Rethinking Paul

Yesterday was our first TEEM class on Paul. It was riveting. I'm still not much interested in preaching using Paul's letters, but because Paul has been so influential and so misused, it's good to find out what's really there.The most interesting way of thinking about Paul that was new to me is to see him as a Jew framed by apocalyptic thinking, the apocalypse being when God comes to earth to judge the living and the dead, an event which will begin with the dead rising up from their graves as they come back to life to be judged.So when Paul meets Jesus on the Damascus Road, a man who has been dead brought back to life and speaking to him, he assumes that judgment day is under way. Being a good Pharisee, he would assume that Jews will be O.K. on Judgment Day--as people of the Covenant, God has chosen them. But Gentiles are in danger. Thus, off he goes to tell them how to be saved.I asked the question that some of you might be asking. Did Paul see a human Jesus on the Damascus Road? I…