Saul of Tarsus and Augustine of Hippo
The concept of and process of totalization and conversion is quite interesting and pointed out in the religious point of view it is much explained and integrated in the roman and Greek cultures. This essay is going to explain and create an insight into the concept by looking at the trends and conversions of Saul of Tarsus and Augustine of Hippo. This two aspects form a good basis of comparisons and contrasts that help in understanding and explaining the concept of conversion. The comparison takes a clear and concise biblical point of view in conversion.
The conversion of Saul of Tarsus gives us clear pursuit of the Christian belief in what God did for Christians. It is an highlight that God decides for us before we do. His conversion was the most celebrated in the completely Christian world. It was viewed as sudden conversion, but Jesus had spoken to him. In the Greek word, kentron was used in the metaphorical sense frequently in the classical Greek. It is translated to goad or whip. Jesus likened Himself to a horse trainer who was breaking in a rumbustious young colt. In the implication context, Jesus was pricking Saul who resisted the pressure that was very hard (Segal 121). It was quite futile for him to kick against the goads. On the other hand, Augustine of Hippo of North America was a dissolute at his teenage who was enslaved by his passions. Augustine of Hippo lived in the darkness of confusion between two or other things.
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He was mostly drowned in the whirlpool of life vices where he confessed being confused and stuck in passions of life. Unlike Saul, he managed to study which took him to the Carthage, Rome, and finally Milan. At this point, there was a tug of war in mind of Saul between Christianity and Manichaeism. He rejected Christianity and embraced Manichaeism. Similar for Saul he suffered moral and utter shame but realized that Jesus was pursuing him. This was through the admission bishop at Milan and the prayers of his saintly mother. They both shared a common conversion that was seen as very sudden. This also made him to find it hard to resist just like Saul. God had spoken to them and brought irresistible changes that were viewed as being too sudden. Augustine believed that only God quickened five of his spiritual senses. Through their experiences, they lived in different centuries. Paul lived in the first century while Augustine lived in the fourth and fifth centuries (Forrest and Kaufmann 86). This hence shows that it is time for people to move to their eras, know that the hound of heaven still pursues, and chase people today.
However, Jesus was pricking Saul of tarsus with goads. In terms of education, Saul was educated in Jerusalem with the Jewish teacher while Augustine who was educated in Rome and Milan. This was the goading of mind for Saul. However, they share the sense of mind through their5 education. This helped them suddenly change their spiritual senses of mind. Saul was well verses with Judaism while Augustine was vast with roman teachings, which gives the theological point of view (Segal 79).
In goading, Jesus was goading Saul in the mind and in His conscience. In his conscience and compared to Augustine, Saul lived a righteous life that had untainted reputation. Externally, he was in conformity with the law requirement whilst internally he was sinful compared to Augustine who was not righteous both internally and externally. Jesus also goaded Saul in spirit where he knew he was supposed to serve god in his childhood, yet he was separated with the very God.
Conclusion
The conversion and integration of hero to saint is quite interesting and points out in the religious perspective. However, it is explained and integrated in the roman and Greek cultures. This explains and creates an insight into the concept by looking at the trends and conversions of Saul of Tarsus and Augustine of Hippo.