Solo
May 6, 2008, 03:42 PM
Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
but to to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are
1 Corinthians 1:22-28
Paul did not know the perfect human being of Mark who did everything right (and only good) and was killed for it. But Paul was no stranger to the paradox of human existence. He was a good Jew, a proud, and upright Pharisee. He too did eveything right. Well, except maybe getting upset about a group of lunatics proclaiming the end of the world (as Paul knew it) in the name of some unknown Galilean peasant prodigy who (Paul was told) God sent to challenge the established law and order.
But then - as Earl Doherty says - God knocked Paul off his donkey. We do not know exactly what happened; but the way it looks to me Paul received a commission from God in the form of an onset of acute bipolarity with destabilized temporal lobe function. That made him go through periods when he was greatly excited and periods of being grossly depressed. Of course, Paul did not know that. What Paul knew related to the experience of acute bi-polarity with destabilized temporal lobe function : euphoric highs in which felt like he was in heaven, and hugely crushing melancholy with nasty physical effects. While on the high beam, he was receiving a revelatory stream of ideas, offering themselves as coming from an oracular source. It was through this material that Paul (or God, who made Paul look like a common psycho) started to announce visions and experiences of the risen Jesus Christ.
Now, my psychohistory assumes a common process in which an obssessive theme radically converts during a psychoactive episode. Paul's understanding of Jesus whom he despised as an Pharisee expert in Judaism, transformed through the first hypermanic episode (2 Cr 12:2). Paul does not tell us what happened immediately after his conversion trip - which unlike the Acts account, was very pleasurable. But Paul's understanding of his depressive lows as consequential to his highs (2 Cr 12:7-10) is all-important. It establishes the bi-polarity of his vision of Christ: the glory and heavenly ascent of the risen Lord contrasted by the harrowing experience of his death on the cross. Experientially, Christ was revealed to Paul in that order.
The second element to be grasped when decoding the above Corinthians passage is Paul's likely internal struggles immediately after his first first revelatory episode. He was doubtless a pious man and conservative in his theo-politics. He also had robust intellect and practical grasp of things. Paul also belonged to a class that psychologists describe as a 'high dominance' male. He did not like to play second fiddle to no-one - and I mean no-one.
So, it is very likely that after Paul's initial epiphany, a deep crisis set in. He would have reflected on what people (his support circle of friends and family) told him and at some he would have come to the conclusion (if he was not told directly) that he was mad: ensnared by Satan, and made believe the nonsense the phantasists were preaching about their executed former leader. He would naturally have been afraid for his sanity. It was perhaps in this period of deep uncertainty that Paul hit on the Christ paradox: The Pharisees (like him before his revelation) were offended by Jesus and considered him a madman for saying and doing the things imputed to him. But God`s hand was in that, surely.
For if the departed idol of the Nazarenes was mad, then God gave Paul the proof in making him mad, that Jesus (as a man of flesh) could do nothing about it. If God made Jesus come in God's name and refer to him as "Father", and proclaim his kingdom on earth, the man must have been either what he appeared to be, a crazy charlatan. or,................... or God made him seem mad and for a reason. To exalt his name after what he had to suffer for ideas from which no (conventionally) sane man could hope to profit. Either that or there was no hope for those who like Paul were called as witnesses to God's strange sense of humour.
Control question: So who were the ones "called" ? Any ideas ?
Jiri
but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
but to to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are
1 Corinthians 1:22-28
Paul did not know the perfect human being of Mark who did everything right (and only good) and was killed for it. But Paul was no stranger to the paradox of human existence. He was a good Jew, a proud, and upright Pharisee. He too did eveything right. Well, except maybe getting upset about a group of lunatics proclaiming the end of the world (as Paul knew it) in the name of some unknown Galilean peasant prodigy who (Paul was told) God sent to challenge the established law and order.
But then - as Earl Doherty says - God knocked Paul off his donkey. We do not know exactly what happened; but the way it looks to me Paul received a commission from God in the form of an onset of acute bipolarity with destabilized temporal lobe function. That made him go through periods when he was greatly excited and periods of being grossly depressed. Of course, Paul did not know that. What Paul knew related to the experience of acute bi-polarity with destabilized temporal lobe function : euphoric highs in which felt like he was in heaven, and hugely crushing melancholy with nasty physical effects. While on the high beam, he was receiving a revelatory stream of ideas, offering themselves as coming from an oracular source. It was through this material that Paul (or God, who made Paul look like a common psycho) started to announce visions and experiences of the risen Jesus Christ.
Now, my psychohistory assumes a common process in which an obssessive theme radically converts during a psychoactive episode. Paul's understanding of Jesus whom he despised as an Pharisee expert in Judaism, transformed through the first hypermanic episode (2 Cr 12:2). Paul does not tell us what happened immediately after his conversion trip - which unlike the Acts account, was very pleasurable. But Paul's understanding of his depressive lows as consequential to his highs (2 Cr 12:7-10) is all-important. It establishes the bi-polarity of his vision of Christ: the glory and heavenly ascent of the risen Lord contrasted by the harrowing experience of his death on the cross. Experientially, Christ was revealed to Paul in that order.
The second element to be grasped when decoding the above Corinthians passage is Paul's likely internal struggles immediately after his first first revelatory episode. He was doubtless a pious man and conservative in his theo-politics. He also had robust intellect and practical grasp of things. Paul also belonged to a class that psychologists describe as a 'high dominance' male. He did not like to play second fiddle to no-one - and I mean no-one.
So, it is very likely that after Paul's initial epiphany, a deep crisis set in. He would have reflected on what people (his support circle of friends and family) told him and at some he would have come to the conclusion (if he was not told directly) that he was mad: ensnared by Satan, and made believe the nonsense the phantasists were preaching about their executed former leader. He would naturally have been afraid for his sanity. It was perhaps in this period of deep uncertainty that Paul hit on the Christ paradox: The Pharisees (like him before his revelation) were offended by Jesus and considered him a madman for saying and doing the things imputed to him. But God`s hand was in that, surely.
For if the departed idol of the Nazarenes was mad, then God gave Paul the proof in making him mad, that Jesus (as a man of flesh) could do nothing about it. If God made Jesus come in God's name and refer to him as "Father", and proclaim his kingdom on earth, the man must have been either what he appeared to be, a crazy charlatan. or,................... or God made him seem mad and for a reason. To exalt his name after what he had to suffer for ideas from which no (conventionally) sane man could hope to profit. Either that or there was no hope for those who like Paul were called as witnesses to God's strange sense of humour.
Control question: So who were the ones "called" ? Any ideas ?
Jiri