St Paul’s Church

Do you know that feeling of going somewhere every day and being so familiar with it that you don’t see something special or obvious about it – and then feeling delighted when you notice it? That’s what I want to do with my art. I’ve been sketching again in Newton Abbot, in Devon, this time St Paul’s Church in Devon Square.

St Paul’s Church is named after Paul, or Saul as he was frequently known, who wrote a quarter of what became the New Testament of the Holy Bible. He was a Jewish man whose job was to persecute Christians and who had a dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus. Here’s the King James Bible (the well written poetic one) in Acts 9:3-9:

And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
And the men which journeyed with him 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.
And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

The ‘pricks’ mentioned are ox goads, eight-foot long spiked poles to spur on oxen as they pulled a plough or cart. Oxen which kick against them only hurt themselves.

Saul’s experience seems very much like a description of temporal lobe epilepsy from the superstitious Bronze Age to me.

Here’s what Paul says about himself in the King James Bible (the KJB to its acquaintances) in 2 Corinthians 12:7:

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

His “thorn in the flesh” and “messenger of Satan” are clearly references to his disease.

Paul never met anyone called Jesus of Nazareth and if it wasn’t for Paul’s illness it’s likely we would never have heard of him either.

Part of my Postcards from Newton Abbot series of postcard-sized ink and watercolour sketches.

Ink: Platinum brun sepia pigmented ink
Pen: Sailor Fude de Mannen fountain pen
Watercolour: Derwent Graphitint watercolours

More Postcards from Newton Abbot