Corpus-Paul

["atombomb AT sirius.com" <atombomb AT sirius.com>]

Mark Goodacre wrote:
> 
> The "person in Christ" is almost universally taken to be Paul himself, being
> humble.  The exception to this is Michael Goulder, "Vision and Knowledge",
> _JSNT_ 56 (1994), pp. 53-71, the abstract for which is as follows:
> 
>     "Far from being the 'man in Christ' who was ravished to heaven (2 Cor.
>     12.1-5), Paul had had no such experience himself, 

How does Goulder demonstrate this? Granted that Paul

>         disapproved of the
>     abuse of such visions to manipulate the churches (Col. 2.18).  The
>     visionaries were Jewish Christians who used their visionary authority to
>     force Gentiles to observer *halakha*; and they claimed to see God and 
> his
>     Glory, Image, Beginning, and so forth-- 

what does Goulder make of this: "Hebrews, are they? So am I.
Israelites? So am I.... Servants of Christ?I must be made to say this,
but so am I, and more than they.... Must I go on boasting...? I will
come to visions and revelations.... In view of the extraordinary
nature of these revelations, to stop me from getting too proud, I was
given a thorn in the flesh...".

I can see where St Paul might be disapproving of others' "visions and
revelations", but it seems pretty clear that he's had his own! Or is
there something I'm completely missing??

>     ...the vision of God... is closely controlled."

Yes, from the very beginning, a concern for "discernment of spirits"--
i.e., for what is trustworthy and what is not, when it comes to
"visions and revelations"-- has been an important part of the
Christian spiritual tradition.  Patristic literature contains a good
deal of instruction about the 'controls', as Goulder's abstract puts
it.  Worth familiarizing oneself with, I might add!  May we not assume
that the later church might even have gotten some of this tradition
from Paul, and Paul from his own experience (and background)?

I haven't read the JNTS article, but on the face of it, I have to
wonder whether Goulder has read 2 Corinthians!  Or again, have I
completely missed something??

Christ is risen!

John Burnett, m.a.