An introduction to religious and spiritual experience

St Paul (Circa 10–67)
One of the best known of all religious experiences is that of Paul on the 
Road to Damascus. Some time in the first century, as Saul of Tarsus was 
bent on persecuting followers of ‘the Way’ of Jesus of Nazareth, he was 
stopped in his tracks by a dramatic vision of the resurrected Jesus Christ.
Now as he journeyed he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light 
from heaven flashed about him. And he fell to the ground and heard a 
voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ And he 
said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are 
persecuting; but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you 

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are to do. The men who were travelling with him stood speechless, 
hearing the voice but seeing no-one.’[Acts 9:3–7]
Saul had been struck blind and was led into the city of Damascus, 
where the blindness lasted for three days, during which time he neither 
ate nor drank. Ananias was instructed in a vision to go to Saul and heal 
him. Ananias was reluctant, well aware of Saul’s reputation as a persecu-
tor of followers of Jesus, but he went to Saul, laid hands on his eyes and 
Saul’s sight was restored.
The effect on the early Christian movement by the man who changed 
his name to Paul, and was later canonized, was seminal. His was an over-
whelming experience of revelation which completely reversed the course 
of his life, and changed history. From persecuting the followers of Christ, 
he had changed dramatically to become the foremost missionary of the 
new faith to non-Jews and the most important teacher in Christianity 
after Jesus himself.
Later in life, Paul had another experience which he described in the 
third person, 
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the 
third heaven – whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, 
God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise – 
whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows – 
and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 
[2 Corinthians 12:2–4]
Yet Paul referred to a thorn in the flesh, something he never described, but 
which he felt was to prevent him from too much elation after his 
visions.
An educated Jew as well as a Roman citizen, Paul travelled widely, 
spreading the Gospel of Christ, often in the face of strong opposition. 
He preached salvation for Jews and Gentiles through the death and 
Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In all he made three missionary journeys 
with Barnabas, Titus and Timothy, which took in Cyprus, Asia Minor 
(present day Turkey), Corinth and Athens. In Athens he gave a speech at 
the Areopagus, a hill on which the judicial council (the Areopagites) met. 
There he told the Athenians that the ‘Unknown God’ whom they 
worshipped was the God who had raised Jesus. It was here that Paul 
converted Dioysius the Areopagite.
Eventually opposition to his message led to his being imprisoned 
in Caesarea and later in Rome and it is thought that he was martyred 
there. Paul is considered to have been the author of 13 epistles (letters) 

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to various congregations in the region, many of which he himself 
had established, such as to the Thessalonians; Galatians; Corinthians, 
Philippians, Philemon and Romans. They reflect Paul’s understanding of 
faith in the risen Christ and constitute part of the New Testament widely 
read in church services today.