Various attempts have been made to explain the appearance on purely natural grrounds. Any explanation, to be satisfac- tory, must be able to give a sufficient reason for the greatness of "the revolutionary change referred to in the persecutor's experience, with its lasting moral and spiritual efTects, (i.) Taken to this test, the attempt to account for the experience as a species of epileptic seizure in scorching heat, the product of excitable nerves and atmospheric effects — a view identified with the name of Renan (cf., more recently, Weinel, St. favl, p. 82 f.) — is at once condemned as inadequate, (ii.) W. James speaks of a form of 'sensory automatism ' which he calls a 'photism,' a •hallucinatory or pseudo-hallucinatory' phenomenon, and represents St. Paul's 'blinding heavenly vision' as a phen- omenon of this sort ( Varieties o/ Heligitjus Experience, London, VOL. II. — 22
1002, p. 2.';it.). The parallelism between St. Paul's experience and the mixlern instances nuoted is hard to find, but inas- nnich as James himself claims that his h\ pothcsis does not necessarily involve a denial of the lieav enly or Dii ine origin of the appearance to St. I'aul. his hyiHilhesis need not be con- sidered as a piirelv naturalistic one. (iii.)C'hief of such natural- istic attempts is that which would represent the appearance as the result of St. Paul's |i8.\ihological condition (Strauss. Baur, llolstcn). Doubts or misgivings, so it is represented, had been working in his mind tor some time previously, scruples of conscience as to his persecuting proceedings. Such scruples were induced largely by his experience of the calm confi- dence and triumphant joy of the Christians in persecution, as compared with his own inner consciousness of turmoil, born of the conflict between self and the holy law of God.
.Strauss's classical represemation of the case may be quoted : 'Thev (the believers in Jesus) showed a state of mind, a quiet peace, a tranquil cheerfulness, even under suffering, which pvit to shame the restless and joyless zeal of their persecutor. Could ke have been a false teacher who li.id adherents such as these '!' could that have been a meiuiacious pretence which gave such rest and security '( On the one hand, he saw the new sect in spite of all persecutions, nay, in consequence of them, extending their influence wider and wider around them ; on the other, as their persecutor he felt that inward tranquillity growing less and less which he could observe in so many ways m the persecuted. We cannot therefore be 8uri)rised if in hours of despondency and inward unhappiness he put to himself the question : "Who after all is right, thou or the crucified Galilean about whom these men are so enthusiastic T' And when he had once got as far as this the result, with his bodily and mental charai'teristics, naturally followed in an ecstasy in which the verv same Christ whom to this time he had so passionately persecuted appeared to him in all the glory of which His ad- herents spoke so much, showed him the perversity and folly of his conduct, and called him to conic over to His service' (A'fw Life o/Jc.ivs, i. 420). Time and again— so C. Holsten represents the case in his searching analysis of St. Paul's state of mind at his conversion (Zum Eeantiriirim iles Pauius und rii's Petrus, Rostock, IStJSy—the reproachful image of Jesus, as described by Stephen and other Christians, stood before his soul and made appeal so that he was half persuaded to join himself to His followers. In such a state of mind he journeyed to Damascus, when he experienced his vision. This view is supported, it is held, by the words reported in the narrative of his conversion as spoken to St. Paul by Christ Himself, ' It is hard for thee to kick against the goad' (Ac 26'-'). 'In what else can it have consisted,' asks Pfleiderer, ' than in the painful doubt as to the lawfulness of his persecution of the Christians — in the doubt, therefore, whether the truth was really on his side, and not rather, after all, on that of the persecuted disciples of Christ?" (Injlii-ence of the Apostle Paul onthe Development of Christian- ity [UL\, Eng. tr., London, 18S6, p. 36).
Now it is not necessary to deny all inward psychological preparation on St. Paul's side for the experience issuing in his conversion. Otherwise, as Pfleiderer truly enough observes, his conversion would have to be recorded as a ' magical act of God, in which the soul of Paul would have succumbed to an alien force ' (j'6. p. M). ' Such visions do not happen in a vacuum ' (Moffatt, Paul and Paidiuism, London, 1910, p. 10; cf. P. Feine, Theologie des NT, Leipzig, 1010, p. 20'2). It was the difference in this inward or psychological preparation between Saul and his journey companions that partly explains why the occurrence meant one thing to him and anotiier to them.
As elements in Saul's psychological preparation contributing or disposing towards the result, the two factors referred to by supporters of this theory may be admitted. (1) The wonderful demeanour of the followers of the crucified Nazarene. their triumphant joy and calm, unswerving loyalty even in persecu- tion, could not but leave a powerful impression on such an ardent and sensitive nature as St. Paul's. In particular, the calm confidence and heroism of Stephen in face of death and his dying vision of the Lord probably sank deep into his soul. And then (2) the impression made by these would be emphasized by contrast with his own experience of inward turmoil and dispeace. 'The words reported in the narrative of his conversion, * It is hard for thee to kick against the goad ' (o-kAtjpoi- troi Trpo? KfVTpa iiaKTi^eiv), are no doubt full of significance in this con- nexion. Even if proverbial, and as such not to be pressed too closelv with regard to St. Paul's state of mind before his con- version (so Knowling, in EGT, I^ndon, 1900, on Ac 2UH), taken in connexion with references in his letters they reveal a pro- found internal conflict going on within .Saul's soul, a deep mis- giving concerning his own religious position and standing before God. A Pharisee of the Pharisees, he had striven to attain peace with God through fulfilment of the Law, but already upon him the painful sense of failure and moral despair was pressing (of. Ro 7). ' His soul had been pierced and lacerated by his sense of moral impotence in face of the Law. Like a stupid beast, Saul knew not whither this incessant goad was driving? him, nor whose was the hand that plied it' (Findlay, IJDB iii. 7o2'>). He could not but contrast his own state of mind with that of the followers of Jesus. But with all this there is in the narratives no hint of doubt on Saul's part of the rectitude of his persecuting zeal, nothing to show that he ever suspected the real truth to lie in the direction of the new sect of the Naza- renes.