Saul of Tarsus was amongst the brightest and best of the early first century Jewish leaders. You might call him a kind of ‘pharisee’s pharisee’ a true loyalist who was accepted the violence which underpinned the state religion of the time. But this same Saul came to critique the very foundations of the tradition which had nurtured him.
Saul, whose apparently sudden and decisive deconstruction of his religion led him to side with the radical theo-politics of the recently crucified Jesus of Nazareth went on to publicly critique the idolatry of his formational belief system. He came to recognise in it a problematic acceptance of violence and nationalism, and this was too much for him. The story tells of him experiencing a crisis which overwhelmed him to the point where he fell from his horse, unable to see.
The story presents Saul’s deconstruction as a ‘conversion’ a word which some find problematic, but which perhaps deserves a bit more respect: we all need to be converted, to see things differently, to change the way we live. Saul, who takes on the name Paul goes on to strongly critique the blind loyalty to tradition and authority which he had previously accepted, he becomes a leader in the nascent Jesus movement, and appoints it’s first European leader, a woman called Lydia. Perhaps all of our deconstruction stories are really stories of conversion.
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You've made it to the half way point - well done!
We'll return to Saul/Paul and his deconstruction later in the series, but for now I wanted to say thanks for sticking with it. As always, any questions, comments or criticisms are welcome, just hit reply. Also there is a small facebook group which is open to anyone who wants to join in with some extra discussion, find it via my facebook page.
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