KULTURZEIT "From Saul to Paul" with Dietrich Redecker

On 21 December, the choir and orchestra will perform the Paulus oratorio op. 36 by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. To mark the occasion, theologian and retired pastor Dietrich Redecker talks to KULTURZEIT about the religious, theological and anthropological background to the oratorio PAULUS.

The transformation of Saul - as a persecutor of the still young Christian community - into Paul - as a missionary and ambassador of the living Christ - marks an important turning point in the life of this apostle in the New Testament.
The process of transformation from the former quarrelsome Jew Saul to the zealous Christian ambassador with the preaching of the risen Christ is interesting.

In Mendelssohn's oratorio, the influence of the Protestant theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher, whose theology was influenced by the Enlightenment, can be recognised in this process. In addition, this process of transformation also shows how Paul reckons with his Jewish past and turns to the proclamation of freedom from the law of the Torah.
The development of Saul/Paul as a person also reveals a process of individualisation that every maturing person goes through.