Pauline theology

Prof. Arnold T. MONERA is our lecturer on this subject. I have to submit three papers during the course. The first one is about the conversion of Pual. The second is about the reflection after watching the movie called "Gran Torino". The last one is on the Christian freedom. They are as following;

The theological meanings on the accounts of the conversion of St.Paul in Acts 9:1-9; 22:6-16; 26:12-18
Many scholars had agreed the theory which claimed that St.Luke was the author of the Acts of the Apostles as it is the second part of a continued story of Jesus. Since it is closely linked to the Gospel, it was written after the third Gospel.
Though the Acts of the Apostles contains many historical accounts but it also has many theological themes. Together with this investigation I would like to present some theological issues on the account that told us about the conversion of St.Paul. It is very interesting to know the reason why it is important and what is the intention of St.Luke to narrate these accounts three times in three different places and to different audiences. If it occurs three times, it must have some significance that the author intends to tell the readers.
The conversion of Saul to Paul the Apostle is first narrated in chapter 9 by St.Luke but it has been told again in the second and the third time in St.Paul’s own speech of his self-defense (22:6-16; 26:12-18). Here I would like to place these three accounts together therefore we will be able to consider the differences.

Acts 9:1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3 Now as he journeyed he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed about him.
4 And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
5 And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting;
6 but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."
7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.
8 Saul arose from the ground; and when his eyes were opened, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Acts 22: 6-16
6"As I made my journey and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me.
7 And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, `Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?'
8 And I answered, `Who are you, Lord?' And he said to me, `I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.'
9 Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.
10 And I said, `What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, `Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.'
11 And when I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus.
12 "And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,
13 came to me, and standing by me said to me, `Brother Saul, receive your sight.' And in that very hour I received my sight and saw him.
14 And he said, `The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Just One and to hear a voice from his mouth;
15 for you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard.
16 And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.'

Acts 26:12 "Thus I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.
13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining round me and those who journeyed with me.
14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, `Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.'
15 And I said, `Who are you, Lord?' And the Lord said, `I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
16 But rise and stand upon your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and bear witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you,
17 delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles -- to whom I send you
18 to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

By putting these texts, they help us to analyze and see the development of the text which later on I would like to call it a journey of faith that brought about the mission.
I would also like to present a simple chart that will help us to further as following;
Chapter 9:1-9 22:6-16 26:12-18
Narrator/ Speaker Luke Paul Paul
Audience general The people in the tribune King Agrippa
Context before this text A conversion of the Ethiopian, The journey to Jerusalem,
The appealing of Paul that brought him to Agrippa
Context after this text A conversion of Cornelius (the first gentile) (Acts 10)
Paul was sent to Felix
Paul was sent to Rome

As Dillon (1990 : 744) mentioned that it is an intention of Luke to put the conversion of St.Paul as a parallel of the conversion of Cornelius, the centurion. It is an experience of conversion that begins with blindness (unbelieving) and gradually moves on to a brightness (believing) of having faith in Jesus by being baptized.
St.Paul’s journey of faith was being told for three times. It is a symbolic biblical meaning for number “3” as it is about to proclaim a glorification. For instance, we proclaim the mystery of faith by saying the doxology which including a pattern of three sentences about the Paschal Mystery. Therefore the Damascus experience of St.Paul has been glorified by his conversion from a persecutor to a persecuted (missionary).
St.Paul’s conversion had brought him a vocation. He had given a new life and new mission which is a mission to the gentiles as it is said “to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:18)
As I have mentioned above that it is a journey of faith from a partial faith to a true faith, from blindness to become clearer in focusing Jesus in his life and his mission. This tremendous experience had been rooted in the heart of our great missionary, St.Paul. The Greek’s term for conversion is meta,noia (metanoia) meaning “a change of mind, as it appears to one who repents, of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done” In this sense I might say that St.Paul had converted from a zealous Pharisee (Gal 1:14) to become a servant and witness of Jesus Christ. (Rom 1:1)
It is a calling from God, St.Paul, like many other prophets in the Old Testament, responds by giving up his own life, his own culture, his own security etc. and grasp Jesus Christ as his everything. So a conversion brought him a vocation and also a mission which is inseparable from each one.
This biblical analysis has brought me a reflection of my vocation. I have to be converted in order to follow Jesus. It is not only a negative sense of conversion (from bad to good) but also a positive sense that to detach from my own ego and let God guide it. It is always challenging us that God’s will has set already a plan for us and what we need to do in our everyday life is to seek it, to be brave enough and respond to the call. Then we will realize the greatness of the glory of God and also his plan for us. So our lives will be like St.Paul that God did not want him to be such a zealous Pharisee but a missionary to the gentiles. (Gal 1:15)

References:
Baker, K. (1998) Inside the Bible. New York: Ignatius Press.
Dillon, R. J. (1990) Acts of the Apostle in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. New York:
Prentice-Hall Inc.

The second paper;
Reflection on Gran Torino
“Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man -- though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us”. (Romans 5:7-8)
I was really impressed by the movie called “Gran Torino” as it is an American drama film produced by Clint Eastwood who also stars as an acting role in this film. I used to watch his former performance which, I think, is so meaningful in theological idea such as the atonement. It came out with four academy awards called “Million Dollar Baby”. That film was a tremendous production of Eastwood as well as this present drama, Gran Torino.
In fact Gran Torino 1972 is a model of Ford Motor Company. It became a title of this movie as it is a prize of Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood). This wonderful car bound up the whole story of the movie. That is the reason why this movie is called “Gran Torino”
The movie begins with Walt attending his wife's funeral, bristling at the shallow eulogy of young Father Janovich (J), and his own sons, Mitch and Steve, with their equally self-absorbed families. Walt’s poor relationship with his family and his own deteriorating health are shown at various points throughout the film.
Among the family are teenagers Sue, and her brother, Thao. Thao, a shy teen, is relentlessly pressured to join a local Hmong gang by his cousin, and he eventually agrees to an initiation which requires him to steal Walt’s prized car, a 1972 Ford Gran Torino Sport. Walt interrupts the theft and Thao is forced to flee at gunpoint.
The relationship between Walt and this migrant Hmong family has developed in a good way as it turns Walt into a new person. The role of a priest, Father J, is also influent in Walt’s conversion. They have a dialogue about life, death, forgiveness, redemption, and vengeance. As a man Walt can still find redemption, despite leading a life full of bitterness and hatred.
The conversion of Walt has brought him a self-giving love that he can simply give up himself to his young friend, Thao, and the family. How could you imagine that an old man will have his solution by giving up himself just to save lives? This is echoing “Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8; 1 Cor 15:3)
I am pretty sure that after going to the sacrament of reconciliation Walt is at peace. This is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). He has set already his mind in the Spirit which brings him peace (cf. Rom 8:6). No matter Walt lives or dies because he has shared his life with a guy whom he believes that this young guy will also continue his mission in self-giving love and will love unto the end.
Conversion, reconciliation and peace are the spontaneous process that I have seen in this movie and brought me to the so called “Kenotic Christology”. By putting in a human condition Jesus Christ has been taking off his divine nature to become a man like us and fulfill the plan of salvation for humanity. He did the thing that only God can do and yet it has been efficacious for all (cf. Heb 7:27).
The role of Walt in this movie can be a good example for us that we really need to convert ourselves to God. The process of conversion also needs reconciliation in the Blessed Sacrament. We have seen in the very end of the movie that Walt went to have a confession with Father J. He fulfills not only the wish of his wife but himself as a Catholic who is very faithful. He becomes a righteous one who has peace at heart and is ready to offer himself for others even unto death. This reflects a meaning and effect of reconciliation as it is written in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.
If Thao is grateful for what Walt has done for him, he will be even more joyful not because he possess that marvelous car but he inherits Walt’s spirit.

The third paper;
How does Paul understand Christian freedom in Galatians?
Paul writes to the Galatians out of deep concern that they are forsaking the gospel that he has preached and are listening instead to the message of certain Jewish Christian evangelists who are arguing that Gentile Christians must be circumcised according to Jewish law. Paul insists that people are justified by faith in Christ rather than by keeping the requirements of Torah. By faith, they participate in the death and resurrection of Christ and now live as God's children and heirs of God's promises. By the Spirit's leading, this life of faith is no longer marked by sinful works of the flesh but bears fruit in freedom that serves the neighbor through love.
The Galatians rely on the law for salvation. But Salvation occurs by faith. Paul argues that all men and women were saved by faith not by the law, even in the Old Testament times. We have seen in the life of Abraham, who received the promise (Gal 3: 6-9).
The purpose of the law can not be saved because its purpose is to condemn or to specify the sins (Gal 3:19-22). It is like bad news not good news. Paul also gave us the experience of Christian in Baptism (Gal 3:27-29). We are not slaves but children of God who have a total right to call God as “Abba! Father” (Gal 4:6). The law binds us while the gospel frees us “Christ has set us free” (Gal 5:1).
This freedom has brought us through faith by grace. It is a selfless love of God and neighbors Therefore it is not only faith that brought us the salvation we also have to do good works as they are the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-26). For we all were called to freedom and Paul tells us not to use this freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. (Gal 5:13).
I would like to conclude this writing with one of my favorite motto “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). The life of Christ comes into the soul by faith and spreads out by works. As Paul says, “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal 5:14).
It is not that you get to heaven because you live a good life but you live a good life because you are good and heaven gotten to you. The heaven is yours and what you have to do is you have to proof that you are worth to enter into it.

At the end of this course, we have an oral examination about the content of the whole course.