Sarum College logo
  • Learning
    • Short Courses
    • Exploring Theology
    • Prospective Students
    • Postgraduate Study & Research
      • Postgraduate study in Theology, Imagination & Culture
      • Postgraduate Study in Christian Spirituality
      • Postgraduate study in Theology, Ministry and Mission
      • PhD Programmes
    • Theology, Imagination & Culture
    • Christian Spirituality
    • Bible & Sacred Texts
    • Human Flourishing
    • Leadership Learning
    • Spiritual Direction
    • Private Stays, Retreats, Study Breaks and Sabbaticals
    • Library
      • Guide to Library Services
    • Learning Resources
  • Ministry
    • Ordination
      • Undergraduate Award
      • Postgraduate Award
      • Rural ministry
      • Parish-based pioneer ministry
    • Licensed Lay Ministry / Readers
    • Independent Study
  • Hospitality
  • Courses & Events Diary
  • Join the mailing list
Sarum College logo
  • Course brochure
  • About Us
    • Our People
    • Governance
    • Work with us
  • Safeguarding
  • News
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Learning
    • Short Courses
    • Exploring Theology
    • Prospective Students
    • Postgraduate Study & Research
      • Postgraduate study in Theology, Imagination & Culture
      • Postgraduate Study in Christian Spirituality
      • Postgraduate study in Theology, Ministry and Mission
      • PhD Programmes
    • Theology, Imagination & Culture
    • Christian Spirituality
    • Bible & Sacred Texts
    • Human Flourishing
    • Leadership Learning
    • Spiritual Direction
    • Private Stays, Retreats, Study Breaks and Sabbaticals
    • Library
      • Guide to Library Services
    • Learning Resources
  • Ministry
    • Ordination
      • Undergraduate Award
      • Postgraduate Award
      • Rural ministry
      • Parish-based pioneer ministry
    • Licensed Lay Ministry / Readers
    • Independent Study
  • Hospitality
  • Courses & Events Diary
  • Join the mailing list
post_banner_type
6965archiveId

Lectionary Reading Blog for 10 April: 3rd Sunday of Easter

Home News Lectionary Reading Blog for 10 April: 3rd Sunday of Easter

LiturgyandSpirituality‘The conversion of Saul’ is the heading in my bible. I think that this is odd.

As I understand ‘conversion’ in this context it would mean ‘changing one’s religion’. Saul does not ‘change religion’. Christianity as we know it does not exist and the followers of Jesus are Jews ‘who belong to the Way’. And just as Saul had planned: he visits the synagogue in Damascus (v.20).

I think that if I had to write a heading for this passage it would be: ‘The calling of Saul’. Jesus calls him to ‘do’ something different (v.6). Instead of persecuting Jesus Saul is to bring the name of Jesus before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel (v.15).

With this change in calling, the content of Saul’s Jewish faith does change somewhat, but the radical change is in his actions, in his work rather than in his religion. Unconsciously I associate the change of name from Saul to Paul with this story of his calling, but that is not part of it at all.

Saul is the Hebrew (Jewish) name that means ‘asked for’; while Paul is a Latin (Roman) name that means ‘small’ or ‘humble’. He clearly used both probably depending on the cultural context. In this passage Jesus asks for Saul to be his witness. What is your calling?

10 April 2016
Acts 9:1-6


This weekly blog on one of the lectionary readings is by Anne Claar Thomasson-Rosingh, Programme Leader for Lifelong Learning at Sarum College.

Lectionary Blog | Ministry at Sarum College

Previous postNext post

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sarum College logo

Get in touch

  • info@sarum.ac.uk
  • 01722 424800

Find us on maps

  • Sarum College, 19 The Close, Salisbury, SP1 2EE, UK

Stay in the know

Sign up to our newsletter

Learning

  • Prospective Students
  • Theology, Imagination & Culture
  • Christian Spirituality
  • Bible & Sacred Texts
  • Exploring Theology
  • Human Flourishing
  • Leadership Learning
  • Spiritual Direction
  • Learning Resources
  • SarumLearn login

Postgraduate study & research

  • Postgraduate Study in Christian Spirituality
  • Postgraduate study in Theology, Imagination & Culture
  • Postgraduate study in Theology, Ministry and Mission
  • PhD Programmes
  • Library

Ministry

  • Ordination
  • Licensed Lay Ministry / Readers
  • Independent Study
  • Parish-based pioneer ministry
  • Postgraduate Award
  • Rural ministry
  • Undergraduate Award

The College

  • About Us
  • Travel to Sarum College
  • Our People
  • Governance
  • Hospitality
  • Private Stays, Retreats, Study Breaks and Sabbaticals
  • Work with us

Terms & Conditions|Privacy Policy|Accessibility

© 2023 Sarum College|Registered Charity No. 1161253|Company No. 9510356|Sarum College's trading subsidiary is Sarum College Services Ltd, Company No. 1931038|Website by blue bee

Sign up to our newsletter

Fill in and submit the form below and we'll add you to our mailing list for news about Sarum College.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.