Theological Journal – January 24 From Culture Warrior to Christian Apostle: The Case of Saul/Paul
I will interrupt the series on Attention today with this piece I hope might prove timely. In it I draw on two works: Michael Gorman’s Reading Paul and Andrew Roots, Faith Formation in a Secular Age. Saul the Culture Warrior The two main reasons Saul wanted to eliminate the church were (1) its preaching of a crucified, cursed Messiah and (2) its embrace of Gentiles in a way that polluted Israel. (13) His zeal in this matter found a precedent in Phineas who according to Numbers 25, was so zealous that he killed an Israelite man and his Midianite consort to purify the people from the immorality and idolatry brought into the community by non-Israelites. Phinehas was rewarded with divine approval a...