NEARLY two thousand years ago, a man named Saul had an experience that changed his life, and possibly yours as well. According to Acts of the Apostles, the fifth book of the biblical New Testament, Saul was on the road to Damascus, Syria, when he saw a bright light in the sky, was blinded and heard the voice of Jesus. Changing his name to Paul, he became a major figure in the spread of Christianity.
William Hartmann, co-founder of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, has a different explanation for what happened to Paul. He says the biblical descriptions of Paul鈥檚 experience closely match accounts of the fireball meteor seen above Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013.
Hartmann has detailed his argument in the journal (). He analyses three accounts of Paul鈥檚 journey, thought to have taken place around AD 35. The first is a third-person description of the event, thought to be the work of one of Jesus鈥檚 disciples, Luke. The other two quote what Paul is said to have subsequently told others.
Advertisement
鈥淓verything they are describing in those three accounts in the book of Acts are exactly the sequence you see with a fireball,鈥� Hartmann says. 鈥淚f that first-century document had been anything other than part of the Bible, that would have been a straightforward story.鈥�
But the Bible is not just any ancient text. Paul鈥檚 Damascene conversion and subsequent missionary journeys around the Mediterranean helped build Christianity into the religion it is today. If his conversion was indeed as Hartmann explains it, then a random space rock has played a major role in determining the course of history (see 鈥�Christianity minus Paul鈥�).
That鈥檚 not as strange as it sounds. A large asteroid impact helped kill off the dinosaurs, paving the way for mammals to dominate the Earth. So why couldn鈥檛 a meteor influence the evolution of our beliefs?
聯If a large asteroid impact helped kill the dinosaurs, why couldn鈥檛 one influence the evolution of beliefs?聰
鈥淚t鈥檚 well recorded that extraterrestrial impacts have helped to shape the evolution of life on this planet,鈥� says , head of NASA鈥檚 Meteoroid Environment Office in Huntsville, Alabama. 鈥淚f it was a Chelyabinsk fireball that was responsible for Paul鈥檚 conversion, then obviously that had a great impact on the growth of Christianity.鈥�
Hartmann鈥檚 argument is possible now because of the quality of observations of the Chelyabinsk incident. The 2013 meteor is the most well-documented example of larger impacts that occur perhaps only once in 100 years. Before 2013, the 1908 blast in Tunguska, also in Russia, was the best example, but it left just a scattering of seismic data, millions of flattened trees and some eyewitness accounts. With Chelyabinsk, there is a clear scientific argument to be made, says Hartmann. 鈥淲e have observational data that match what we see in this first-century account.鈥�
Shaping history鈥檚 arc: the Chelyabinsk meteor (Image: RIA NovostiI/SPL)
The most obvious similarity is the bright light in the sky, 鈥渂righter than the sun, shining round me鈥�, according to Paul. That鈥檚 in line with showing a light, estimated to be around three times as bright as the sun, that created quickly moving shadows as it streaked across the sky.
After witnessing the light, Paul and his companions fell to the ground. Hartmann says they may have been knocked over when the meteor exploded in the sky and generated a shock wave. At Chelyabinsk, the shock wave destroyed thousands of windows and .
Paul then heard the voice of Jesus asking why Paul, an anti-Christian zealot to begin with, was persecuting him. The three biblical accounts differ over whether his companions also heard this voice, or a meaningless noise. Chelyabinsk produced a .
Paul was also blinded, with one account blaming the brightness of the light. A few days later, 鈥渟omething like scales fell from his eye and he regained his sight鈥�. Our common idiom for suddenly understanding something stems from this description, but Hartmann says the phrase can be read literally. He suggests that Paul was suffering from photokeratitis, a temporary blindness caused by intense ultraviolet radiation.
鈥淚t鈥檚 basically a bit of sunburn on the cornea of the eye. Once that begins to heal, it flakes off,鈥� says Hartmann. 鈥淭his can be a perfectly literal statement for someone in the first century who doesn鈥檛 really understand what鈥檚 happening.鈥� The UV radiation at Chelyabinsk was strong enough to cause sunburn, skin peeling and temporary blindness.
of Moorfields Eye Hospital in London says the condition is common among welders whose eyes are exposed to bright sparks, but the symptoms aren鈥檛 exactly as Hartmann is suggesting. 鈥淵ou wouldn鈥檛 expect bits of the eye to fall off; I鈥檝e not come across that at all,鈥� he says. It鈥檚 possible that the thin skin of the eyelids could burn and peel off, he says, but that is unlikely to happen in isolation. 鈥淚f this were a meteorite, I鈥檓 sure you鈥檇 have other damage as well.鈥�
of Armagh Observatory in the UK, who previously identified a , says it鈥檚 worth analysing old texts for clues to ancient impacts 鈥� bearing in mind that accounts are shaped by what people knew at the time. 鈥淪ometimes that doesn鈥檛 make sense to us, but it does make sense if you can reinterpret it.鈥� What does he think of Hartmann鈥檚 argument? 鈥淗e does a very detailed analysis,鈥� says Bailey.
鈥淚 would label it as informed speculation 鈥� Bill Hartmann is an excellent author,鈥� says Cooke. 鈥淏ut like so many other things in the ancient past there is no real concrete evidence, no smoking gun.鈥� And with no other accounts from the time to draw on, there is little additional evidence to confirm or disprove the idea.
A search for meteorites in and around Syria could prove fruitful 鈥� Chelyabinsk left small chunks all over the region 鈥� but even that would be inconclusive. 鈥淚f a meteorite is discovered in modern Syria in the future, the first thing to test would be how long it鈥檚 been on the Earth and whether it could potentially be associated with such a recent fall,鈥� says Bailey. But even with our best techniques, dating such a rock to the nearest hundred years would be difficult.
Even so, Hartmann believes we need to think seriously about the implications of his idea. 鈥淢y goal is not to discredit anything that anybody wants to believe in,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut if the spread of a major religion was motivated by misunderstanding a fireball, that鈥檚 something we human beings ought to understand about ourselves.鈥�
Christianity minus Paul
IF A falling meteor did inspire Paul鈥檚 conversion to Christianity (see main story), that makes a random event hugely important in the history of humanity. What if Paul hadn鈥檛 seen the fireball?
鈥淪ome scholars call Paul the second founder of Christianity,鈥� says , a religious historian at the University of Cambridge. At the time, Christianity was a small offshoot of Judaism, but Paul helped preach a version of it that broke with Jewish law.
Paul wasn鈥檛 the only first-century missionary, and without him Christianity would probably still have separated from Judaism and spread around the world, says Meggitt. But Paul鈥檚 teachings have endured through the ages, and their absence would be felt.
鈥淧eople鈥檚 interpretation of Paul is absolutely fundamental to some of the central figures of Christianity,鈥� says Meggitt. For example, Martin Luther, who started the Protestant Reformation in 1517, was heavily inspired by Paul鈥檚 letters.
Specific predictions about how Christianity and world events would have unfolded without Paul鈥檚 influence are hard to make, says Meggitt, but 鈥淐hristianity probably would be very different without him鈥�.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淐hristianity鈥檚 meteoric rise鈥�
