CLICK HERE FOR INDEX TO THIS SERIES ON ST PAUL

Whlle the evidence points to St Paul being a contemporary of Jesus the conversion of St Paul occurred shortly after the death of Jesus. In today's commentary, Dr Ian Elmer examines the chronology in an attempt to establish the age of St Paul. Dr Elmer's wider mission is to examine whether Christianity is a religion that has more relevance to the second half of our lives. Is it a religion that is essentially wasted on the young?

Trying to establish a fix on the age of St. Paul…

How old was Paul when he converted to Christianity? We can't be entirely sure, but a couple of hints found in his letters suggest that he was relatively senior in age.

In his letter to Philemon (9), Paul describes himself as a presbytês, which is probably best translated as an "elderly" or "old" man (NRSV, NJB). According to the usage of such terminology in the ancient world, it would seem that Paul was in his late fifties, even perhaps as old as sixty, when he wrote Philemon, which was around the year 53 C.E. Remarkably Paul continued to travel and preach the Gospel for a further decade, writing his final letter, Romans, around the year 58 C.E., and making his fateful journey to his death in Rome somewhere during the earliest years of the 60s. Tradition holds that Paul was executed during the persecution of Rome's Christians under Nero in 64 C.E., when he would have been about seventy years of age.

As to the other end of his Christian career, in 2 Corinthians (11:32-33), Paul speaks of his escape from Damascus after his initial mission in Arabia during the reign of the Nabataean King, Aretas IV (9 B.C.E. – c. 39 C.E.), who apparently took the opportunity afforded by the death of the Roman Emperor Tiberius (37 C.E.) to gain control of Damascus (Jewett, 1979: 31). This first mission of Paul occurred three years prior to his first journey to Jerusalem to meet with Peter — a visit that occurred hard on his escape from Damascus in 37 C.E. (Gal 1:17-18).

Paul implies that he embarked on his mission to Arabia soon after his encounter with the risen Christ in Damascus (Gal 1:17), probably in the year 34 C.E.; after which he seems to have spent three years in Damascus. Other dates and timeframes found in Paul and Acts (e.g., Gal 2:1; 4:13; 1 Cor 9:1, 6; 15:8-11; Acts 18:1-2, 12) support this claim, and taken together indicate that Paul's conversion must be dated to 33 C.E. — which is probably only three years after the death and resurrection of Jesus (c. 30 C.E.). In his detailing of the traditions concerning the resurrection in 1 Corinthians (15:1-11), Paul implies that his encounter with the risen Jesus occurred soon after that of the other apostolic recipients, despite the fact that some considered him as "one untimely born" (15:8).

In the year of his conversion (33 C.E.), Paul would have been a middle-aged man in his late thirties, or even early forties. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor (1996) argues more precisely on the basis of the available evidence in Paul's letters and Acts that Paul was a contemporary of Jesus, born around the same year, 6 B.C.E. and, therefore, thirty-nine at the time of his conversion.

Little has changed over time. Middle age continues to be a time when one takes stock of life and often changes direction. The middle age crisis has often been stimulant for a new vocation — a fact recognized even in Paul's age. Long before Paul, Solon, the Athenian Lawyer (635-560 B.C.E.), spoke of forty-two as the age for the getting of wisdom and the shunning of folly. Paul's contemporary, the Jewish philosopher Philo (De Officio Mundi, 103-105), similarly saw middle-age as the point when genuine maturity arrives. And Rabbinic wisdom held that forty was the age of discernment (m. Aboth 5:21).

A religion for the second half of life…

Why should it surprise us that it was not until his middle years that Paul would relinquish his former zealotry and seek a new path in Christianity? A colleague of mine, who is a Jungian analyst and a retreat master, makes the wise observation that "Christianity is a religion for second half of life". We need to suffered some, to have been at times burdened by life's disappointments, to have experienced life's joys, to have watched new life being born and old saints passing on to their rewards before we can fully appreciate the depth, the magnitude and the universal application of the Christian story of death and resurrection.

When we are young, we imagine that we are bullet proof and immortal, and life, love, career, and partying beckon us. As we age, we begin to feel our mortality; and, as we realise our dreams we discover our dependence upon others and on God. Out of that growing appreciation of the interconnectedness of all life and the interdependence of human society the need for Church can sprout and flourish.

In the wake of World Youth Day and amidst this contemplation of Paul's life I wonder if we may be targeting the wrong age group in our attempts to revitalise the Church. So much expenditure on youth ministry, while valuable for the few, will not be terribly effective in the long run. As we retrace Paul's road to Damascus we are challenged to rethink our missionary strategies. Perhaps the Christian mission is wasted on the youth. Maybe we need programs of outreach and support to the middle-aged, like Paul; or, at least, an outreach to young adults and families, rather than youth. Imagine if we put the same resources into creating programs for older Catholics that we do into youth ministry — what would be the result of that outreach? I suspect it would result in a far greater harvest than we are currently reaping amongst the youth.

CLICK HERE FOR INDEX TO THIS SERIES ON ST PAUL

Bibliography and Further Reading:
For those who are looking for resources on Paul that are both reliable and readable, I can recommend the following:
R. Jewett, Dating Paul's Life (London: SCM, 1979).
J. Murphy-O'Connor, Paul: A Critical Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).
Photo Credits:
The headline image of St Paul has been sourced from an icon which you will find at: www.airmaria.com.

What are your thoughts on this commentary?
You can contribute your thoughts in our forum.

©2008 Ian Elmer

[Ian's Take Archive]