Epilepsy and religion (believe, Jesus, history, New Testament)

[Aristotles child]

I'm not sure where I read the question probably on this thread somewhere suggesting that St. Paul might have had epilepsy.

The symptoms of his "thorn for the flesh' certainly suggests this.


German Epilepsymuseum Kork - Museum for epilepsy and thehistory of epilepsy



……..people usually point toSaint Paul's experience on the road to Damascus, reported inthe Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament (Acts 9, 3-9),in which Paul, or Saul as he was known before his conversion to Christianity,is reported to have a fit similar to an epileptic seizure: '...suddenly alight from the sky flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voicesaying to him: ''Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?''...Saul got up from theground and opened his eyes, but he could not see a thing... For three days hewas not able to see, and during that time he did not eat or drink anything.'


Saul's sudden fall, the fact that he first laymotionless on the ground but was then able to get up unaided, led people veryearly on to suspect that this dramatic incident might have been caused by agrand mal seizure. In more recent times, this opinion has found support fromthe fact that sight impediment-including temporary blindness lastingfrom several hours to several days-has been observed as being a symptom orresult of an epileptic seizure and has beenmentioned in many case reports.


Perhaps also of interest, but in this case there is no question, Pope Pius the Ninth, the pope who declared papal infallibility which Catholics have to believe was know to have had epilepsy.

[Michael Way]

Originally Posted by Aristotles child

I'm not sure where I read the question probably on this thread somewhere suggesting that St. Paul might have had epilepsy.

The symptoms of his "thorn for the flesh' certainly suggests this.


German Epilepsymuseum Kork - Museum for epilepsy and thehistory of epilepsy



……..people usually point toSaint Paul's experience on the road to Damascus, reported inthe Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament (Acts 9, 3-9),in which Paul, or Saul as he was known before his conversion to Christianity,is reported to have a fit similar to an epileptic seizure: '...suddenly alight from the sky flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voicesaying to him: ''Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?''...Saul got up from theground and opened his eyes, but he could not see a thing... For three days hewas not able to see, and during that time he did not eat or drink anything.'


Saul's sudden fall, the fact that he first laymotionless on the ground but was then able to get up unaided, led people veryearly on to suspect that this dramatic incident might have been caused by agrand mal seizure. In more recent times, this opinion has found support fromthe fact that sight impediment-including temporary blindness lastingfrom several hours to several days-has been observed as being a symptom orresult of an epileptic seizure and has beenmentioned in many case reports.

Why do people ignore the text which plainly states that the men who were with Paul when he had his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road also experienced something? They saw a light and they heard a voice which they could not understand. That fact means that Paul's vision was not the result of a grand mal seizure. Why do people further ignore the fact that the text says that a man by the name of Ananias was told in a vision from God to go see Paul who himself had seen in a vision by God that Ananias was going to come to him and lay hands on him at which time he would regain his sight (Acts 9:10-18).

When people don't believe what the Biblical text says it's easy to try to rationalize things away, such as this theory that Paul's vision was the result of a grand mal seizure.