Dr. Peter Williamson is joining Renewal Ministries on its Footsteps of St. Paul pilgrimage in May 2020. He teaches the “Letters of St. Paul” at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of Detroit, and he will share expert insight into the places we visit and their deep significance for the spread of the Gospel. He is an expert in St. Paul, a dynamic disciple of Jesus, and a great preacher! You can get more details about the pilgrimage here. Ralph Martin, Peter and Debbie Herbeck, and a bishop or priest (who will be named soon) also will be part of the pilgrimage.

By Dr. Peter Williamson

Five reasons why following the footsteps of St. Paul is worthwhile:

1. Except for Jesus, there is no person that the New Testament tells us as much about as St. Paul.

2. On numerous occasions, the Bible tells readers to imitate St. Paul! (See 1 Cor 4:16, 11:1; Phil 3:17; 1 Thess 2:7-12). Paul is especially a model for pastoral leaders.

3. Paul’s mission provides the biblical paradigm for evangelization then and now.

4. The normative biblical vision of what the Church is meant to be is revealed in Acts and the letters of Paul.

5. Visiting these places, and praying and reflecting on them with good brothers and sisters, is a great way for us to assimilate these truths and St. Paul’s spirit!

A brief summary of Paul’s missionary activity in Greece:

Paul’s first missionary journey took place entirely in what is the eastern half of modern-day Turkey. But on his second journey, after he first attempted to go south to Asia Minor (probably Ephesus) and then tried to go north to Bithynia—both times being stopped by the Holy Spirit!—he journeyed west to the coastal town of Troas (Acts 16:6-10). There he had a dream in which a man from Macedonia (northern Greece) said, “Come and help us.” Paul and his companions, Silas, Luke, and Timothy, decided that God was guiding them to go evangelize in Macedonia. So they sailed across the Aegean Sea to Neapolis, and the first Christian mission to Europe began!  During that mission, Paul evangelized Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea in Macedonia, and then Athens and Corinth in the south of Greece (Achaia), where Paul remained for one-and-a-half years. It was from Corinth that Paul wrote his letters to the Thessalonians and perhaps also to the Galatians. Our pilgrimage will visit all those important stops on Paul’s second missionary journey. (You can read all this in Act 16:6 to 18:18.)

On his third mission trip, the Holy Spirit finally allowed Paul to reside in Ephesus in Asia Minor, where he preached the Gospel for nearly three years. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians and Romans from Ephesus. Then Paul revisited the cities he had evangelized in Greece, starting again in the north (Macedonia, where he wrote 2 Corinthians), returned to Corinth, and then turned back to Macedonia, before heading to Jerusalem (Acts 20:1-6).

I hope you are able to join us on this pilgrimage! You can register and find more details here. If you have questions, you also can contact Kathleen Kittle, at 734-662-1730, ext. 132.

 

Dr. Peter S. Williamson occupies the Adam Cardinal Maida Chair in Sacred Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. He received his M.A. in Theology from Sacred Heart in 1995 and his S.T.D. in Biblical Theology from the Gregorian University in 2001. Dr. Williamson, a convert to the Catholic Church in 1972, is a married layman who has been involved for over 40 years in evangelization and pastoral ministry in the United States and abroad. He is the author of Revelation (2015) and Ephesians (2009) in the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture and co-editor of the series along with Dr. Mary Healy and Kevin Perrotta. He is also author of Catholic Principles for Interpreting Scripture: A Study of the Pontifical Biblical Commission’s “The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church” (Loyola Press, 2002) and co-editor with Ralph Martin of John Paul II and the New Evangelization (revised edition, St. Anthony Messenger, 2006).