations of the relevant passages. The two passages each describe the experience of Paul's travelling companions during the revelation, with Acts 9:7 (the author's description of the event) stating that Paul's travelling companions heard the voice that spoke to him; and Acts 22:9 (the author's quotation of Paul's own words) traditionally stating they did not.
Biblical translations of Acts 9:7 generally state that Paul's companions did, indeed, hear the voice (or sound) that spoke to him:
By contrast, Catholic translations and older Protestant translations preserve the apparent contradiction in Acts 22:9, while many modern Protestant translations such as the New International Version
(NIV) do not:
, and similar versions contend that the translation used for Acts 22:9 is inaccurate. The verb used here — akouō (ἀκούω) — can be translated both "hear" and "understand" (both the KJV and NIV translate akouō as "understand" in , for example). It often takes a noun in the genitive
case
for a person is being heard, with a noun in the accusative
for the thing being heard. More classically, the use of the accusative indicates hearing with understanding. There is indeed a case difference here, with Acts 9:7 using the genitive tēs phōnēs (τῆς φωνῆς), and Acts 22:9 using the accusative tēn phōnēn (τὴν φωνὴν). However, there has been debate about which rule Luke was following here. On the second interpretation, Paul's companions may indeed have heard the voice (as is unambiguously stated in Acts 9:7), yet not understood it, although New Testament scholar Daniel B. Wallace
finds this argument based on case inconclusive.
has criticised this as unjustifiable.
The New American Standard Bible
, New Century Version
, and English Standard Version
maintain the "hear"/"understand" distinction while using "voice" in both passages. On the other hand, the Holman Christian Standard Bible
has "sound"/"voice" with "hear" in both passages, and The Message
adopts a similar translation, but with "sound"/"conversation." The French La Bible du Semeur
distinguishes between entendaient ("heard") and compris ("understood").
Although it is possible that there is a contradiction in these two passages unnoticed by the author, Richard Longenecker
suggests that first-century readers probably understood the two passages to mean that everybody heard the sound of the voice, but "only Paul understood the articulated words." Similar comments have been made by other scholars.
An older explanation given, for example, by John Chrysostom
, is that those with Paul heard only his side of the conversation: this seems less grammatically feasible.
, Francisco Camilo
, Giovanni Bellini
, Fra Angelico
, Fra Bartolomeo, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, William Blake
, Luca Giordano
, and Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante
.
The Renaissance Italian master Caravaggio
painted two works depicting the event: The Conversion of Saint Paul
and Conversion on the Way to Damascus
. Peter Paul Rubens also produced several works on the theme.
Michelangelo
's The Conversion of Saul
is housed in the Cappella Paolina
of the Vatican Palace.
and the choral
motet
Saule, Saule, quid me persequeris by Giaches de Wert
(1535–1596).
to the "Road to Damascus" that has come to refer to a sudden and/or radical conversion of thought or a change of heart or mind, even in matters outside of a Christian context. For example, Australian politician Tony Abbott
was described as having been "on his own road to Damascus" after pledging increased mental health funding, and a New Zealand drug dealer turned police officer was likewise described as taking "the first step on the road to Damascus."
On the Feast day
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
which led him to cease persecuting early Christians and to himself become a follower of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
; it is normally dated by researchers to AD 33–36. The phrases Pauline conversion, Damascene conversion, and road to Damascus allude to this event.
New Testament description
Within the New Testament, Paul's conversion experience is discussed in both Paul's own letters and in the book known by the title Acts of the ApostlesActs of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
. In both instances, the conversion experience is described to be miraculous
Miracles of Jesus
The miracles of Jesus are the supernatural deeds of Jesus, as recorded in Gospels, in the course of his ministry. According to the Gospel of John, only some of these were recorded. states that "Jesus did many other things as well...
or revelatory in nature. According to both sources, Paul was never a follower of Jesus nor knew him before Jesus's crucifixion; instead he persecuted the early Christians. Although Paul refers to himself as an "Apostle"
Apostle (Christian)
The term apostle is derived from Classical Greek ἀπόστολος , meaning one who is sent away, from στέλλω + από . The literal meaning in English is therefore an "emissary", from the Latin mitto + ex...
of Jesus, it is clear that Paul was not one of "The Twelve" apostles. . Paul's conversion occurred after Jesus's crucifixion, and the accounts of Paul's conversion experience describe it as miraculous, supernatural, or otherwise revelatory in nature.
Paul's life before conversion
Before his conversion, Paul, then known as Saul, was a "zealous" PhariseePharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
who "intensely persecuted
Persecution of Christians
Persecution of Christians as a consequence of professing their faith can be traced both historically and in the current era. Early Christians were persecuted for their faith, at the hands of both Jews from whose religion Christianity arose, and the Roman Empire which controlled much of the land...
" the followers of Jesus. Some scholars argue that Paul was a member of the "Zealot" party. Says Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians
Epistle to the Galatians
The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, often shortened to Galatians, is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul of Tarsus to a number of Early Christian communities in the Roman province of Galatia in central Anatolia...
:
Paul also discusses his pre-conversion life in his Epistle to the Philippians
Epistle to the Philippians
The Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, usually referred to simply as Philippians, is the eleventh book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was written by St. Paul to the church of Philippi, an early center of Christianity in Greece around 62 A.D. Other scholars argue for an...
, and his participation in the stoning of Stephen is described in .
The conversion in Paul's letters
In his surviving letters, Paul's own description of his conversion experience is brief. In his First Epistle to the CorinthiansFirst Epistle to the Corinthians
The first epistle of Paul the apostle to the Corinthians, often referred to as First Corinthians , is the seventh book of the New Testament of the Bible...
( and ), he describes having seen the Risen Christ
Resurrection appearances of Jesus
The major Resurrection appearances of Jesus in the Canonical gospels are reported to have occurred after his death, burial and resurrection, but prior to his Ascension. Among these primary sources, most scholars believe First Corinthians was written first, authored by Paul of Tarsus along with...
:
Paul's Epistle to the Galatians
Epistle to the Galatians
The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, often shortened to Galatians, is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul of Tarsus to a number of Early Christian communities in the Roman province of Galatia in central Anatolia...
also describes his conversion as a divine revelation.
The conversion in Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the ApostlesActs of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
discusses Paul's conversion experience at three different points in the text. Compared with the accounts in Paul's letters, the Acts accounts are far more detailed. According to the accounts in Acts, around the year 36, Paul was on his way from Jerusalem for Syrian Damascus to arrest followers of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, with the intention of returning them as prisoners for questioning and possible execution. The journey is interrupted when Paul sees a blinding light, and communicates directly with a divine voice.
Acts 9
tells the story of Paul's conversion as a third-person narrative:The account continues with a description of Ananias of Damascus
Ananias of Damascus
Ananias , was a disciple of Jesus at Damascus mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible, which describes how he was sent by Jesus to restore the sight of "Saul, of Tarsus" and provide him with additional instruction in the way of the...
receiving a divine revelation instructing him to visit Saul at the house of Judas on the Street Called Straight
Street Called Straight
The Damascus Straight Street is the Roman street that runs from east to west in the old city of Damascus, Syria. It was visited by St. Paul as recorded in the book of Acts and contains several interesting sights from the Roman, Christian and Islamic periods.Under the Greeks, the old city of...
and there lay hands
Laying on of hands
The laying on of hands is a religious ritual that accompanies certain religious practices, which are found throughout the world in varying forms....
on him to restore his sight (the house of Judas is traditionally believed to have been near the west end of the street). Ananias is initially reluctant, having heard about Saul's persecution, but obeys the divine command:
Acts 22
Acts' second telling of Paul's conversion occurs in a speech Paul gives when he is arrested in JerusalemJerusalem in Christianity
For Christians, Jerusalem's place in the ministry of Jesus and the Apostolic Age gives it great importance, in addition to its place in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible.-Jerusalem in the New Testament and early Christianity:...
. Paul addresses the crowd and tells them of his conversion, with a description essentially the same as that in , but with slight differences. For example, notes that Paul's companions did not see who he was speaking to, while indicates that they did share in seeing the light (see also Differences between the accounts, below). This speech was most likely originally in Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
(see also Aramaic of Jesus
Aramaic of Jesus
It is generally agreed that the historical Jesus primarily spoke Aramaic, perhaps along with some Hebrew and Greek . The towns of Nazareth and Capernaum, where Jesus lived, were primarily Aramaic-speaking communities, although Greek was widely spoken in the major cities of the Eastern Mediterranean...
), with the passage here being a Greek translation and summary. The speech is clearly tailored for its Jewish audience, with stress being placed in on Ananias' good reputation among Damascene Jews, rather than on his Christianity.
Acts 26
Acts' third discussion of Paul's conversion occurs when Paul addresses King AgrippaAgrippa II
Agrippa II , son of Agrippa I, and like him originally named Marcus Julius Agrippa, was the seventh and last king of the family of Herod the Great, thus last of the Herodians. He was the brother of Berenice, Mariamne, and Drusilla...
, defending himself against the accusations of antinomianism
Antinomianism
Antinomianism is defined as holding that, under the gospel dispensation of grace, moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation....
that have been made against him . This account is briefer than the others. The speech here is again tailored for its audience, emphasising what a Roman ruler would understand: the need to obey a heavenly vision ; and reassuring Agrippa that Christians were not a secret society .
Feast day
The Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle is a feast celebrated during the liturgical yearLiturgical year
The liturgical year, also known as the church year, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches which determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which portions of Scripture are to be read. Distinct liturgical colours may appear in...
on January 25, recounting the conversion. This feast is celebrated in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
and Lutheran churches. This feast is at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an international Christian ecumenical observance kept annually between 18 January and 25 January. It is actually an octave, that is, an observance lasting eight days.-Beginnings:...
, an international Christian ecumenical observance that began in 1908, which is an octave (an eight-day observance) spanning from January 18 (observed in Anglican and Lutheran tradition as the Confession of Peter) to January 25.
The collect
Collect
In Christian liturgy, a collect is both a liturgical action and a short, general prayer. In the Middle Ages, the prayer was referred to in Latin as collectio, but in the more ancient sources, as oratio. In English, and in this usage, "collect" is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable...
is:
- O God, who taught the whole world
- through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Paul,
- draw us, we pray, nearer to you
- through the example of him whose conversion we celebrate today,
- and so make us witnesses to your truth in the world.
Theological implications
The Conversion of Paul, in spite of his attempts to completely eradicate Christianity, is seen as evidence of the power of Divine GraceGrace (Christianity)
In Christian theology, grace is God’s gift of God’s self to humankind. It is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to man - "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved" - that takes the form of divine favour, love and clemency. It is an attribute of God that is most...
, with "no fall so deep that grace cannot descend to it" and "no height so lofty that grace cannot lift the sinner to it." It also demonstrates "God's power to use everything, even the hostile persecutor, to achieve the divine purpose."
The transforming effect of Paul's conversion influenced the clear antithesis he saw "between righteousness based on the law," which he had sought in his former life; and "righteousness based on the death of Christ," which he describes, for example, in the Epistle to the Galatians
Epistle to the Galatians
The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, often shortened to Galatians, is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul of Tarsus to a number of Early Christian communities in the Roman province of Galatia in central Anatolia...
.
Nature of the conversion experience
The Bible says that Paul's conversion experience was an encounter with the resurrected Christ. Alternative explanations have been proposed, including sun strokeHeat illness
Heat illness or heat-related illness is a spectrum of disorders due to environmental heat exposure. It includes minor conditions such as heat cramps, heat syncope, and heat exhaustion as well as the more severe condition known as heat stroke....
and seizure. In 1987, D. Landsborough published an article in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry
The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry is a British medical journal published monthly by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. It aims to publish original research and reviews in common conditions in the fields of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Rossor...
, in which he stated that Paul's conversion experience, with the bright light, loss of normal bodily posture, a message of strong religious content, and his subsequent blindness, suggested "an attack of , perhaps ending in a convulsion ... The blindness which followed may have been post-ictal
Postictal state
The postictal state is the altered state of consciousness that a person enters after experiencing a seizure. It usually lasts between 5 and 30 minutes, but sometimes longer in the case of larger or more severe seizures and is characterized by drowsiness, confusion, nausea, hypertension, headache or...
."
This conclusion was challenged in the same journal by James R. Brorson and Kathleen Brewer, who stated that this hypothesis failed to explain why Paul's companions heard a voice (Acts 9:7), saw a light (Acts 22:9), or fell to the ground (Acts 26:14). Furthermore, no lack of awareness of blindness (a characteristic of cortical blindness
Cortical blindness
Cortical blindness is the total or partial loss of vision in a normal-appearing eye caused by damage to the visual area in the brain's occipital cortex. This damage is most often caused by loss of blood flow to the occipital cortex from either unilateral or bilateral posterior cerebral artery...
) was reported in Acts, nor is there any indication of memory loss. Additionally, Paul's blindness remitted in sudden fashion, rather than the gradual resolution typical of post-ictal states, and no mention is made of epileptic convulsion
Convulsion
A convulsion is a medical condition where body muscles contract and relax rapidly and repeatedly, resulting in an uncontrolled shaking of the body. Because a convulsion is often a symptom of an epileptic seizure, the term convulsion is sometimes used as a synonym for seizure...
s; indeed such convulsions may, in Paul's time, have been interpreted as a sign of demonic influence, unlikely in someone accepted as a religious leader.
Differences between the accounts
An apparent contradiction in the details of the account of Paul's revelatory vision given in Acts has been the subject of much debate. Specifically, the experience of Paul's travelling companions as told in Acts and has raised questions about the historical reliability of the Acts of the ApostlesHistorical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles
The historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles, the primary source for the Apostolic Age, is a major issue for biblical scholars and historians of Early Christianity. The historicity of Acts became hotly debated between 1895-1915...
, and generated debate about the best translations of the relevant passages. The two passages each describe the experience of Paul's travelling companions during the revelation, with Acts 9:7 (the author's description of the event) stating that Paul's travelling companions heard the voice that spoke to him; and Acts 22:9 (the author's quotation of Paul's own words) traditionally stating they did not.
Biblical translations of Acts 9:7 generally state that Paul's companions did, indeed, hear the voice (or sound) that spoke to him:
By contrast, Catholic translations and older Protestant translations preserve the apparent contradiction in Acts 22:9, while many modern Protestant translations such as the New International Version
New International Version
The New International Version is an English translation of the Christian Bible. Published by Zondervan in the United States and by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK, it has become one of the most popular modern translations in history.-History:...
(NIV) do not:
"Hear" or "Understand"?
Critics of the NIV, New Living TranslationNew Living Translation
The New Living Translation is a translation of the Bible into modern English. Originally starting out as an effort to revise The Living Bible, the project evolved into a new English translation from Hebrew and Greek texts...
, and similar versions contend that the translation used for Acts 22:9 is inaccurate. The verb used here — akouō (ἀκούω) — can be translated both "hear" and "understand" (both the KJV and NIV translate akouō as "understand" in , for example). It often takes a noun in the genitive
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
case
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
for a person is being heard, with a noun in the accusative
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
for the thing being heard. More classically, the use of the accusative indicates hearing with understanding. There is indeed a case difference here, with Acts 9:7 using the genitive tēs phōnēs (τῆς φωνῆς), and Acts 22:9 using the accusative tēn phōnēn (τὴν φωνὴν). However, there has been debate about which rule Luke was following here. On the second interpretation, Paul's companions may indeed have heard the voice (as is unambiguously stated in Acts 9:7), yet not understood it, although New Testament scholar Daniel B. Wallace
Daniel B. Wallace
Daniel Baird Wallace is a professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary where he has been tenured since 1995. He is also the founder of the Center of the Study of NT Manuscripts....
finds this argument based on case inconclusive.
"Voice" or "Sound"?
A similar debate arises with the NIV's use of the word "sound" instead of "voice" in Acts 9:7. The noun used here — phōnē (φωνῆ) — can mean either. By translating 9:7 as "they heard the sound" instead of "they heard the voice," the NIV allows for Paul's companions to have heard an audible sound in Acts 9:7 without contradicting the statement in Acts 22:9 that they did not hear a comprehensible voice. Atheist activist Dan BarkerDan Barker
Dan Barker is a prominent American atheist activist who served as a Christian preacher and musician for 19 years but left Christianity in 1984.-Biography:...
has criticised this as unjustifiable.
The New American Standard Bible
New American Standard Bible
The New American Standard Bible , also informally called New American Standard Version , is an English translation of the Bible....
, New Century Version
New Century Version
The New Century Version of the Bible is a revision of the International Children's Bible. The ICB was aimed at young readers and those with low reading skills/limited vocabulary in English. It is written at a 3rd grade level and is both conservative and evangelical in tone. The New Testament was...
, and English Standard Version
English Standard Version
The English Standard Version is an English translation of the Christian Bible. It is a revision of the 1971 edition of the Revised Standard Version...
maintain the "hear"/"understand" distinction while using "voice" in both passages. On the other hand, the Holman Christian Standard Bible
Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Holman Christian Standard Bible is a modern English Bible translation from Holman Bible Publishers. The first full edition was completed in March 2004, with the New Testament alone having been previously published in 1999.- Beginnings :...
has "sound"/"voice" with "hear" in both passages, and The Message
The Message (Bible)
The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language was created by Eugene H. Peterson and published in segments from 1993 to 2002. It is an idiomatic translation of the original languages of the Bible.-History:...
adopts a similar translation, but with "sound"/"conversation." The French La Bible du Semeur
Bible translations (French)
After a number of French Bible translations in the Middle Ages, the first printed translation of the Bible into French was the work of the French theologian Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples in 1530 in Antwerp, Belgium. This was substantially revised and improved in 1535 by Pierre Robert Olivétan...
distinguishes between entendaient ("heard") and compris ("understood").
Although it is possible that there is a contradiction in these two passages unnoticed by the author, Richard Longenecker
Richard Longenecker
Richard N. Longenecker is a prominent New Testament scholar. For many years he taught at Wycliffe College in the University of Toronto. More recently he was Distinguished Professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College. He is now retired. His education includes B.A. and M.A. degrees...
suggests that first-century readers probably understood the two passages to mean that everybody heard the sound of the voice, but "only Paul understood the articulated words." Similar comments have been made by other scholars.
An older explanation given, for example, by John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom , Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic...
, is that those with Paul heard only his side of the conversation: this seems less grammatically feasible.
Cultural references
Art
The conversion of Paul has been depicted by many artists, including Albrecht DürerAlbrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
, Francisco Camilo
Francisco Camilo
Francisco Camilo was a Spanish painter. Camilo was the son of an Italian who had settled at Madrid. When his father died, his mother remarried, and Camilo became the stepson of the painter Pedro de las Cuevas....
, Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini, and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it...
, Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico , born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent"...
, Fra Bartolomeo, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
, Luca Giordano
Luca Giordano
Luca Giordano was an Italian late Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain....
, and Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante
Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante
Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante , was a Spanish baroque golden age painter.He studied under Francisco Ricci in Madrid and developed a career in the Spanish Court despite his early death. He was an admirer of Venetian paintings by Tintoretto and Veronese. His last paintings are in the rococo...
.
The Renaissance Italian master Caravaggio
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque...
painted two works depicting the event: The Conversion of Saint Paul
The Conversion of Saint Paul (Caravaggio)
The Conversion of Saint Paul , by the Italian painter Caravaggio, is housed in the Odescalchi Balbi Collection of Rome. It is one of at least two paintings by Caravaggio of the same subject, the Conversion of Paul...
and Conversion on the Way to Damascus
Conversion on the Way to Damascus
The Conversion on the Way to Damascus is a masterpiece by Caravaggio, painted in 1601 for the Cerasi Chapel of the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in Rome. Across the chapel is a second Caravaggio painting depicting the inverted Crucifixion of St. Peter...
. Peter Paul Rubens also produced several works on the theme.
Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
's The Conversion of Saul
The Conversion of Saul (Michelangelo)
The Conversion of Saul is a painting attributed to the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti . It is housed in the Cappella Paolina, Vatican Palace, in the Vatican City.-See also:*The Crucifixion of St. Peter...
is housed in the Cappella Paolina
Cappella Paolina
The Cappella Paolina is a chapel in the Vatican Palace, Rome. It is separated from the Sistine Chapel only by the Sala Regia.-Commissioning:...
of the Vatican Palace.
Music and theatre
The conversion of Paul is the subject of the medieval play The Digby Conversion of Saint PaulThe Digby Conversion of Saint Paul
The Digby Conversion of Saint Paul is a Middle English miracle play of the late fifteenth century. Written in rhyme royal, it tells the story of the conversion of Paul the Apostle.-The play:...
and the choral
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
Saule, Saule, quid me persequeris by Giaches de Wert
Giaches de Wert
Giaches de Wert was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance, active in Italy. Intimately connected with the progressive musical center of Ferrara, he was one of the leaders in developing the style of the late Renaissance madrigal...
(1535–1596).
Literature
In chapter seventeen of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, there is a literary device to the Saul to Paul conversion: "'You start Saul, and end up Paul,' my grandfather had often said. 'When you're a youngun, you Saul, but let life whup your head a bit and you starts to trying to be Paul – though you still Sauls around on the side.'"Popular usage
From the Conversion of Paul, we get the metaphorical referenceMetaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
to the "Road to Damascus" that has come to refer to a sudden and/or radical conversion of thought or a change of heart or mind, even in matters outside of a Christian context. For example, Australian politician Tony Abbott
Tony Abbott
Anthony John "Tony" Abbott is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian House of Representatives and federal leader of the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott has represented the seat of Warringah since the 1994 by-election...
was described as having been "on his own road to Damascus" after pledging increased mental health funding, and a New Zealand drug dealer turned police officer was likewise described as taking "the first step on the road to Damascus."
See also
On Paul's conversion- Bat Kol
- Tabor LightTabor LightIn Eastern Orthodox theology, the Tabor Light is the light revealed on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration of Jesus, identified with the light seen by Paul at his conversion.As a theological doctrine, the uncreated nature of the Light of...
- Split of early Christianity and Judaism
On the Feast day
- Calendar of saintsCalendar of saintsThe calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the feast day of said saint...
- General Roman Calendar as in 1954
- Roman Catholic calendar of saintsRoman Catholic calendar of saintsThe General Roman Calendar indicates the days of the year to which are assigned the liturgical celebrations of saints and of the mysteries of the Lord that are to be observed wherever the Roman Rite is used...
Further reading
- Richard N. LongeneckerRichard LongeneckerRichard N. Longenecker is a prominent New Testament scholar. For many years he taught at Wycliffe College in the University of Toronto. More recently he was Distinguished Professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College. He is now retired. His education includes B.A. and M.A. degrees...
(ed.), The Road from Damascus: The impact of Paul's conversion on his life, thought, and ministry, Eerdmans, 1997, ISBN 0802841910, 253 pages. - Thomas Martone, The theme of the conversion of Paul in Italian paintings from the early Christian period to the high Renaissance, Garland Pub., 1985, ISBN 0824068823, 254 pages.