Pauline conversion
A Pauline conversion – ‘Pauline’ pronounced with the stress on the first syllable and the second syllable rhyming with ‘wine’ - is a sudden and complete change in a person’s beliefs or views about some matter of great significance, often the result of a single overwhelming experience or of a single argument which is felt to be compelling.. For example, an advocate of the death penalty who is persuaded by a television documentary about the lives of prisoners awaiting execution that capital punishment is morally abhorrent and must be abolished worldwide may be said to have undergone a Pauline conversion.
Pauline conversions are so called from their resemblance to the conversion to Christianity of St. Paul, the first-century Christian apostle, who travelled as a missionary to various parts of the Mediterranean world and was the author of a number of the books of the New Testament. (See further Saint Paul.) St. Paul’s conversion is described in Acts of the Apostles ch. 9, vv. 1-22, which refers to Paul as Saul (his Jewish name) rather than Paul (his name as a Roman citizen). Paul/Saul, fiercely hostile to Christianity, was travelling to Damascus to arrest and bring to trial any Christians he found there …. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shone round about him a light from heaven; and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? And he said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute …. And (Saul) trembling and astonished said, Lord, what will you have me do? And the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told you what you must do. And the men who journeyed with Saul stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man; but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus .… (There after three days) there fell from his eyes as it had been scales; and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. And … he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
The expression ‘Damascene conversion’ - ‘Damascene’ pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, the ‘c’ silent, and the final syllable rhyming with ‘keen’ - is an alternative, and less common, way of referring to a sudden and complete change in a person’s beliefs about some matter of great significance. This expression, like ‘Pauline conversion’, also contains an allusion to St. Paul’s conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus: ‘Damascene’ is an adjective meaning ‘of, or related to, Damascus’.
See also Saint Paul, Pauline, Damascene.
