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The story and legacy of St. Paul loom so large, both in the New Testament and in the history of the church, that we can sometimes lose sight of the man in the midst of the story. Even Paul’s most famous moment—his sudden conversion to Christianity—is wrapped in mystery. Writing about it himself, Paul simply says:
I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it; and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But …[God] who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles. (Galatians 1:13-16)
Luke describes Paul’s conversion three times (Acts 9:1-19; 22:3-16; and 26:2-18), but is vague about some of the details: What, for example, was seen or heard, and by whom (compare Acts 9:7 with 22:9)? Paul emphasizes the certainty of his conversion, and Luke emphasizes its suddenness. Perhaps we may conjecture that as Paul was making the 150-mile journey from Jerusalem to Damascus on…
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