04_Sandnes_550-564_copia_550-564 10/12/15 10:24 Pagina 557 557 PROPHET-LIKE APOSTLE 557 argues that the prophetic elements and language taken from the commission of Isaiah and Jeremiah in Galatians 1 only serve to cover up the fact that Paul has converted to a new religion, rather than having received a different mission within Judaism 21. Worth noticing is that Kuula bases his conclusion not on the Damascus event, but on Paul’s treatment of the Law elsewhere in Galatians. Although I disagree with Kuula, as I do with Eisenbaum as well, I see that the Damascus event cannot be kept apart from what Paul writes elsewhere in Galatians; on the contrary, his own experience serves the theology of the letter. Thus, this event is not satisfactorily described as embarking on a mission. It implies a turning against previous practices and joining a new fellowship. This last aspect gains importance if we view Paul’s experience from a sociological perspective 22. The persecution which was motivated by Paul’s devotion to the Law now gives way to his becoming a preacher of the Gospel of grace (Gal 5,4). This implies that his relationship to the Law changed dramatically due to this event 23. I am therefore hesitant to embrace Tobias Nicklas’ comment: “Mit dieser erstaunlichen Lebenswende aber ist er auch alttesta- mentlichen Propheten vergleichbar, von denen viele betonen, dass sie ihre Tätigkeit keineswegs aus freiem Willen oder aufgrund eines Amtes ausüben, sondern aufgrund einer Offenbarung, die ihr Leben (häufig gegen ihren Willen) radikal verändert hat” 24. This logic re- mains solely within the paradigm of being entrusted with a mission. This is indeed relevant, but it nonetheless fails to acknowledge that the changes coming out of Damascus went beyond being commis- sioned 25. This event implied a re-orientation without parallels in 21 K. KUULA, The Law, The Covenant and God’s Plan. Volume 1: Paul’s Polemical Treatment of the Law in Galatians (SESJ 72; Helsinki – Göttingen 1999) 200. Thus also SEGAL, Convert, 12-14. 22 P.L. BERGER – T. LUCKMANN, The Social Construction of Reality. A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge (Harmondsworth 1972) 149-182; B. WILSON, Religion in Sociological Perspective (Oxford 1982) 118-120. 23 The persecutions ceased immediately, but it took some time for Paul to think through and work out more fully the implications. 24 NICKLAS, “Paulus”, 82. 25 EISENBAUM, Paul, 134, admits that “one must account also for the way in which Paul sometimes speaks of having given up his past life”. However, this aspect is turned into a foil for explaining the contrast between the human and divine origin of Paul’s gospel (p. 141), with little relevance for the ques- tion of how Paul related to his past.