CONSCIENCE AND ITS ROLE IN MORAL LIFE

CONSCIENCE AND ITS ROLE IN MORAL LIFE

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I am glad to be here this afternoon and to give a talk on the role and relevance of conscience in moral life. Morality is said to be the science of good and evil. It is clear and indisputable that morality shapes human life and dignifies human person. John Paul II says in Veritatis Splendor that no one can escape from the fundamental questions: “What must I do? How do I distinguish good from evil?” These are questions each and every one of us needs to ask. Science and technology have questioned the foundation of moral life but does not remove the sacredness of human life because they gear towards the human good. John Paul II encourages us that, conscience spurs us on to face the most painful and decisive of struggles, those of the heart and of the moral conscience. Conscience needs to be understood as the moral dimension of the call to self transcendence. In this work I will give brief analysis on the following: the meaning of conscience, its formation and development, divisions of conscience, its role on moral life.

What is Conscience?
According to Wikipedia Encyclopedia, conscience is the ability or a faculty that helps one to distinguish whether one's actions are right or wrong. The Online Dictionary also describes conscience as the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one's conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action.
Harold M. Schulweis calls it “a wisdom whose origin and practice are as puzzling as they are precious”. He sees conscience as wisdom but problematic and valuable in its foundation and application. This ascertains the difficulty in following the right conscience. Conscience is a natural facility of our reason that does three things: reminds us always to do good and avoid evil, makes a judgment about the good and evil of particular choices in a specific situation, bears witness after the fact to the good or evil that we have done. Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act. The Catechism of the Catholic Church suggests to us that, in all that he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right (CCC 1778).
Through these definitions and many others, we can understand the general understanding of conscience as an important instrument of moral discernment. All the Catholic moral teachings on conscience, resorts to this very definition by catechism of Catholic Church. All these definitions have a central message, that is, conscience as a guiding principle, conscience as an instructor to human mind.

Formation and Development of Conscience
Is there any thing like formation of conscience? If yes, how? This question links us to the idea of origin and location of conscience. These factors determine the-how of formation of conscience. Benedict XVI in response to the question about the formation of conscience locates conscience in reason and faith. But, is reason acquired or intrinsic? Many scholars have argued that reason is intrinsic and takes a process of formation before it develops. Yes. However, the fact of its intrinsic nature of conscience should not be neglected. Conscience is natural and is innate in every person but is it developed through rational process. Formation of conscience could be affected by some factors such as, environment (nurture), culture (orientation), religion (faith), and knowledge (education).

In development of conscience, Peschke identified two levels of developing conscience, thus, must conscience and ought conscience. The former is predominantly authoritarian where the child follows the conscience of the parent. This involves fear of punishment. The later is progressive where the child has grown to maturity and is free to follow the dictates of his conscience. This is also known as adult conscience. My advice to parents or guardians is to make effort to form their children in proper manner of good use of conscience, because, the way one’s conscience is formed determines the type of conscience he has whether good or erroneous conscience. Keenan instructs us that we should live virtuous life because virtuous practices are exercises for the formation of our consciences. This brings us to the kinds of conscience. Conscience grows towards maturity by internalising and making its certain values and principles and it this which determines how moral decision is made.

Types of Conscience
For us to understand what conscience is all about, we need to know the varios types of conscience. There are two types of conscience, certain and erroneous conscience. A conscience is certain when it excludes the possibility of error. It is erroneous if it includes the possibility of error. Moral theologians indicate that erroneous conscience is a result of malformation of conscience. There are kinds of erroneous conscience: vincible and invincible erroneous consciences, lax conscience, perplex conscience, scrupulous erroneous conscience.

Conscience as moral principle
The scholastic understanding of conscience as a moral principle influenced the church’s teaching on conscience. The catholic teachings on the role of conscience is crystallised in the Vatican II document. However, this Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World gives a beautiful description of humanity as created in image of God, speaks of the essential unity of human nature, the dignity of human intellect, of truth and wisdom and the sanctity of conscience.
Conscience is simply the mind thinking practically and thinking morally. The mind thinks well when we understand moral principles and apply them in clear and reasonable ways. The mind thinks badly when we ignore or reinvent moral principles, or apply them in ambiguous and unreasonable ways. Here conscience involves thinking which identifies it as a mental process and as an integral part of human nature. It also sees conscience as a principle of discernment.
The role of conscience in moral life is central to moral decision making. How do we use conscience today in moral decisions? Basically, Christian morality today is faced with various moral issues. Today, there is the quest to act before thinking. If conscience is located in reason, it must take a rational process. Therefore, in moral decision making there must be the application of an aspect of reason known as conscience.
Following Michael Pennock and James Hogan models of moral decision, a STOP sign is used to explain the genuine role of conscience in moral life. For them, S signifies Searching out facts using the adverbs, what, why, how, where, who and when. T is thinking about the alternatives to the proposed problem and its consequences. O is others must be considered. P is prayer is a vital dimension.
Conscience is important to us because it verifies us as persons. It helps us to become people of God. It stands as our personal judge to our moral conducts. It is the secret core and sanctuary of Christians. In this vein, O’Callaghan reminds us that our conscience, as a basic moral principle, fulfils and is expected to fulfil the more complex role than its role as a typical standard of moral decision which is larger than distinguishing right from wrong in a given situation. Conscience transcends that. Its complex role is its ability to give colour and direction to our lives.
Conscience measures a contemplated act against the objective standard of the moral law, which is one aspect of the truth that sets us free and to which the Church bears witness to. Conscience applies this law of love in the particular circumstances of daily life. For this reason, conscience is the immediate norm of our moral action as it loves us to do one thing or avoid another by making a judgment of reason about the good or evil of a particular case.
Conclusion
The church today is challenged by the proposal to eliminate a conscience clause that allows doctors, nurses, and pharmacists to refuse to provide "care" (that is, abortions) or drugs that violate their consciences. All the explanations on conscience identify it as a moral principle. Following this trend of conscience clause elimination, the church is face with a big challenge. Our response to God's love is a call to grow, and this call is present within us as our conscience.
Finally, a fundamental principle of Catholic morality is that you must follow your conscience. Moral conscience is the key that makes this moral life possible. It is exactly how we know what the good is in specific cases, and it beckons us to always choose the good. And even when we choose wrongly, conscience calls us to seek God's merciful forgiveness so that we can begin again. Moral Theologians today are preoccupied with the contemporary models used to describe the role of conscience in moral life, that is, conscience in knowledge of ourselves as we find our selves in this concrete world. But we should not neglect the light of faith.

AN OVERVIEW ON PROPHET EZEKIEL

EZEKIEL
The most remarkable individual during Israel’s period of exile was the prophet Ezekiel... He was like Jeremiah, both a priest and prophet, although he shows distinct differences from Jeremiah by making more use of his priestly training in his message. On the other hand, many of his oracles are clearly influenced by, and drawn from the work of, his older contemporary Jeremiah.

Introduction
For proper comprehension and interpretation of the Bible, it is apt to understand the thought and the spoken as well as the written words of the writers. The Old Testament did not fall from above; it is the creative works of human beings but believed to be inspired by God through the Holy Spirit. This is why it is important and relevant to read the words of the authors. The second Vatican council made it clearer;
However, since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through men in human fashion, the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words…The interpreter must investigate what meaning the sacred writer intended to express and actually expressed in particular circumstances by using contemporary literary forms in accordance with the situation of his own time and culture.
In this Essay, without going into the intricate task of exposing details of all the prophets and their prophecy, we shall engage in a critical exposition of prophet Ezekiel prophecy according to Boadt`s claim that Ezekiel was most incredible character for the period of Israel’s exile. The Old Testament is a literature, whereas a theology is concerned with the world of ideas and their systematic formulation. It is possible for us to extract the ideas, so far as is attainable, and to pay little attention to their literary setting. Conversely, we may concentrate our attention upon the literature and its complex history, giving only scant attention to the systematic ordering of the religious ideas which we find in it.
Lawrence Boadt suggests that Ezekiel was the most incredible character for the period of Israel’s exile. His call took place in the fifth year of Israel’s exile. Ezekiel was from a priestly family just like Jeremiah and his vision was in Babylon. He is not an unknown prophet, yet, in contrast to Jeremiah, we are told very little about him.
Concerning where he lived, majority of scholar have argued that Ezekiel lived and worked in Judah throughout his period of prophecy and that the Babylonian background appendaged to his book is an imposition. Other commentators suggest that he has a dual ministry. These confusions were as a result of the analysis given that his prophecy began in Judah and the dating of this account . Georg Fohrer gives a consoling account that has been generally accepted by biblical scholars today. He acknowledged that, though Ezekiel’s prophecy was in Babylon he visited Jerusalem several times in visionary trances. Boadt informs us, with reference to Ezekiel 33 that Jeremiah wrote letters to the exiles and that Ezekiel must have received first hand knowledge about Jerusalem.
He was a married prophet and his wife is said to have died before or during the siege of Jerusalem in 587 and was understand as a symbolic message to the Jerusalem of his time.
Scholars agree on the point that Ezekiel was commissioned at the age of thirty in 593 to 571. Boadt gives a rundown of this in a tabular form. The idea that Ezekiel was a psychosomatic prophet is a misunderstanding on the personality of the prophet. Boadt argued that Ezekiel was not crazy, he was uniquely trying to rebuild a sense of trust that God never changes both in words and deeds.
The book of Ezekiel is composed of 48 chapters. It is placed in the Hebrew bible among the aspect of the division of the bible known as the prophet (הנביאים) Chronologically it is among the exilic prophets but it is canonically placed in between Jeremiah and the Minor Prophets. Kelley E. Brad notes that, ‘the standard interpretive approaches to the book consist of three prominent themes including a priestly perspectives and traditions of the identity, language, and actions of Ezekiel’.
Majority of biblical scholar attributed the authorship of the book of Ezekiel to him. Boadt made us to understand that Ez. 1:1-3 contains the superscription which identifies Ezekiel as the author of the book. But some biblical scholars argue about authorship on the basis of the controversy about the date and place. Boadt talks about the uncertainty on the acceptance on the fact that Ezekiel contributed in the arrangement of his prophecy. Some argue that his prophecy was arranged by the priestly tradition.
The book of Ezekiel is constructed more clearly than Isaiah and Jeremiah and has three elements of eschatological oracles. Brueggemann divided these oracles into two significant parts, chapters 1-24 as the first part and 25-48 as the second part. These he brands as the message of judgment and hope. He is right but the more appropriate idea is that Ezekiel’s oracle is divided into three parts; Oracle against Judah and Jerusalem (Chapters 1-24), against other nations (Chapters 25- 32) and oracle of hope and restoration for Judah (Chapters 33- 48).
His prophecy has a unique style that is quite different from other prophets including his contemporaries, although there were some similarities in their prophecies based on context. He was influenced by the prophecy of his forerunners. Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Zechariah were the only writing prophets who were also priests, and they all ministered during or after the Babylonian exile. Like Jeremiah, there is no evidence that Ezekiel ever served as a priest in the Jerusalem temple. This is an assumption that is baseless. I accept Boadt’s argument and I think it corresponds to the evidence in the texts. Examples from each of the four major prophetic books in the Bible include Isaiah 10:5–12:6, which portrays the downfall of the Assyrian king and the rise of a new Davidic monarch; Jeremiah 32–33, which portrays the redemption of land and Jerusalem in particular; Ezekiel 37:15–28, which portrays the restoration of a united Israel and Judah under the rule of a Davidic king; and Zephaniah 1, which cites creation traditions often identified with the P layer of Genesis to support its conceptualization of the Day of God.
He used a unique language and style that is distinct from other prophets but they are sometimes confusing and difficult to understand. He moves from the apocalyptic to the repetitive and the superfluous language. He sometimes mixes poetry and prose in arbitrary manner.
Historically, the book begins in Ezek 1:1–3 with a chronological notice that places Ezekiel’s vision in the thirtieth year, that is, the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile to Babylonia or 592 B.C.E., and it continues with a sequence of chronological notices in Ezek 8:1; 20:1; 24:1; 26:1; 29:1; 29:17; 30:20; 31:1; 32:1; 32:17; 33:21; and 40:1, that organize the various textual blocks of the book of Ezekiel according to a twenty-year chronological scheme from the beginning to the end of the book. This chronology is significant for understanding the theological worldview of the book insofar as it marks the active years of a Judean priest who would serve in the Temple from the age of thirty to the age of fifty.
Ezekiel uses both dramatic sign and symbolic actions in his prophecy which Boadt sees as one of the significant features in his prophecy. He used the traditional oracular components of address, accusation, passing of judgments, and the divine messenger model, “thus says the lord”. He also combines them with parables, legal cases, proverbial wisdom, disputation and poems. He also, according Boadt, used form of prophecy known as ecstasy which is identical to the prophets of the primitive prophecy; Elijah and Elisha, expressions such as “the hand of the lord fell upon me” (1:3; 3:22; 33:22; 37:1).
Ezekiel ministered to the Jews in exile. He probably wrote this book for the benefit of the exiles and the other Jewish communities of his day and beyond his day. In some of his visions (e.g. chaps. 8 and 11) the Lord carried the prophet to Jerusalem in his spirit, but his messages were not exclusively for the Jews in Jerusalem.
Several theological concepts receive considerable attention in Ezekiel. Toeing Boadt’s line of thought, Ezekiel’s theology is similar to that of Jeremiah. This implies that he was not independent of other prophets before him. Some biblical scholars like Alexander identified five theological teaching in Ezekiel’s prophecy: the nature of God, the purpose and nature of God's judgment, individual responsibility, the ethical, religious, and moral history of Israel, and the nature of Israel's restoration and future worship. Some scholars mentioned six significant theological themes: the holiness and transcendence of God, the sinfulness of humanity, the inevitability of judgment, individual responsibility, hope of restoration, and God's redemptive purpose. Others listed seven major themes: the reliability of God's word, the glory of God, individual responsibility, Israel's long history of sin, the power of national leadership for good or bad, God's holiness and our responsibility for obedience, and God's transcendence.
All these theological issues that are addressed by Ezekiel correspond to Boadt`s idea that Ezekiel, though distinct from other prophet, made good use of the traditions before him. Like other prophets, his prophecy was to the corrupt practices and social situation of his time, and for the hope of restoring the kingdom of Israel.
Thereafter, in Ezekiel's theology, God's glory is the theme that runs throughout this book, from the prophet's call when that glory first impressed him, to the demonstration of that glory in the eschatological future (1:28; 3:12, 23; 8:4; 9:3; 10:4, 18-19; 11:22-23; 39:11, 21; 43:2-5; 44:4). Boadt made us to understand that, God's glory is an aspect of His character, and His glorious character determines His conduct throughout history and his revelation. In his theology of judgement in chapters 4-24 he was mainly attacking temple cult, false prophecy, pagan idolatry (similar to Jeremiah), social statutes, and violation of religious practices, individual responsibility ( he used Jeremiah’s proverb 31:30 which he copied from Deuteronomy 24:16).
Michael Fishbane argues that Ezekiel used the proverb of “sour grape” to construct a theological legal argument to establish is principle of individual responsibility by means of means of three-generational model. Moreover, we need to remember that God, for Ezekiel, was a God who acts. Ezekiel portrays the image of God as a God who acts in history. His ability to restructure history of the people was to refresh their minds about this God who had acted in rich mercy and tells them how unfaithful they have been to this God. By analysis it appears fifteen times where Ezekiel informs us that God said He acted to keep His name glorious (20:9, 14, 22, 39, 44; 36:20-23; 39:7, 25; 43:7-8). And several times the Lord said He had acted so the people would know that He was Yahweh.
Thereupon, another aspect of his theology is what Boadt calls the theology of restoration. Restoration for Ezekiel was not different from other prophets. But what makes his restoration theology different is his use of proverbs and symbols such as the restoration of the dry bones (37:1-3). This explains that the bones symbolise the whole house of Israel which had lost the hope of being revived as a nation. Boadt informs us that Ezekiel's oracle of restoration foresaw twofold plan of God; the restoration from the captivity and the restoration of the Davidic kingdom. The second plan was the restoration of the temple and reform of their religious practices. Ezekiel’s theology is based on the Holiness and transcendence of God, the grace and mercy of God and the sovereignty of God.
Ezekiel's priestly background may account in part for the interest in priestly things that his book reflects: the actions of the priests in Jerusalem, the Jerusalem temple, the glory of the Lord, and the future temple yet to be built. It probably also explains Ezekiel's familiarity with things connected with priestly ministry, such as cherubim, differences between the laws of cult and the pre-supposition regarding ritual and impurity in the Priestly Schools and the book of Deuteronomy. Both sources regard the relationship between the priest and the laity and the access to the sacred in different ways. The fundamental reason that lies at the base of these different cultic systems is distinct perceptions of holiness.
The difference is not in the concept of what is holy and what is profane, but rather in the understanding of what holiness really is. The Priestly Schools view holiness as dynamic, sensitive and dangerous, and maintain that the access to the sacred should be limited. In contrast, in Deuteronomy holiness is static, and the access to the sacred is far less restricted, since it is not dangerous or threatening. In other words, in Deuteronomists’ idea of holiness according to Brueggemann, holiness is not an active entity but a status. These opposing world-views regarding the holy are actually related to general conceptions about the character of the relationship between humans and nature on the one hand, and between man and God on the other hand.

Evaluation and Conclusion
Every prophet must come to terms with the fact that the majority of people ignore as irrelevant the word that seems to him so authoritative and compelling. Amos and Jeremiah are both incredulous that people should deny or fail to see what seems to them, the prophets, so obvious, that Israel is deep in sin and judgement is imminent. Isaiah is so amazed at the unresponsiveness of Israel that he can only draw the conclusion that God himself must have hardened the people's hearts and made them incapable of responding. And the answer arrived at, though expressed in different words, is always the same. It is not the prophet's job to worry about results, which the Lord has set in his own hand. It is his to sow and perhaps to water but God will take care of any increase. He must patiently give his back to the smiters and his cheeks to those who pluck out the hair, and go on to the end though all men for sake him and flee. And if in the far future God wills to appoint him a portion with the great and allow him to divide the spoil with the strong, then that is a matter for God alone.
An understanding of Ezekiel's personality is fundamental to the understanding of his book. This understanding is made difficult by a number of peculiar factors. One of these is that Ezekiel fails to communicate emotion readily. This is perhaps largely a literary failure. He finds it easier to express feeling and ideas in dramatic action and in ritual than in the written word. But the failure to 'put across' his own personality results in a failure to present adequately his conception of the personality of God, and this in turn leads to a serious misunderstanding of his message.
Nonetheless, Ezekiel's oracle was not totally independent to other prophets but he has the basic attributes of prophecy which is found in other prophets especially Jeremiah.



REFERENCE
Bertholet A., and K. Galling, “Ezekiel”, in Ronald E. Clement, Old Testament Prophecy: From Oracle to Canon (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1996).

Blenkinsopp, J., A History of Prophecy in Israel rev. and enl. (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1996).

______Ezekiel, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990).

Boadt, L., Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction, (New York: Paulist Press, 1984)

Boadt, L., & Desmond Tutu, The Hebrew Prophets: Visionaries of the Ancient World, (New York: Lion Press, 1997).

Brueggemann, W. & Hans, W. W., The Vitality of Old Testament Tradition, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1982).

Brueggemann, W., An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2003).

______ Reverberation of Faith: A Theological Handbook of the Old Testament Themes, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2002).

Clements, R., Old Testament Theology: A Fresh Approach (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1978).

Enns, P.P., Ezekiel, (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 1998).

Fishbane, M., “Sin and Judgement in the Prophecies of Ezekiel” in James L Mays & Paul J. Achtemeier (Eds.) Interpreting the Prophets (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987), 170-187.

Freedman, D. N.,(ed.) The Anchor Bible Dictionary vol. 2, (London: Doubleday Press, 1922).

Fohrer, G., Introduction to the Old Testament (transl. David Green, London: Hollen Street Press, 1968).

Gowan, D. E., Theology of the Prophetic Books: The Death and Resurrection of Israel, (Louisville, John Knox Press, 1998),

Herntrich, V., “Ezekiel problem” in Ronald E. Clement, Old Testament Prophecy: From Oracle to Canon (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1996)

Jensen, J., God’s Word to Israel, (Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 1988)

Kelley, B. E., "Dealing with the Trauma of Defeat: The Rhetoric of the Devastation and Rejuvenation of Nature in Ezekiel." Journal of Biblical Literature 128, no. 3 (Fall2009 2009): 469-490. Religion and Philosophy Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed October 31, 2009).

Ohler, A., Studying the Old Testament from Tradition to Canon, (Edinburgh: T&T Clark Ltd, 1985)

Otto Kaiser, Introduction to the Old Testament: A Presentation of its Results and Problems (Transl. John Sturdy, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1969).

Petersen, D. L., The Prophetic Literature: An Introduction, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2002),

Ralph H. Alexander, "Ezekiel," in Isaiah-Ezekiel vol. 6, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, pp. 739-40.

Regev, E., "Priestly Dynamic Holiness and Deutronomic Static Holiness." Vetus Testamentum 51, no. 2 (April 2001): 243-261. Religion and Philosophy Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed October 17, 2009).

Reiss, M., "Jeremiah, the suffering prophet, and Ezekiel, the visionary." Jewish Bible Quarterly 32, no. 4 (October 2004): 233-238. ATLA Religion Database, EBSCOhost (accessed November , 2009).

Robinson, H.W., “Two Hebrew Prophets: Studied in Hosea and Ezekiel” in Ronald E. Clement, Old Testament Prophecy: From Oracle to Canon (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1996).

Sweeney, Marvin A. "Dating prophetic texts." Hebrew Studies 48, (2007): 56-73. ATLA Religion Database, EBSCOhost (accessed October 26, 2009).

Vatican II Council, Dei Verbum Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Vatican Council II: The Conciliar Documents, ed. A. Flannery (Collegeville, MT: The Liturgical Press, 1975).

Zimmerli, W., et al, Ezekiel: A Commentary on the Book of Ezekiel Vol. 2, (Michigan: Fortress Press, 1983).

Pauline Studies

THE RELIABILITY AND ACCURACY OF ACTS ACCOUNT OF PAUL
The study about Paul seemed to be problematic due to the sources of the description on who Paul is. This aggravates the minds of critical thinkers to ask, who is Paul? How do we know the real Paul? What are the sources through which we can identify Paul? There are two sources presented to us as media of knowing Paul. These sources are the book of Acts of the Apostles and the Letters of Paul. But which of these sources gives the authentic and accurate account of Paul. The major concentration of this work is to explore the authenticity and accuracy of Acts’ account of Paul. I will briefly explain the authorship of the Acts of the Apostles. Emphasis will be laid on these points: chronological account of acts on the personality of Paul, the account on his missionary journeys, his conversion and, his relationship with early Jerusalem church.

AUTHORSHIP
It is a generally accepted claim by New Testament scholars, that, the authorship of Acts is attributed to Luke. No one quarrels with this, its controversy lies in the accuracy of his account with regards to chronological life of Paul.
Who is Luke? In Acts 1:1, Luke identified himself as the author of the book of Acts of the Apostles and this confirms that it is a continuation of his Gospel. Many authors regard Luke as a companion of Paul. This is debatable and likely to be questioned. Elmer, I., argues that, “it is widely recognised that the data supplied by Luke in Acts is late and secondary, and scholars have long debated Luke’s historical reliability”. This could mean that the age gap between Paul and Luke is somehow distanced. There is a clear distinction between Paul’s teaching and Luke’s presentation of Paul. Jerome Biblical Commentary argues on the companionship of Luke to Paul saying, “ to admit this is not to admit that Luke was with Paul during the major part of his apostolic activity or while most of his letters were written. The author goes on to explain that, it is still a plausible hypothesis to authorship of acts. This idea is double barrelled. It is not definite to explaining Luke’s companionship to Paul.

ACTS’ CHRONOLOGICAL INFORMATION ABOUT PAUL
Acts of the Apostle is one of the longest books o the New Testament, containing 28 chapters and 1,003 verses. It explains the salvific plan of God for the new era through Jesus Christ. Our only significant source of information on the pre-Pauline period is the initial eleven chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, and therein lays certain problems. Ludemann, G., identifies a contradiction between world history and Lucan historical excurses of Paul. Elmer, I., argues that, “it is generally accepted that in composing Acts Luke has woven together disparate and conflicting traditions to present an artificially idyllic picture of primitive Christianity that glosses over all instances of conflict and division”. This argument is based on the inaccuracy of dates on Luke's historical data. The Acts is regarded as a sociological, historical, and a theological work describing the basement of early Christian community.
The framework for the chronology of Paul is irrefutable in his letter to the Galatians 1-2. It is the fundamental and valid standpoint for the life of Paul, but it is problematic, because it gave half-baked idea of the life of Paul. It is unfortunate that both Acts and the letters of Paul give no deep insight about Paul’s life before conversion. Darrell L. Bock accused Irenaeus of exaggeration on his claim that Luke was constantly with Paul. Marshall notes that, “this is a key reason why many doubt the historical value of Acts.” Vielhauer made a compactible and powerful view, detecting four inconsistencies between Paul and the portraits of Paul in Acts relating to natural law, Jewish law, Christology, and eschatology . He went on to say that Luke has a place for natural theology, (Acts 17), where as Paul in (Rom. 1). What does Acts of the Apostles tell us about Paul? The major concern is to see whether the letters of Paul compared to acts, might give us an understanding about geographical and chronological life of Paul. Victor P. Furnish, asks, “where shall we go to find Paul” and “where do we put him?” He identified Paul in two aspects, Paul in history and the churchly Paul.
However, many scholars, such as E. J. Goodspeed, G. Bornkamm , J. Murphy-O’Connor, M. Henge and J., do refer to Paul pre-Damascus. However, they do not attach any theological meaning to the pre-Damascus period in Paul’s life. Although they discuss Paul’s life before Damascus and investigate the pre-Damascus Paul, it is approached as nothing more than a subsidiary issue or a point of departure apart from the main issue.
The contribution of the author of Acts to the picture of Paul obviously does not consists only the same collection of individual tradition, in the linguistic refurbishing of the same, and in connecting to one another. The book of Acts seems to have its own theological agenda that rooted in the situation of the eve of the first century. J. Becker argues that Acts was not the work of Luke because, for him, the book was written years after Luke and Paul, definitely by the church fathers. This is an exaggerated reality because Luke’s account of history seems to synchronise with the secular world history. What is argued in Luke is not the authorship but the accuracy of his accounts to Paul. The basic argument to acts accuracy is centred more on the expeditions of Paul.

PAUL’S MISSIONARY JOURNEYS
Michael Grant in his book, Saint Paul, commends that, to write a history of Paul’s life and achievements demands not only a god sense of history but also a vast knowledge of the exegetical work done on Paul’s letters. But exegesis is the art of explaining and drawing out a philosophical, historical, literal interpretation of a piece of biblical literature. Why did Luke frame a wrong itinerary account of Paul? This throws one into serious thought to cipher which of the Pauls are the authentic Paul. In the discussion of the purpose of Acts, the author wishes to show the expansion and spreading of the gospel to the entire world.
Nonetheless, scholars have rejected the accuracy of Luke’s account of the journeys. Paul claimed to be an Apostle for the gentiles. His apostolic works were channelled towards the conversion of the Gentile communities. Both also concur that prior to this Paul was a persecutor of the church (1 Cor 15:9; Gal 1:13; Acts 7:58; 8:1; 9:1–2). Acts states that at the time of the death of Stephen, Paul (Saul) was “a young man” (Acts 7:58), and Galatians 1:14 also implies that the “persecutor” was at least a young adult. The basic point here is that Luke duplicated Paul’s travel records. The letter to the Galatians counter-runs this acts travel data of Paul. Luke was trying to put his historical data to synchronise with the world history.

PAUL AND THE JERUSALEM CHURCH
Scholars have interpreted Paul’s encounter with the Jerusalem church as between Hebrews and the Gentiles. Ian Elmer regards it as the movement between Law-Observant Christian Judaism and Law-Free Christianity. Basically what Paul seeks for is not against the entire laws but against the segregation of the gentiles from the Christian communion because they were regarded as uncircumcised.

PAULINE THEOLOGY
The teachings of Paul have theological imports. Paul theology was based on christology, ecclesiology and eschatology. Ecclesiologically, he teaching was to unify the factions are seen among the Hebrew Christians and gentile proselytes. Paul always proclaims that Christ is not only for the Jews for the whole humanity.

CONCLUSION
The importance of Pauline teachings is highly regarded by the contemporary Christians. Some scholars regard him as their model. That is not a problem. But I will suggest that Paul should not be only understood theologically. It is scholarly to know the historical Paul so as to know his psychology. I think his temperament runs although his teaching. Above all his did a remarkable work in his approach towards the unity of  the Christian community according to mind of Christ. For Christ prayed, Father, that they may be one (John 17:21).

REFERENCES
Alexander, L. C. A., “Chronology of Paul” in Hawthorne, Gerald F.; Martin, Ralph P. ; Reid, Daniel G.: Dictionary of Paul and His Letters. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993).

Becker, J., Paul Apostle to the Gentiles, Trans. O. C. Dean, Jr., Westminster: John Knox Press, 1993.

Bock, D. L., Acts: Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Michigan: Baker Academy, 2007.

Bock, D. L., The Proclamation of Prophecy and Pattern: The Lucan Old Testament

Christology. Journal for the Study of the New Testament: Supplement Series, 1986.

Bornkamm, G., Paul, trans. D. M. G. Stalker (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1971).

Brown, R. E., (ed.)The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, London: Chapman, 1969.

Donaldson, T. L., Paul and the gentiles: Remapping the Apostle’s Convictional World, Minneapolis: Fortress Press,1997.

Elmer, I. J., Paul, Jerusalem and Judaisers: The Galatian Crisis in Its Broadest Historical Context (WUNT II.258; Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007)

Goodspeed, E. J., Paul, (Nashville/New York: Abingdon Press, 1947)

Grant, M., Saint Paul, New York: Phoenix Press, 2000.

Hengel, M., The Pre-Christian Paul, trans. J. Bowden (London: SCM Press, 1991),

J. Murphy-O’Connor, Paul: A Critical Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996)

Ludemann, D., Early Christianity According to Traditions in Acts (English Trans): Minneappolis 1989.

Marshall H. I., David Peterson: Witness to the Gospel: the theology of Acts

Theology, Biblical Studies: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1998.

Riesner, R., Paul’s Early Period: Chronology, Mission Strategy, Theology, Michigan: Ederdmans’ Press, 1998.

Vielhauer, P., “On Paulinism of acts” in Studies in Luke-Acts: Essays Presented in honour of Paul Schubert. Edited by Keck, L. E., and J. L. Martyn. Nashville: Abingdon Press. 1966.


LAWRENCE UZOEGBU

Ugonnaya wants you to check out a photo on MySpace in the My Projects album

Ugonnaya wants you to check out a photo on MySpace in the My Projects album

HUMANITY IN CRISIS

The story about the origin of man is enigmatic. In every field of enquiry, there seems to be various theories and assertions about the fons and origo of humainty. Humanity itself is problematic as well as its understanding. The concept man(Adam-anthropos) is difficult to comprehend. It is a three-letterred word but encyclopedic in explanation. It is the pre-occupation of man to trace his foundation, his history and his origin. The pressing question is where can man find his origin?
Biologically speaking, man originated from the biological powers or features of man by means of procreation. One of the charateristics of man is reproduction which could be indubitably true in the mind of biologist and natural scientists. Reproduction is the most important aspect of the charateristics of man which takes presidence over other charateristics. But in my own understanding man procreates man, man reproduces man, man forms man: this continues to an infinite regress. Looking back, one could identify a big question mark that lies behind everyone. This question is what everyone asks when tracing his or her origin, where do i come from?. The individual answer is found in the individual geneological history. However, what will be the answer for the first man?
Perhap, the answer to the question of the origin of man cannot be answered through biological assertions only. Nevetheless, there have been other chemical and physical theories about the origin of man. Anthropologists have traced man's origin through natural dimensions asserting that man originates from animal. It seems to be true but it does not have the absolute result in its research. Big Bang theory seems to have answered the question by its chemical, big, voidless substance that exploded and formed man.
Moreover, Aristotle's claim of the Unmoved Mover seemed to have reenkidled the fading light of convinction about the search for the answers to questions about the origin of man. Prior to Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosophers were pre-occupied with quest about the fons and origo of everything. Emphasis were laid on the natural phenomenon and occurences as where all things emerged.
It was in the middle era of philosophical investigation that the space of the Unmoved Mover was filled in with the name, God. Prior to this era, theism has been in place, but the idea of the Supreme that was attributed to God by Medievals was still clouded. Thanks to Thomas Aquinas for creative ingenuity of his Quique Viae. Religious wise, the position of the supreme being had been unoccupied in different religions of the ancient world untill the emergence of christianity. Christianity posits God as the Supreme Being whose position was vacant in various religious understanding.
Modernity shifted the emphasis of God to man, placing man in the position of God. The reality of human crisis began to emerge which resorts to violence, malicious killing, sexual slavery, hunger, terrorism and other negative influences. Science and technology croped up with dangerous whims that are now turning into natural disaster. The funny thing is that the scientists have deviated from their main focus to the things that are harmful to man.
In all, I wiil ask, where are we heading to?

 

LIFE IS A STRUGGLE

In every life experience, one either learns to be courageous or give-in to defeat. Courage is a virtue that needs to be acquired through personal struggle and great effort which might involve risk. It seems dangerous to take a risk but sometimes we make great achievements by taking risk. Risk here does not mean attemptig suicide, but playing games with some of our valuable. I can imagine here that the road to one success could be risky and it is only the courageous and audacious ones can succeed with unimaginable suprises.

Different ways of survival are dare-devillish and unthinkable in the mind of the cowards but to the brave, it is a road to success. It is a path to great achievement, a leather to an iroko tree, a staircase to authority, and sometimes a translink to victory. When you give out sometime so important to you, it is a risk. When you play a game with your last card(money) it is also a risk.

However, not everyone succeeds in taking a risk, there are people who have it as a talent and they dare unimaginable things.

What happens in business world with regards to success? Business is all about risk. It is all about success, success through geopardizing ones wealth. Some people succeed in business not because they are gods but because they keep toeing the path to success by taking risk.

I would like to challenge my readers, ones in your life, to make some darings even if you fail at the first attempt do not despair, keep going because your success is still ahead.

To avoid misinterpretation, risk here does not mean taking advantage of others by fraud or other negative mentalities, but, taking a positive risk. What do i mean by positive risks? I mean taking a risk that does not cause others their life or property.

Haven said that, I will suggest that we should participate in some of these ONLINE BUSINESS SUCH AS FOREX TRADE AND OTHERS BECAUSE THEY ARE ROADS TO SUCCESS IN BUSINESS AND OTHERWISE.

LAWRENCE.