The Exalted Crucified Messiah: Conversion or Call?

In the third chapter of Gorman’s work on cruciformity he deals with many contentious issues of Pauline theology in an effort to explain how Paul could contend that the crucified Christ was synonymous with the living Lord.

Gorman does this by first examining Paul’s encounter with Jesus, taking up the debate in Pauline Theology of whether or not Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus constitutes a conversion experience or whether it is more appropriate to speak of it as a call to a new vocation (namely to be the apostle to the nations).

I have always tended to play up the call aspect of Paul’s Damascus experience, namely because he is still firmly embedded in Judaism, albeit a different sect so to speak. What I dislike most about calling Paul’s encounter with Jesus a conversion, is the modern introspective claims that are usually applied to such an encounter. In such a retelling Paul is made to look like a modern guilt ridden man, stuck in a legalistic religion trying to work his way to God, feeling empty and desperately trying to fill that God shaped hole in his heart, bam, he encounters the living Lord, and experiences true religion… Now this picture rarely comes up in scholarly discussions, but it does tend to find its way in to far too many pulpits.

Gorman does a good job navigating through this discussion, seeing Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus as both a conversion and a call (also seeing in it a commission). Following Alan Segal’s penetrating work he sees enough evidence to call Paul’s apocalyptic encounter with Jesus a true conversion (in the context of antiquity of course). He explains that this conversion is not from one religion to another, but rather from one sect to another. This helps to contextualize the term conversion to help correct those who see Paul finally converting to the ‘true’ God. For Paul his encounter with Jesus was not information to learn, but rather a claim to be embraced.

Gorman goes on to explain how this encounter continued to shape Paul’s theology and ministry. Elucidating another big controversy in Pauline theology, namely Schweitzer’s “in-Christ mysticism”...

Technorati tags: Cruciformity, Conversion or Call, Pauline Theology, Michael J. Gorman, Krister Stendahl, Alan F. Segal, Albert Schweitzer

The Cruciform God: Chapter One (Part 1)

Gorman starts chapter one with a minor but very important point concerning the ‘new perspective’. He states that, ‘Knowing God – having an appropriately awe -filled yet intimate relationship, or partnership, with the creator, redeemer of Israel, and sovereign of the universe – is and was the life goal of faithful Jews.’

This is an important caveat in discussing Paul’s view of God, because often in such discussions where talk of Jesus and God take place it is the Jewish people and the Jewish God who are made into caricatures so as to show the greatness of the Christian god. Gorman takes pains to show what most biblical scholars concede, namely that Paul’s talk of God is within the scope of Judaism(s).

That caveat being made the purpose of this chapter is to show that for Paul, God and the cross were inextricably interrelated. It is not just Jesus who is defined by the cross, but also that God himself is defined by the cross.

Gorman argues this in a rather logical way (or perhaps linear is the better word here). Gorman sets up the reader with the understanding that Paul’s knowledge of God is shaped from beginning to end by Jewish categories. He does this by emphasizing the role of (a) the Shema (Deut 6.4) in Paul’s talk of God. (The Shema obviously focuses on the oneness of God) (b) the faithfulness of God to his promises (Rom 3.3-4), and (c) God as a relational God (Rom 1.8). Gorman offers plenty of proof from the Hebrew Scriptures to substantiate these claims about God, and elucidates the reader of how Paul used these same categories. Gorman then expands on point 1.c (God is relational) by focusing on Paul’s view of God as father, although there are places in the Hebrew Scriptures where God is seen as a father, Gorman makes the case that Paul is following Jesus’ own example here. Gorman expands this relational aspect by tying in the ‘Son of God’ tropes with Jesus’ own ‘Abba’ traditions, tying this in to the peculiar way in which Paul sees the followers of Jesus as children of God (obviously the rub here would be the fact that Paul included the Gentiles). Paul uses adoption language here to make his argument. This moves Gorman to his next position, namely that, God the father is for humanity.

Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross: Some Definitions

Michael J. Gorman’s book, Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross, was one of the few books that I read whilst working on my doctoral thesis that both made me understand Paul better and made me want to follow the Crucified Lord in a whole new way. I thought I would take some time to highlight some of the things I found really useful in this book.

The introduction of this book does a good job of laying out what exactly the author is trying to accomplish in this book focusing both on the early Christians experience and on what the modern interpreter can gain from focusing on the cruciformity. It is obvious that what can be found by both groups is that in the crucified messiah there is a model of humility, self sacrifice, and suffering worthy of imitation.

In the rest of the introduction Gorman lays out a series of definitions essentially exegeting the title of the book so the reader can have a clear idea of the terms involved in such a study, a couple of import include:

Spirituality:

Gorman describes this as the lived experience of Christian belief, or the experience of God’s love and grace in daily life. An experience that includes both receiving love and responding in love.

The purpose of Paul’s letters:

Gorman sees the various kinds of narratives within the letters of Paul, not as theology per se but rather as a means to mold behavior. The purpose of his letters, in other words, is pastoral or spiritual before it is theological.

Cruciformity:

Gorman defines cruciformity as conformity to the crucified Christ. He elaborates further stating, that this conformity is the dynamic correspondence in daily life to the strange story of Christ crucified as the primary way of experiencing the love and grace of God. Cruciformity is, in other words, Paul’s oddly inviting, even compelling, narrative spirituality.

Gorman closes that introduction stating, ‘For Paul, “to know nothing except Jesus Christ – that is, Jesus Christ crucified?’ is to narrate, in life and words, the story of God’s self-revelation in Christ. We attempt in this book, then, to understand Paul’s experience of God, mediated by the cross of Christ, as one of cruciform faith, love, power, and hope, and to do so with an eye on how that experience may challenge us today.’