resurrection

Paul’s Dasmascus Road Experience and the Message of Easter (Peter von der Osten-Sacken)

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Having learned much in the process of writing my review of Peter von der Osten-Sacken‘s new Galatians commentary, I have begun working through his collected essays on Paul, titled Der Gott der Hoffnung (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2014). Today’s post, which I thought would be especially appropriate for the Monday after Easter, comes from his essay “Von Saulus zum Paulus” (24-49, here: 27-29). As usual, for the benefit of readers who are using this blog for the purposes of interacting with German texts, I will alternate between my English translation and the German original.

2. The Turnabout/Die Kehre (p. 27)

ET: Let us begin as it is familiar to us from Acts: A persecutor and his group are on their way, in scorching heat, in burning desert sand, driven by the wish of tracking down, leading away, and handing over deviants. Then suddenly, at the height of the day and brighter than the midday sun, gleaming light shines around those going there. [Not sure how best to translate “auf der Höhe des Tages.” I suspect that it means something like “when the sun was highest in the sky” or simply “at noon.” Cf. Acts 22:6 and 26:13.]

GV (p. 27): Beginnen wir, wie es aus der Apostelgeschichte vertraut ist: Ein Verfolger und sein Gefolge sind unterwegs, bei brütender Hitze, in brennendem Wüstensand, getrieben von dem Wünsch, Abweichler aufzuspüren, abzuführen und auszuliefern. Da plötzlich, auf der Höhe des Tages und heller als die Mittagsonne, umleuchtet gleißendes Licht die Dahinziehenden.

ET: They were thrown down by its radiance and a voice sounding from the light surrounded the restless ringleader of the caravan: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” This episode appears three times in Acts. To be sure, as has long been recognized, all three versions, for the sake of variation, go their own ways in details and also exhibit clearly legendary features; however, one thing they have accurately preserved. Something happened here that cannot be so easily explained psychologically as, for example, Martin Luther’s turnabout (Kehre): Long suffering from his church, fear before the judging God, whom the human being is not able to satisfy, despairing efforts to escape the threatening judgment, and, finally, the liberating insight wrested from the Bible—he wants not to judge but to save you.

GV (p. 27-28): Sie werden niedergeworfen von dessen Glanz und eine aus dem Licht ertönende Stimme umfangt den ruhelosen Anführer der Karawane: “Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich?” Dreimal findet sich diese Episode in der Apostelgeschichte  “Saul, Saul, was verfolgst due mich?” Dreimal findet sich dies Episode in der Apostelgeschichte. Zwar gehen, wie seit langen erkannt, alle drei Versionen um der erzählerischen Abwechselung willen in Details ihre eigene Wege und tragen auch deutlich legendarische Züge; aber eins haben sie trefflich aufbewahrt: Hier ist etwas geschehen, was sich nicht so leicht psychologisch erklären lässt wie etwa Martin Luthers Kehre: Langes Leiden an seiner Kirche, Angst vor dem richtenden Gott, dem der Mensch nicht zu genügen vermag, verzweifelte Anstrengungen, dem drohenden Gericht zu entgehen, und schließlich die befreiende, der Bibel abgerungene Erkenntnis: Er will dich nicht richten, sondern retten.

ET: With Paul, the messenger/ambassador of the gospel among the nations, no comparable way can be detected. As in an instant, as with power, he appears, in the shortest period of time, to be thrown from the previous course. And in everything that the apostle thinks, says, and does, he henceforth appears to be more or less determined by this one upending experience. In some places in his letters he speaks of it with a few sentences.

GV (28-29): Bei Paulus, dem Botschafter des Evangeliums unter den Völkern, lässt sich kein vergleichbarer Weg ausmachen. Wie im Nu, wie mit Macht scheint er in kürzester Frist aus der bisherigen Bahn geworfen. Und in allem, was der Apostel denkt, sagt und tut, scheint er fortan mehr oder weniger von dieser einen umwerfenden Erfahrung bestimmt zu sein. An einigen Stellen seiner Briefe kommt er mit wenigen Sätzen auf sie zu sprechen.

ET: Its basic tenor runs as follows: God has revealed his son on/in/to me, Christ has appeared to me, I have seen—in a vision—the Lord, and through this, from the persecutor of the community I have become the apostle [hard to translate this last part into English, though it is easy enough to understand in German].

GV (29): Ihr Grundtenor lautet: Gott hat seinen Sohn an mir offenbart, Christus ist mir erschienen, ich habe – in einer Vision – den Herrn gesehen, und dadurch bin ich vom Verfolger der Gemeinde zum Apostel geworden.

ET: The core of what happened to Paul [or: what Paul experienced] and what hides behind these statements is identical with the message of Easter: There, in this figure, which/who according to human standards has foundered on the cross, is life, namely indestructible life. In this figure it already shines in the present, in this earthly time and history, which is determined/characterized by sin, suffering, and death.

GV (29): Der Kern dessen, was Paulus widerfahren ist und was sich hinter diesen Aussagen verbirgt, ist identisch mit der Botschaft des Osterfest: Dort, in dieser Gestalt, die nach menschlichen Maßstäben am Kreuz gescheitert ist, ist das Leben, und zwar unzerstörbares Leben. In dieser Gestalt leuchtet es bereits gegenwärtig, in dieser irdischen Zeit und Geschichte auf, die von Sünde, Leid und Tod bestimmt ist.

ET: In 2 Corinthians, Paul can summarize his thus defined certainty/assurance with the statement that Christ “was crucified out of weakness but lives out of the power of God,” and, correspondingly, says that the weaknesses that is visible on/in him as apostle also stands under the banner of promised life out of this power (2 Cor 13.4).

GV (29): Im 2 Korintherbrief kann Paulus seine so bestimmte Gewissheit mit den Worten zusammenfassen, Christus sei “aus Schwachheit gekreuzigt worden, doch er lebt aus der Kraft Gottes” und entsprechend stehe auch die an ihm als Apostel ablesbare Schwäche im Zeichen zugesagten Lebens aus dieser Kraft (2 Kor 13,4).

ET: In this certainty/assurance two things are contained: first, the fascination that the message of the resurrection of the crucified one has exerted on the apostle. It reflects back what has moved him in his innermost being—the question of the overcoming of sin, suffering, and death and not, as was the case with Luther, the burdened conscience of the sinner, even though for Paul the gracious liberation from the power of sin in the fellowship with Christ is the presupposition for sharing in life. Second, it is evident that when life, indestructible life, is here and when it, in the attachment to this figure, can already be experienced here through faith, hope, and love, all of reality, everything previously encountered, must be thought through anew from the standpoint of this experience and this reality. Upon what was before there falls again a new light from what now—determining everything—has happened and been experienced.

GV (29): In dieser Gewissheit ist zweierlei enthalten: zum einen die Faszination, die die Botschaft von der Auferweckung des Gekreuzigten auf den Apostel ausgeübt hat. Sie spiegelt das wider, was ihn im Innersten bewegt hat – die Frage nach der Überwindung von Sünde, Leiden und Tod und nicht wie bei Luther das beschwerte Gewissen des Sünders, auch wenn für Paulus die gnädige Befreiung von der Macht der Sünde in der Gemeinschaft mit Christus die Voraussetzung für die Teihabe am Leben ist. Zum anderen liegt auf der Hand: Wenn das Leben, unzerstörbares Leben, hier ist und wenn es in der Bindung an diese Gestalt bereits hier erfahrbar wird durch Glaube, Hoffnung und Liebe, dann ist von dieser Erfahrung und von dieser Realität her die gesamte Wirklichkeit, alles Bisherige, neu zu durchdenken. Auf das, was vorher war, fällt noch einmal neues Licht von dem her, was jetzt – alles bestimmend – geschehen und erfahren ist.

Translation Note: While the content of this passage stimulated my thinking in fruitful ways, I found the German syntax to be quite hard going at certain points. Thus, it would not surprise me if I may have lost my way at various places, for example in the last part of the last sentence.

Analysis of Content: While I suspect that many readers may be especially interested in the comparison that von der Osten-Sacken makes between Martin Luther and Paul and the extent to which it advances our understanding of the two figures, what I found most striking about this quotation is the way that von der Osten-Sacken relates Paul’s Damascus Road experience to the message of Easter (p. 29). In other words, it was this comparison, above all, that captured my attention and made me reflect anew upon the message of Easter.

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Marilynne Robinson, Jörg Frey, and the resurrection of the troubled one

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Not long ago I was struck by an unexpected intersection between my current translation of Jörg Frey’s essays on John and my nightly reading of Marilynne Robinson’s novel Lila. Indeed, I think it is quite possible that Robinson is consciously alluding to the Johannine passage that Frey discusses. Whether or not this is the case, however, I at least found the juxtaposition meaningful and am thus passing it along as something of an Easter meditation. I’ll start with the Robinson quotation so that I can include the German of the Frey quotation after the English translation. Finally, I’ve added a bonus resurrection allusion at the end of the post for all lovers of Sherlock Holmes.

Marilynne Robinson (Lila, p. 92): She meant to ask the old man sometime what would happen when they were all resurrected and he had two wives. He had preached about that, which probably meant he had been wondering, too—they won’t be male or female, they won’t marry or be given in marriage. Jesus said that. So the old man wouldn’t have a wife at all, not even one. This girl and her child, after so many years, would be like anyone else to him. He might be as young as he was when she left him. Lila could see sometimes what he’d been like when he was young. The girl would still be holding that baby he had hardly even had a chance to hold. And there would be no change in her, and no change in him, as if dying had never happened. It would be a strange kind of heaven, after all they’d been through, and all the waiting, if he did not feel a different peace when he stood beside them. Lily could watch them, and love them, because old Doll would be there to say, “It don’t matter.” Don’t want what you don’t need and you’ll be fine. Don’t want what you can’t have. Doll would be there, ugly with all the trouble of her life. Lila might not know her otherwise.

* For a recent discussion of Robinson on theology, see see Kathryn Heidelberger’s post at DET.

Jörg Frey (“Bodiliness and Resurrection in the Gospel of John”; trans. W. Coppins and C. Heilig): As in the preceding scene with Mary it is recorded that the disciples saw “the Lord,” i.e. that they recognized the one who appeared to them as their familiar Lord. This is effected not through a demonstrative eating but through a personal experience of encounter that mediates the new assurance and Easter joy. This experience is also ignited here through the address by Jesus (in this case with the greeting of peace) and through the bodily form of the crucified one, which is characterized as unmistakable not through a reference to his hands and feet but—in correspondence with John 19.34—through the reference to the hands and the ‘side.’ The risen one is thus the one who is familiar to the disciples from the time of his activity and—decidedly—the crucified one, with his identity after Easter also being enduringly characterized by the signa crucifixi. The stigmata of the crucified one, the marks of the nails in his hands and the wound in his side, confirm the identity of the appearing one with the crucified one. In them it becomes clear whom the disciples see—namely, the previously crucified “Lord.” His appearance drives away fear, mediates Easter joy, and enables the disciples, in the power of the Spirit, to continue the work of this Lord in the post-Easter period (cf. 14.12).

* N.B. The ET contains a few additions/modifications in relation to the German version

“Leiblichkeit und Auferstehung im Johannesevangelium” (pp. 732-733 in Die Herrlichkeit des Gekreuzigten): Wie in der vorausgehenden Szene mit Maria wird festgestellt, daß die Jünger ‘den Herrn’ sahen, d.h. daß sie den ihnen Erscheinenden als den ihnen vertrauten Herrn wiedererkannten. Bewirkt wird dies nicht durch demonstratives Essen, sondern durch eine persönliche Erfahrung der Begegnung, die neue Gewißheit und österliche Freude vermittelt. Diese Erfahrung entzündet sich auch hier an der Anrede durch Jesus (hier mit dem Friedensgruß) und an der leiblichen Gestalt des Gekreuzigten, die nun nicht durch Hände und Füße, sondern in Entsprechung zu Joh 19,34 durch der Hinweis auf die ‘Seite’ als unverwechselbar gekennzeichnet ist. Der Auferstandene ist somit der den Jüngern aus der Zeit seines Wirkens Vertraute und – dezidiert – der Gekreuzigte, und auch seine Identität nach Ostern ist bleibend durch die signa crucifixi gekennzeichnet. Die stigmata des Gekreuzigten, die Hände und die Seitenwunde, lassen die Identität des Erscheinenden mit dem Gekreuzigten zur Gewißheit werden. An ihnen wird deutlich, wen die Jünger sehen, nämlich den zuvor gekreuzigten “Herrn”. Seine Erscheinung vertreibt die Furcht, vermittelt die österliche Freude und befähigt die Jünger, also Zeugen in der Kraft des Geistes das Werk dieses Herrn in der nachösterlichen Zeit fortzusetzen (cf. Joh 14,12).

Rather than concluding this email with an analysis, let me end it with another apparent allusion to the resurrection that I stumbled upon this year, which I found to be less profound but perhaps even more delightful. This time the connections to Luke 24:36-42 are especially evident, at least to my eye:

Sherlock Holmes (The Adventure of the Empty House, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, p. 485-486):

I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. When I turned again, Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my study table. I rose to my feet, stared at him for some seconds in utter amazement, and then it appears that I must have fainted for the first and the last time in my life. Certainly a gray mist swirled before my eyes, and when it cleared I found my collar-ends undone and the tingling after-taste of brandy upon my lips. Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in his hand.

“My dear Watson,” said the well-remembered voice, “I owe you a thousand apologies. I had no idea that you would be so affected.”

I gripped him by the arms. “Holmes!” I cried. “Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are alive? Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that awful abyss?”

“Wait a moment,” said he. “Are you sure that you are really fit to discuss things? I have given you a serious shock by my unnecessarily dramatic reappearance.”

“I am all right, but indeed, Holmes, I can hardly believe my eyes. Good heavens! to think that you – you of all men – should be standing in my study.” Again I gripped him by the sleeve, and felt the thin, sinewy arm beneath it. “Well, you’re not a spirit, anyhow,” said I. “My dear chap, I’m overjoyed to see you. Sit down, and tell me how you came alive out of that dreadful chasm.”

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German Mondays: Thank you for making it to the end of this blog post! I hope to be able to write at least one Monday blog post each month. Best, Wayne