Paul’s ecstatic trance experience near Damascus in Acts of the Apostles

Abstract

Luke reports more than twenty altered states of consciousness experiences in Acts of the Apostles. These are common and normal human experiences in approximately ninety percent of contemporary cultures. In the ancient Circum-Mediterranean world, it seems to have been common and normal in about eighty percent of those cultures. Insights from psychological anthropology, cultural anthropology and cognitive neuroscience contribute to an improved understanding and interpretation of these experiences in the Bible, particularly the call of Paul as reported in Acts 9; 22; 26.