Paul’s ecstatic trance experience near Damascus in Acts of the Apostles

John J Pilch

doi:10.4102/hts.v58i2.560

Abstract

Luke reports more than twenty altered states of consciousness experiences in Acts of the Apostles. These are common and normal human experiences in approximately ninety percent of contemporary cultures. In the ancient Circum-Mediterranean world, it seems to have been common and normal in about eighty percent of those cultures. Insights from psychological anthropology, cultural anthropology and cognitive neuroscience contribute to an improved understanding and interpretation of these experiences in the Bible, particularly the call of Paul as reported in Acts 9; 22; 26.

Highlights

Feeling hungry and waiting for a meal to be prepared, Peter goes at noon to the rooftop of the house to pray and falls into a trance
Altered states of consciousness experiences fill the Bible beginning with Genesis when God puts the first creature into a deep sleep in order to create Eve, his helpmate (Gn 2:21) and ending with Revelation where John the Revealer repeats four times that what he reports is the result of experiences in trance
In order to gain some appreciation of the ecstatic trance experiences reported in Acts of the Apostles, we review some insights from cultural anthropology and cognitive neuroscience and we examine the experience of Paul often called his “conversion.”

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Feeling hungry and waiting for a meal to be prepared, Peter goes at noon to the rooftop of the house to pray and falls into a trance. He sees the sky open and from it something like a great sheet containing all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds descends. Altered states of consciousness experiences fill the Bible beginning with Genesis when God puts the first creature into a deep sleep in order to create Eve, his helpmate (Gn 2:21) and ending with Revelation where John the Revealer repeats four times that what he reports is the result of experiences in trance (en pneumati: Rv 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10; Malina and Pilch 2000; Pilch 1993). In order to gain some appreciation of the ecstatic trance experiences reported in Acts of the Apostles, we review some insights from cultural anthropology and cognitive neuroscience and we examine the experience of Paul often called his “conversion.”

TERMINOLOGY

ECSTATIC TRANCE AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

ECSTATIC TRANCE AND COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

PAUL’S ECSTATIC TRANCE REPORTED IN ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

Introductory formula C2 Self presentation of Christ

CONCLUSION