Paul's Christophany

What did Paul experience on the Damascus Road? Was it psychological vision of Jesus or a physical Christophany? We can't say for sure, but here are some considerations. This is my side of a recent conversation on the topic:

It's important to distinguish "heaven" in the atmospheric/astronomical sense of the "sky" from heaven in the theological sense of where God, the saints, and angels reside.

In the Ascension account he levitates above ground a certain distance in midair, then disappears into the Shekinah cloud.

Yes, he left in some sense and he could return in some sense, short of the Parousia.

I agree with you that the Christophany to Paul isn't the same as the Lk 20; Jn 20-21 incidents. That said, there's still a categorical difference between "heaven" in the sense of "sky" and "heaven" in the sense of where God, saints, and angels reside. The sky is the location of sun, moon, stars, solar/lunar eclipses, rain, hail, meteor showers, &c. And it extends down to the air, where birds, bats, insects fly, and some seeds are blown by the wind. By contrast, there are no meteorological events in heaven in the sense of God's abode. So Jesus could appear to Paul from the sky (overhead) without appearing to him from heaven (in the theological sense). In a way it's similar to the Transfiguration, which has the Shekinah, but the location is in the low atmosphere.

I'd add that Paul's traveling companions could be facing in a different direction than Paul in relation to Jesus, which accounts for why they didn't see the same thing. Or Paul could be further along the road, over a hill, or some other physical obstacle, that blocked the view with respect to his traveling companions.

I never suggested that Jesus left footprints. The upper room isn't directly comparable because an indoor setting presents fewer opportunities for different spatial configurations and visual obstacles than an outdoor setting. Finally, there's a well-documented collection of Christophanies in church history https://www.amazon.com/Visions-Jesus-Direct-Encounters-Testament/dp/0195126696. This is also instrumental in the conversion of some Jews. And it's a source of revival in the contemporary Muslim world. Of course, these could all be psychological visions. But that's one of the interpretive issues.

It's possible that Paul's experience was a psychological vision, but his traveling companions also experienced something, albeit different, which suggests something more than a psychological vision.

At the Transfiguration there was some other entity floating in the sky above the heads of the disciples: the Shekinah cloud. And the Father may have been speaking from within the Shekinah since that sometimes functions as a chariot theophany for God's portable throne.

Shekinah clouds aren't normal natural phenomenon in the first place. They are preternatural phenomena. God making emblematic use of natural media in theophanies. There are different kinds of theophanies, some using overlapping media, viz. incandescent clouds, fire, thunderstorms, chariots. To say "It is not scientifically explanatory, in natural terms, of the sound that they heard. Nor is such an explanation necessary. There is, for example, no mention of any such cloud in John 12, nor do clouds normally produce or convey words. Nor does the Father need a Shekinah cloud in order to produce auditory sound. It's not like a cloud is God's voice box," completely misses the point. God doesn't need the chariot theophany in Ezekiel 1. But the value lies on the theological symbolism of these physical manifestations.

We already have precedent in the Ascension account for Jesus floating in midair, visible to observers. So there's no antecedent objection to a similar event on the Damascus Road.

He "returned" in the Rev 1 Christophany. Indeed, Revelation refers to Jesus threatening to return to remove the lampstand of some waning churches in Asia Minor. But that's not the Parousia. There's a difference between the once-for-all-time Second Coming of Christ and Jesus appearing to individuals in the course of church history.