Charles H. Talbert - Reading Luke-Acts in Its Mediterranean Milieu (Supplements To Novum Testamentum) - Brill Academic Publishers (2003)
Charles H. Talbert - Reading Luke-Acts in Its Mediterranean Milieu (Supplements To Novum Testamentum) - Brill Academic Publishers (2003)
Charles H. Talbert - Reading Luke-Acts in Its Mediterranean Milieu (Supplements To Novum Testamentum) - Brill Academic Publishers (2003)
SUPPLEMENTS TO
NOVUM TESTAMENTUM
EDITORIAL BOARD
Executive Editors
M.M. MITCHELL, Chicago & D.P. MOESSNER, Dubuque
VOLUME CVII
READING LUKE-ACTS
IN ITS MEDITERRANEAN MILIEU
by
CHARLES H. TALBERT
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2003
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
BS2589.T345 2003
226.4’06--dc21
2002033037
ISSN 0167-9732
ISBN 90 04 12964 2
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Charles H. Talbert
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1 ANF .
2 ANF .
3 ANF .
4 Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (ed. and trans. R. P. Smith;
vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, ).
5 NPNF 1 .
contradict each other, contradict the Hebrew Bible, and add to Christ’s
teaching (..). Using a Latin translation older than the Vulgate, in
book Augustine denied that the Gospels go beyond what Jesus taught;
in book he examined Matthew, comparing it with Mark, Luke, and
John and exhibiting the perfect harmony between them in the narrative
down to the Last Supper; in book he completed the project of book ,
dealing with the narrative from the Supper to its end; in book he
dealt with passages in Mark, Luke, and John that have no parallel
in Matthew. One way Augustine sought to avoid difficulties was by
supposing different instances of the same circumstances or repeated
utterances of the same words. For example, the different versions of
the voice from heaven at Jesus’ baptism mean that both voices were
heard from heaven (..); if Matt :– has two blind men and
Luke :– has only one, it is explained by the fact that Luke is
narrating a miracle wrought on a blind man as Jesus came near Jericho
while Matthew tells of a similar miracle as he was leaving Jericho;
Luke :, although similar to John :–, refers to another, similar
incident. Augustine’s interpretation of Luke, then, had the practical,
churchly aim of displaying the unity and harmony of all Scripture in
order to refute the pagans’ charges.
6 Bedae Venerabilis, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina , (Turnholti: Typogra-
phi Brepols, –); M. L. W. Laistner, ed., Bedae Venerabilis Expositio Actuum Apostolorum et
Retractatio (MAAP ; Cambridge, Mass.: Medieval Academy of America, ); idem,
Venerable Bede: Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (trans. L. T. Martin; Kalamazoo:
Cistercian Publications, ).
more intelligible form. What this meant for exegetical work was that,
after the fifth century, for more than one thousand years the task of
a biblical commentary was that of compiling and ordering extracts
from the exegetical literature of the patristic age. This Bede did. In his
commentary on Luke he initiated a system of marginal source marks
to indicate which passages he borrowed from Ambrose, Augustine,
Jerome, or Gregory the Great, “lest I be accused of stealing from my
elders, and of proposing their views as if they were my own.” The focus
of his exegetical work was eminently practical. In his Historia ecclesiastica
., Bede wrote of himself:
I have spent all my life in this monastery, applying myself entirely to the
study of the Scriptures. … From the time I became a priest until [this]
the fifty ninth year of my life, I have made it my business, for my own
benefit and that of my brothers, to make brief extracts from the works of the
venerable fathers on the holy Scripture, or to add notes of my own to
clarify their sense and interpretation.
7 A. Rabil, Jr., Erasmus and the New Testament (TUMSR ; San Antonio: Trinity
University Press, ); Erika Rummel, Erasmus’ Annotations on the New Testament: From
Philologist to Theologian (Erasmus Studies ; Toronto: Toronto University Press, ).
and criticized their errors. The focus of his interpretation was the moral
meaning of Scripture. Humanists like Erasmus used Luke, as they used
other Scripture, to expose the folly and corruption of the church. Eras-
mus’s favorite subjects were the tragedy of the institutionalization of
religion, the sophistical nature of scholastic theology, and the worldly
aspirations of the clergy. Beyond his specific moral interpretation of
Luke and other NT documents, he gave the Protestant Reformation a
Greek text and a philological method to use in its theological exege-
sis.
If humanists like Erasmus used Scripture to expose the church’s
corruption, Reformers like Calvin employed Scripture as a theologi-
cal weapon. In his Harmonia ex tribus Evangelistis () Calvin reclaimed
an ancient form.8 Maintaining that no one can comment intelligently
or aptly on one of the three synoptic Gospels without comparing it
with the other two, he treated Luke in connection with the other syn-
optic writers, focusing on Reformation theology. For example, when
Luke : says, “They [Zachariah and Elizabeth] were both righteous
before God” (RSV), does it mean that they had no need of Christ?
No! They were not perfect. They needed forgiveness. Their righteous-
ness depended on the free kindness of God whereby God did not lay
their unrighteousness to their charge because of the covenant God had
made with them. On this point Calvin fought against both those who
read justification by faith into the passage and those Roman Catholics
who claimed to be justified by works. In Luke :–, did Mary say,
“Henceforth all generations shall call me blessed” (RSV) because she
sought renown through her own virtue and efforts? No! She was cele-
brating God’s work alone. Calvin held that this shows how completely
Roman Catholics were mistaken in giving her titles like ‘Queen of
Heaven’ and in conferring on her the royalty that belongs to Christ,
saying, “Ask the Father, bid the Son.” The holy Virgin rejects them
all, fixing her glory on the grace of God. “It follows that the praises
of Mary, where the might and sheer glory of God are not entirely set
forth, are perverse and counterfeit.” Although Calvin, like Augustine,
dealt with such difficulties as the different genealogies of Matthew and
Luke, his major concern remained theological; and Luke served as a
tool for his aim of the theological reformation of the church.
Eerdmans, ).
9 John Calvin, A Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles ( vols.; Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, ).
10 Charles H. Talbert, ed., Reimarus: Fragments (Lives of Jesus Series; Philadelphia:
Fortress, ).
11 Adolf von Harnack, Luke the Physician: The Author of the Third Gospel and the Acts
of the Apostles (ed. W.D. Morrison; trans. J. R. Wilkinson; NT Studies ; New York:
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, ); idem, The Sayings of Jesus: The Second Source of St. Matthew and
St. Luke (trans. J. R. Wilkinson; NT Studies ; New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, ).
12 William M. Ramsay, Was Christ Born at Bethlehem? A Study of the Credibility of St.
Luke (London: Hodder and Stoughton, ); idem, The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the
Trustworthiness of the New Testament (London: Hodder and Stoughton, ).
13 B. H. Streeter, The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins, Treating of the Manuscript Tradition,
Oxford University Press, ); idem, The Passion Narrative of St. Luke: A Critical and
Historical Investigation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ).
Luke arose in its final form after A.D. , motivated by the party rela-
tionships of that period. Luke’s universalistic tendency was a Pauline
antithesis to the particularism of the Jewish Christian Matthew; it was
related to an alleged occasion in the historical development of early
Christianity. Thus interpretation of Luke consists of the act of bring-
ing tendency and occasion together. For Baur, such interpretive activity
must be accompanied by indifference to result and freedom from sub-
jectivity, the shining goal toward which every true scholar presses. It
never occurred to the university-based Baur that his Hegelian presup-
positions were a significant component of his own subjectivity.
R. Bultmann’s view of Luke in his Theology of the NT 18 represents
both continuity and discontinuity with the interpretive scheme of Baur.
Like Baur, Bultmann was concerned to set the Third Gospel in its
historical context. The tendency of Luke and its companion volume,
Acts, is to substitute a history of salvation for the primitive Christian
imminent eschatology. The occasion is the delay of the parousia in early
Christianity at the end of the first century. Faced with disappointments
arising from the delay, the Third Evangelist told the story of Jesus as
part of a history of salvation in which the gift of the Holy Spirit replaces
the imminent end. Unlike Baur, Bultmann then engaged in content
criticism: The NT contains two strata, the first embodying the early
eschatological kerygma, the second reflecting an early Catholic fall away
from the truth. Paul and John’s Gospel represent the authentic stratum;
Luke, among others, belongs to the early Catholic distortion of the
original Gospel and as such does not have the same normative quality
for the church that Paul and the Fourth Gospel have. Interpretation for
Bultmann began with discerning Luke’s alleged tendency and setting
it in connection with an alleged occasion; it finished with a critical
appraisal of the value of Luke’s tendency for Christian faith.
H. Conzelmann further developed Bultmann’s view of Luke as an
account of Jesus that eliminates imminent eschatology in response to
the delayed parousia,19 although he refused to relegate Luke to early
Catholicism.20 Conzelmann’s contribution lies in the methodology pro-
18 Rudolf Bultmann, Theologie des Neuen Testaments (Tübingen: Mohr, –); idem,
Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, ); idem, The Theology of St. Luke (New York: Harper &
Brothers, ).
20 Hans Conzelmann, An Outline of the Theology of the New Testament (New York: Harper
Park, Pa.: Pickwick, ); idem, Luc le Theologien: Vingt-Cinq Ans de Recherches (–)
(Neuchatel: Delachaux & Niestle, ).
26 Henry J. Cadbury, The Making of Luke-Acts (New York: Macmillan, ).
Gospel (New York: Crossroad, ); idem, Reading Luke (rewritten ed.; Macon, Ga.:
Smyth & Helwys, ).
31 Norman R. Petersen, Literary Criticism for New Testament Critics (Philadelphia: For-
tress, ).
32 David B. Gowler, Host, Guest, Enemy and Friend: Portraits of the Pharisees in Luke and
) Interpreting Luke in the context of the canon. B. Childs reflects what has
come to be called Canonical Criticism.38 This approach tries to take
account of the fact that as a result of the canonization process a new
and larger context has been effected for originally independent mate-
rial. Luke, for example, cannot be read canonically if it is interpreted in
isolation from the other three Gospels. Read in connection with them,
Luke can neither become part of a complete harmony of the Gospels
(as with Tatian) nor be sifted to discover the real Jesus behind the levels
of accretion (as with the quest of the historical Jesus). The plural form
remains constitutive for the canonical critic, so the Lukan Gospel must
be read as part of the canonical four. A large segment of Childs’s book
ment of Scripture (London: SPCK, ); idem, Luke: A New Paradigm ( vols.; JSNTSup ;
Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, ). See the evaluation of Goulder’s work by
Mark S. Goodacre, Goulder and the Gospels: An Examination of a New Paradigm (JSNTSup
; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, ).
38 Brevard S. Childs, The New Testament as Canon: An Introduction (Philadelphia: For-
tress, ).
39
F. Dreyfus, ‘Exegese en Sorbonne, Exegese en Eglise,’ RevBib (): –.
40
Martin Dibelius, Aufsätze zur Apostelgeschichte (ed. H. Greeven; Göttingen: Vanden-
hoeck & Ruprecht, ).
41 Peter J. Rabinowitz, ‘Truth in Fiction: A Reexamination of Audiences,’ Criti-
cal Inquiry (): –; idem, Before Reading: Narrative Conventions and the Politics of
Interpretation (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, ); idem, ‘Whirl Without End:
Audience Oriented Criticism,’ in Contemporary Literary Theory (ed. G. Douglas Atkins;
Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, ), –.
42 Hans Robert Jauss, ‘Literary History as a Challenge to Literary Theory,’ New
save two, reflect a concern for the authorial audience. They join a con-
cern for a synchronic reading of the final form of the text with a focus
on the milieu within which Luke and Acts were written. Explanation is
in order.
Rabinowitz distinguishes between the ‘actual audience’ (the flesh-
and-blood folks who listen to a text), the ‘authorial audience’
(those for whom the author thought he was writing, who possessed the
background knowledge presumed by the text), the ‘narrative audience’
(those with whom the narrator communicates, who have a particular
understanding of reality that would not be consistent in all ways with
the actual or authorial audience), and the ‘ideal narrative audience’
(who embrace the perspective of the narrator even when neither the
narrative nor authorial audience does).
The ‘authorial audience’ is different from W. Iser’s ‘implied reader’
(an idealized hypothetical reader who must be extracted from the text
itself, which text is viewed as a closed, autonomous object).44 By con-
trast, the ‘authorial audience’ is presupposed by the text. Identifying
it involves a careful analysis of both the text itself and the context in
which the text was produced. The authorial audience equals the con-
textualized implied readers.
Reading in light of the authorial audience builds also on the work of
H. R. Jauss whose Rezeptionsgeschichte attempts to determine the horizon
of expectations (= the set of cultural, ethical, and literary expectations)
that would have been current at the time the work appeared.
To read as authorial audience is to attempt to answer the question:
If the literary work fell into the hands of an audience that closely
matched the author’s target audience in terms of knowledge brought
to the text, how would they have understood the work? This type
of reading involves trying to adopt the perspectives of the authorial
audience so that one may become a member of the author’s original
audience’s conceptual community. To do this, modern readers must
gain an understanding of the values of the authorial audience and
the presuppositions upon which the original text was built. We must
reconstruct the conceptual world that was used in the creation and
In reading this way, one is not claiming that the ancient readers were
consciously aware of these particular texts. Rather these texts help to
establish the most likely conceptual world of the readers, the authorial
audience. This conceptual world is similar to what Wolfgang Iser calls
“the readers’ repertoire,” the broader societal ways of looking at the
world.46
The question of how the authorial audience would have understood
the text is not a novel notion of recent non-biblical literary critics.
Although these critics have developed the theoretical framework for
such a way of reading, the awareness of the correctness of this type of
approach is found in earlier New Testament scholarship. A hermeneu-
tical rule attributed orally by E. Käsemann to W. Bauer runs: “Before
one inquires into an author’s intention, he must first ask how the first
readers are likely to have understood the text.” Quite apart from Jauss,
Iser, and Rabinowitz, this stream from New Testament studies has con-
tinued into the present, as witnessed by the following: “A likely (reason-
able) interpretation by an original audience … is … part of the social or
45 Jauss, .
46 Wolfgang Iser, The Acts of Reading (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,
).
mans :–:,’ SBL Seminar Papers, (SBSLP ; Missoula: Scholars Press, ),
, says: “A likely (reasonable) interpretation by an original audience … is … part of
the social or public meaning of the discourse in its original moment.”
48 Selected examples of scholars who use this method in their work include: Warren
Carter, ‘The Crowds in Matthew’s Gospel,’ CBQ (): –; idem, ‘Recalling
the Lord’s prayer: The Authorial Audience and Matthew’s Prayer as Familiar Litur-
gical experience,’ CBQ (): –; idem, ‘Matthew :– and Matthean Dis-
cipleship: An Audience-Oriented Perspective,’ CBQ (): –; Warren Carter
and John Paul Heil, Matthew’s Parables: Audience-Oriented Perspectives (Monograph Series;
Washington, D.C.: Catholic Biblical Association, ); Stanley D. Harstine, Moses as a
Character in the Fourth Gospel (JSNTSup ; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, ).
49 Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (New Haven: Yale University
SUCCESSION IN LUKE-ACTS
AND IN THE LUKAN MILIEU
The question addressed in this essay is: How would ancient auditors
have heard the sections of Luke-Acts that deal with succession? Pursuit
of an answer to this question requires a focus on two topics: succession
in the Lukan milieu and succession in Luke-Acts. We may take up these
two topics in order.
1 This essay was jointly authored with my graduate student, Perry Stepp, and is
Hom., Ep. Clem. Jac. ; Eusebius, Hist. eccl. ..; ..; ..; ..–
; Ennodius, Vit. Epiph.; Paulinus, Vit. Ambr. , ; Hegesippus, acc.
to Eusebius, Hist. eccl. ..). It was also employed for monastic founders
(e.g., Vit. Pachom.; Serm. vit. Hon.) and for teachers/elders (e.g., Irenaeus,
Haer. ..; ..). The idea of succession was furthermore related to
the notion of the passing on of tradition, whether the apostolic tradition
(Pastoral epistles; Polycarp, Phil :; Clement Alex, Strom. .; Letter of
Peter to James in Pre. Pet. .) or the Gnostic tradition (Hippolytus, Haer.
.; Irenaeus, Haer. , preface; Ep. Ptol. Flor.; Gos. Phil. .–).
(χειροτονÛω)
P.Hercul. (VII.)
P.Hercul. (VIII. )
Josephus, A.J. .. §
Acts :
(ναδεÝκνυµι)
Macc :; :
(ποδεÝκνυµι)
Josephus, A.J. .. §
. To entrust to (παρατÝ©ηµι)
P.Hercul. [V.; VIII.; XI.]
Tim :
(πιστεàω)
Dio Cassius ..
(εγχειρÝζω)
Josephus, A.J. .. §
so
LXX Kgs : [Elijah casts his mantle upon him]
The language used for the one who receives something passed on is
also reasonably stable.
. To receive (διαδÛκοµαι)
Aristotle, Soph. elench. . § b
P.Hercul. [VI.; IV.; XXXV.]
P.Hercul. [XLV.]
Diodorus Siculus ..
Dio Chrysostom ..; ..
Josephus, A.J. . § ; .. § ; .. §
Clem. :
Lucian, Alex.
Appian, Hist. rom. ..
Athenagoras, Leg. . and :
(µοναρχÝα)
Dio Cassius ..
(δυναστεÝα)
Dio Cassius ..
(ναυαρχÝα)
Dio Cassius ..
. The succession (διαδοχÜ)
Aristotle, Soph. elench. .– § b
P.Hercul. [XXXVI.]
Plutarch, Exil.
. The school (scholia)
P.Hercul. [XII.; XX.] Athenaeus
Diogenes Laertius .; .
Iamblichus, Vit. Pythag.
Numenius, Περd τ̋ τν καδηµαϊκν πρe̋ ΠλÀτωνα διαστÀσεω̋ [acc. to
Eusebius, Praep. ev. .]
(diatribe)
P.Hercul. [VI.; VII.; XXXV.]
Plutarch, Vit. X orat. C
Lucian, Alex.
Diogenes Laertius .
Numenius, Περd τ̋ τν καδηµαϊκν πρe̋ ΠλÀτωνα διαστÀσεω̋ [acc. to
Eusebius, Praep. ev. ., ]
Ammonius Saccus [acc. to Porphyry, Isag. .]
. The disciples (µα©ητÜ̋/profecti)
P.Hercul. [X.; IV.; X.; XX.]
P.Hercul. [XII.; XVI.]
Josephus, A.J. .. §
Pomponius Sextus, Ench. [acc. to Justinian, Dig. ..]
. The instruction/true teaching (disciplinam/παρα©Üκη)
Cicero, Nat. d. ..–
Tim :; Tim :
. The ministry (λειτουργÝα)
Clem. :
. The chair (κα©Ûδρα)
The four documents that contain succession information
about philosophers require further explanation
Philodemus’s Σàνταξι̋ τν φιλοσÞφων comes from the first century
B.C. It is extant in fragments from the Herculaneum papyri: (a) on
the Eleatic and Abderite schools (P.Hercul. ); (b) on the Pythagorean
school (P.Hercul. ); (c) on the Epicurean school (P.Hercul. );
(d) on the Socratics (P.Hercul. and ); (e) on the Academics
(P.Hercul. and ); and (f) on the Stoics (P.Hercul. ). Of these
the ones most studied and most accessible are P.Hercul. and .
On P.Hercul. , see Domenico Camparetti, ‘Papro ercolanese ined-
ito’;2 Augusta Traversa, Index Stoicorum Herculanensis;3 and Titiano Do-
randi, Storia dei Filosofi: La Stoa da Zenone a Panezio (P Herc ).4 On
P.Hercul. , see Segofredus Mekler, Academicorum Philosophorum Index
Herculanensis;5 Konrad Gaiser, Philodems Academica: Die Berichte uber Pla-
ton and die Alte Akademie in zwei herkulanensischen Papyri;6 and Tiziano
Dorandi, Storia dei Filosofi: Platone e L’Academia (P Here e ).7
Much of the recent work on the Herculaneum papyri has come as the
result of the founding of the ‘Centro Internazionale per lo Studio dei
Papiri ercolanesi’ in by Marcello Gigante. A survey of the stud-
ies to the early ’s is given by Gigante in his article ‘Les Papyrus
d’Herculanum aujourd’hui.’8
9 Marcello Gigante, Philodemus in Italy: The Books from Herculaneum (trans. Dirk Ob-
Brill, ), , , , , etc.; idem, Storia dei Filosofi: Platone e L’Academia (P Herc
e ) (Naples: Bibliopolis, ), , , –, , etc.
-
13 Jorgen Mejer, Diogenes Laertius and His Hellenistic Background (Wiesbaden: Franz
15 Ibid., .
16 Ibid., .
17 Ingemar During, Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition (Goteborg: Goteborg
19 F. Wehrli, Die Schule des Aristoteles ( vols.; Basel: Schwabe, ), :–, frgs. –
.
20 This answers Loveday Alexander’s question about the alleged missing middle
) Rule. Here one must examine accounts of three successions: that from
Moses to Joshua, that from Saul to David, and that from David to
Solomon.
(a) The succession from Moses to Joshua. There are two separate stories
of the succession from Moses to Joshua in the Bible. The first, LXX
Num :–, says that a leader of the congregation was needed for
the time after Moses. The act of passing the torch was accompanied by
certain symbolic rites: Joshua was set before Eleazar the priest (vv. ,
); Moses laid his hands on him (vv. , ), gave a charge to him
before the congregation (v. ) and the congregation a charge concern-
ing him (v. ), and put his glory upon him (v. ), and appointed him
(συνÛστησεν, v. ). The second, LXX Deut :–; :–, ; :–
, –, –, , involves the passing on of the role of field general or
head of the army (Deut :; :–, ; :, ).22 This succession
21 James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha ( vols.; Garden City, N.Y.:
Doubleday, , ), :: This is a chain of mystical tradition similar to the chains
of tradents of the oral law. Cf. L.I. Levine, ‘R. Abbahu of Caesarea,’ in Christianity
Judaism and Other Greco-Roman Cults, Part Four (ed. J. Neusner; Leiden: Brill, ), –.
22 Norbert Lohfink, ‘The Deuteronomy Picture of the Transfer of Authority from
When Joshua does so, “his mind was afire and his spirit was moved”
(v. ). The people then say to Joshua: “Behold we know today … ‘After
Moses goes to rest, the leadership … will be given over to Joshua.’”
From then on, the people believe and acknowledge him as ruler in
Israel (v. ). The Testament of Moses :– says Moses called to himself
Fortress, ), –, contends that the succession involves two offices: field general
and distributor of the land. Our reading of Deuteronomy indicates that therein the only
succession is that of leader of the army. One must wait until Josh :, to hear about
Joshua’s appointment by God to be the distributor of the land. That, in turn, is not
something passed on from Moses as is the role of field general.
-
Joshua, a man approved by the Lord, “that Joshua might become the
minister (successor) for the people in the tent of testimony and that he
might lead the people into the land promised to their fathers.” Jose-
phus, Antiquitates judaicae .. §, says Moses appointed (κα©Ýστησιν)
Joshua as his successor (διÀδοκον). Joshua had been instructed in all
learning concerning the law and God. Moses had been his instruc-
tor.
(b) The succession from Saul to David. The LXX Kgs – deals
with the passing of kingship from Saul to David (:). In obedience
to Yahweh, Samuel anoints David (:a) and the Spirit of the Lord
comes upon (πÝ) him from that time (:b). (The MT, :, has
Jonathan give David his clothing and weapons. This is not in the LXX
or Josephus.) In :, we hear that the Lord was with David; in
verse that David had success; and in verses , that all Israel
loved David. Josephus, Antiquitates judaicae ..–.. §– tells a
similar story of Samuel’s anointing David as king, of the Divine Power’s
coming upon David so that he began to prophesy, of David’s successes
in battle, and of the women’s celebrations of David’s prowess. Josephus
says that David had God going along with him wherever he went and
so prospered in his undertakings.
(c) The succession from David to Solomon. The LXX Kgs has David
say that Solomon would sit upon his throne “after me” (µετ’ µÛ, v. )
and “in my stead” (ντ’ µο, v. ). The succession is accompanied by
certain symbolic acts: Solomon is set on David’s mule (vv. , ), he is
anointed by Zadok the priest (vv. , ) and Nathan the prophet (v. ),
and the trumpet is blown (vv. , ). The succession is confirmed by
the people’s acclamation: “Let king Solomon live” (v. ). Josephus,
Antiquitates judaicae .. §–, tells essentially the same story about
the passing of the kingship to Solomon: the ride on the mule, the
anointing by Zadok and Nathan, and the people’s acclamation. The
people’s acclamation is expanded in Josephus to include the people’s
celebrating a festival after Solomon was set upon the throne.
23 Judah Goldin, The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan (New Haven: Yale University
be crowned with the fillet of priest and prophet (τe εροφÀντικο και
προφÜτικο στÛµµατι, the priestly and prophetic wreaths). Rutilianus, the
umpire, sent them off unfilleted, keeping the post of prophet for the Mas-
ter after his departure from this life. (LCL)
) Philosophic succession. (a) Philodemus’s Σàνταξισ τν φιλοσÞφων (in
books) is preserved in fragments among the Herculaneum papyri. In
P.Hercul. the Stoic succession is preserved. At a number of points
the list is interrupted by anecdotes about the teachers mentioned.
P.Hercul. and present the succession in the Academy. P.Hercul.
contains sections of the Eleatic and Abderite schools; P.Hercul.
, the Pythagorean; P.Hercul. , the Epicurean; and P.Hercul.
and , the Socratic successions. This institutional manual is
closer to a list with anecdotes than to a story of an actual succes-
sion.
(b) Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum (in books), is heir to a
long tradition of such collections of philosophic successions. At about
half a dozen places, Laertius includes individual Lives that give the life
of a founder followed by a list of his successors: Socrates, Aristippus,
Plato, Zeno, Pythagoras, Epicurus. In some of these six, the list contains
anecdotes about the successors’ words and/or deeds.
(c) Iamblichus, De vita Pythagorica, the first volume of a ten volume
encyclopedia of Pythagorean thought, is a combination of a Life of
Pythagoras and a collection of Pythagorean traditions that define the
way of life of this philosophical school. In chapter the Pythagorean
succession is given. Pythagoras’s acknowledged successor was Aristaeus.
He carried on the school. Then when he grew old, he relinquished the
school to Pythagoras’s son, Mnesarchus. He was followed by Bulagoras,
etc. There then follows a list of other famous Pythagoreans. This again
is more a list than a story of succession.
(d) Aulus Gellius, Noctes atticae ., provides a full description of a
philosophic succession. When Aristotle was old and near his death, his
disciples asked him to choose a “successor to his position and office”
(loci sui et magristerii successorem). He agreed. The two best men in his
school were Theophrastus of Lesbos and Eudemus of Rhodes. A little
later, he asked his disciples to bring him a foreign wine, either from
Rhodes or Lesbos. He would use the one he liked better. They did
so. Aristotle tasted the Rhodian and said: “This is truly a sound and
pleasant wine.” Then he tasted the Lesbian. He said: “Both are very
good indeed, but the Lesbian is the sweeter.” When he said this, no one
doubted that he had by those words chosen his successor (successorem
-
The early Christian sources that deal with succession will also be divid-
ed according to what is being transferred.
) The episcopacy. (a) First Clement speaks of a succession that runs from
God to Christ to the apostles to their appointees as bishops and dea-
cons. The key sentence is in verse : “they appointed (κα©ιστÀνων) their
first converts, testing them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons of
the future believers.” In :, the apostles who knew there would be
strife for the title of bishop, “appointed (κατÛστησαν) those who have
been already mentioned, and afterwards added the codicil that if they
should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed (διαδÛξονται) to
their ministry (λειτουργÝαν).”
(b) The Pseudo-Clementine Homiliae is a narrative about Clement’s
boyhood and association with Peter. It is introduced by a succession
narrative in the form of the Epistle of Clement to James. When Peter
was about to die, he told the church: “I lay hands upon this Clement
as your bishop; and to him I entrust my chair of discourse. … I
communicate to him the power and the binding and loosing” (). Peter
25 Theodor Mommsen, Paul Kruger, Alan Watson, The Digest of Justinian (Philadel-
phia: University of Pennsylvania Press, ), :–. This volume gives the Latin text
on the left and an English translation on the right.
then reminds Clement in the presence of all about the things belonging
to the administration (). “Having thus spoken, he laid his hands upon
me in the presence of all, and compelled me to sit in his chair” ().26
The Pseudo-Clementine Recognitiones, in the preface, refers to the letter
from Clement to James which informs him of the death of Peter and
that Peter had left Clement his (Peter’s) successor in his chair and
teaching.
(c) Paulinus’s Vita Ambrosii says that Simplicianus is Ambrose’s succes-
sor (). In chapter we hear how this occurred. The deacons, Cas-
tus, Polemius, Venerius, and Felix, when Ambrose was near death, were
talking about who should be ordained bishop after Ambrose’s death.
Ambrose heard, and when they spoke the name of Simplicianus, he
exclaimed three times: “Old but good.” So when Ambrose died, none
other succeeded him in the episcopacy except him whom the bishop
had designated.27
(d) Ennodius’s Vita Epiphanii tells that Bishop Crispinus knew he was
about to die. He then commends his young cleric, Epiphanius. Then
the people agree on Epiphanius as the bishop’s successor and lead him
away to be consecrated.
) Rule in a monastic order. (a) Vita Pachomii 28 tells about the life of this
founder of cenobitic monasticism and includes toward the end accounts
of the appointment of his successors: Petronius (), Orsisius (διÀδοχον,
), and Theodore (διÀδοχον, ).
(b) St. Hilary’s Sermo de vita Honorati was given on the anniversary of
the death of Honoratus, the founder of a monastery on the Island of
Lerinson in the early fifth century. The encomium not only celebrates
the life of Honoratus but also tells how Hilary was elected as Honora-
tus’s successor.
26 ANF :–.
27 The Fathers of the Church. Vol : Early Christian Biographies (ed. Roy J. Deferrari; New
York: Fathers of the Church, Inc., ). This volume contains translations of Ennodius,
Hilary, and Paulinus.
28 Apostolos A. Athanasskis, The Life of Pachomius (Atlanta: Scholars Press, ).
-
has been entrusted with the tradition (παρα©Üκη, :) by Paul (:). He
is exhorted to guard what has been entrusted to him (:). He is also to
entrust this tradition that he heard from Paul to faithful men who will
be able to teach others also (:). Here there is a line that runs from
God to Paul to Timothy to the faithful men who will be teachers also.
The succession is first of all a succession of tradition.
(b) Clement of Alexandria, Stromata ., refers probably to Pantaenus,
master of the catechetical school in Alexandria and Clement’s teacher,
as “the true Sicilian bee, gathering the spoil of the flowers of the
prophetic and apostolic meadow, engendered in the souls of his hearers
a deathless element of knowledge.” He preserved “the tradition of the
blessed doctrine derived directly from the holy apostles, Peter, James,
John, and Paul, the sons receiving it from the father … came by God’s
will to us also to deposit those ancestral and apostolic seeds.29
Here again in the Christian stories of succession the same three
components are found: () naming what is being passed on (either the
role of bishop or ruler of a monastery); () giving the symbolic acts
that accompany the transfer (e.g., laying on of hands, commendation by
authority, transfer of possessions); and () confirming that the succession
has been completed (usually recognition by the community involved;
sometimes repetition of key actions like teaching, binding and loosing).
Since these same three components are found in all the stories of
succession, whether they be Jewish, Greco-Roman, or Christian, it
seems reasonable to conclude that there was a conventional form of
a succession story in Mediterranean antiquity.
29 ANF :.
) The use of the concept of succession is found, at least, from the –th
centuries B.C. to the –th centuries A.D. During that time span, the
language and form of succession thinking is remarkably consistent.
first and then comes matter about his successor(s). This form may shape
the entire document or it may merely shape the part of the document
in which it is located.
Literary Theory (ed. G.D. Atkins and L. Morrow; Amherst: University of Massachusetts
Press, ), –; ‘Truth in Fiction: A Reexamination of Audiences,’ Critical Inquiry
(): –.
You are those who have continued with me in my trials. And I bequeath
(διατÝ©εµαι) to you, since/just as my Father has bequeathed (διÛ©ετο) a
reign (βασιλεÝαν) to me, that you should eat and drink at my table in
my reign (βασιλεÝαν) and sit upon thrones judging (κρÝνοντε̋) the twelve
tribes of Israel.
31 Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke X–XXIV (Garden City: Doubleday,
), –.
32 John Nolland, Luke :–: (Dallas: Word, ), –.
33 Jacob Jervell, Luke and the People of God (Minneapolis: Augsburg, ), –.
34 Luke T. Johnson, The Gospel of Luke (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, ),
–.
-
for Paul’s entire ministry in Acts (:–; :–; :–; :; :;
:; :). Jerusalem’s control of missions in Acts is closely tied to
the fact that, for Luke, Jerusalem is the place where the twelve apostles
reside (:; :; :–; :, ; :). The twelve apostles function as
appointed people of honor who make key decisions within the early
church under the reign of Christ.
If one assumes this reading of Luke :–, then on the basis of
God’s bequeathing a reign to Jesus, Jesus subsequently bequeaths to his
apostles a position of honor and authority within his reign and under
his authority. In this sense, a transfer of authority is involved. The first
component of a story about a succession is present. What about the
second?
(B) Are there any symbolic acts that accompany the transfer? Yes.
Jesus’ words of promise in Luke :– are analogous to the speech
Tiberius used to convey the reign to Caligula (so Josephus, A.J. ..–
§–). Furthermore, the Spirit comes upon (φ’ Acts :; πÝ, :)
the apostles, just as it did in the case of David (LXX Kgs :) and
Elisha (LXX Kgs :, ). They are clothed (νδàσησ©ε, Luke :)
with the Spirit (cf. L.A.B. :–; LXX Num :–). This happens
in connection with Jesus’ being taken up (ναλ絩εÝ̋, Acts :) into
heaven, just as in the case of Elijah and Elisha. The echoes of the
Elijah-Elisha transfer are unmistakable. Why would such echoes be
present? Luke’s succession from Jesus to the apostles, like that from
Elijah to Elisha, involves a foundation figure who, though absent from
the earth, is still alive in heaven. The second component is present.
What about the third?
(C) Is there any confirmation that the transfer has taken place? In
some of the LXX stories of a succession the transfer is confirmed
by the successor’s replication of the type of actions performed by his
predecessor (e.g., Joshua and Elisha). The Lukan narrative uses this
technique. Just as the Lukan Jesus made a lame man walk (Luke :–
), so the apostles (Acts :–; :–); just as Jesus had power come
forth from himself so that people were healed (Luke :), so does Peter
(Acts :); just as Jesus resuscitated the dead (Luke :–; :–,
–), so does Peter (Acts :–); just as Jesus cast out demons
(Luke :–), so do the apostles (Acts :). The third component is
indeed present in the Lukan narrative.
Given the presence of the three requisite components and the pres-
ence of a number of linguistic signs of the semantic field related to suc-
cession, one must conclude that whatever distinctive nuances the Lukan
-
succession from Jesus to the apostles might have, the authorial audience
would have almost certainly regarded this as a conventional story of a
succession.
The second text in Luke-Acts with a semantic marker denoting suc-
cession, Acts :, now needs attention. Are the three requisite compo-
nents of a story of succession present in Acts :–?
(a) What is being transferred? It is the function of διακονÝα (vv. ,
), here, meaning serving tables. The transfer is described with a fre-
quently used term of succession: appoint (καταστÜσοµεν). The first com-
ponent is present.
(b) Are there symbolic signs accompanying the transfer? “They
prayed and laid their hands on them” (v. , RSV), just as Moses did
on Joshua (LXX Num :, ; Deut :). The second component is
here.
(c) Are there any confirming acts to indicate a transfer has taken
place? One of the strangest aspects of the plot of Acts is that, after
the Seven have been appointed to the role of διακονÝα, the subsequent
stories about Stephen (:–:) and Philip (:–) show them active
not in διακονÝα but in powerful preaching! This apparent awkwardness
can be understood if one remembers that in the LXX a major sign
that the succession has taken place was the replication in the life of the
successor of acts characteristic of the predecessor. Since the apostles
were mighty preachers, a replication of their actions would require
members of the Seven to so act as well (even if they were appointed
for διακονÝα). If this reading be accepted, then the third component is
present as well.
Given the presence of the requisite three components of a story of a
succession and the use of a key term from the semantic field related to
succession in antiquity, the authorial audience would most likely have
regarded this as a second story of a succession in Luke-Acts. What
about the third possibility?
The third possibility, signaled by Acts :, may also be part of
an ancient story of a succession involving the Pauline appointment of
elders in his churches.
(a) What is being transferred? The context is Paul’s concern for the
care and nurture of his churches (:b-). When Paul and Barnabas
appoint (χειροτονÜσαντε̋) elders for them in every church, it is the
function of nurturing and caring for believers that is primary. It is this
function that is being transferred to others, the elders. In the other text
in Acts that deals with elders in the Pauline churches, the function is
cession in Paul’s relation to the Twelve. (c) Acts :– does portray Paul
as an apostle (:, ) of the church in Antioch of Syria, a Jerusalem
approved congregation. This status is limited only to Acts –. In
Acts :ff. the focus is back on Paul’s direct commission by the heav-
enly world (cf. :–).35
At no point in the narrative of Acts is there a story of Paul’s succes-
sion from the Twelve. At the same time, however, Paul’s career repli-
cates that of the Lukan Jesus, just as did the careers of Peter and others
of the Twelve. For example, as Jesus (Luke :–) and Peter (Acts :–
) heal a lame man, so does Paul (Acts :–); as Jesus (Luke :)
and Peter (Acts :) have power come forth from their persons to heal
people, so does Paul (Acts :–); as Jesus (Luke :–) and Peter
(Acts :–) resuscitate the dead, so does Paul (Acts :–); as Jesus
(Luke :–) and Peter (Acts :) perform exorcisms, so does Paul
(Acts :–). Indeed, the replication of the pattern of Jesus’ life in
that of the Paul of Acts goes even further. In the narrative at the end
of Acts, there are also correspondences between the life of Jesus and
that of Paul: e.g., () both Jesus (:–) and Paul (Acts :) enter
the temple upon their entry into Jerusalem; both Jesus (Luke :)
and Paul (Acts :) are seized by a mob; both Jesus (Luke :–)
and Paul (Acts :) are slapped by the priest’s assistants; both Jesus
(:; :; :; :) and Paul (Acts ; ; ; ) are involved
in four trials; both Jesus (Luke :–) and Paul (Acts :–:)
have a Herod involved in their trials; both Jesus (Luke :) and Paul
(Acts :, ) have a centurion act positively towards them; both Jesus
(Luke ) and Paul (Acts ) have their ministries end on the positive
note of the fulfillment of scripture. If such replication of a predecessor’s
life confirms that a succession has taken place, then Luke believes that
Jesus’ emissaries are both those who came to their position by means
of a horizontal, historical process of succession (the Twelve) and those
whose appointment was a vertical, experiential event (so Paul). The
validation of both is the replication of the life of the founder in their
own.
Would Luke’s authorial audience have considered any of the trans-
fers to involve multiple generations? (a) First Clement : speaks of the
apostles’ appointing (κατÛστησαν) bishops and deacons and then after-
wards adding a codicil “that if they [the first appointees] should fall
Any discussion of genre must begin with the reminder that genres
are not prescriptive. “Genres do not resemble some kind of eternally
immutable Platonic Ideal Forms. …”38 If one, therefore, asks to what
genre Luke-Acts belongs, what is meant is: with what group of writings
in its cultural setting does Luke-Acts have the greatest affinity? To say
that Luke-Acts belongs to this or that genre does not mean that its
author imitated this or that other document. It means rather that the
author of Luke-Acts reflects affinities with a stream of literature that in
turn possesses affinities among its participants. Such affinities would be
picked up by the authorial audience and would condition the way the
document was heard and understood.
If one asks where one would look for possible genre analogies to
Luke-Acts, it seems to us that one would need to search for literature
possessing () similarities of contents, in the sense that an analogous
writing would contain more than one type of succession story; ()
formal similarities, in the sense that an analogous writing would be
a prose narrative whose duality of form is derived from a controlling
story of a succession from a foundation figure to his successor(s), ()
similarities of details like terminology, ritual acts accompanying the
succession, and evidences of the transfer, and () similarity of function,
in the sense of what roles the stories of succession play in the plot.
) The LXX offers the closest analogy of contents, in the sense that
it includes several different types of succession in one narrative. There
are stories of successions from Aaron to Eleazar (priestly), from Moses
to Joshua (leader of the army, etc), from Saul to David and from David
to Solomon (kingly), and from Elijah to Elisha (prophetic).
(b) Ritual acts. In the first place, Luke-Acts’ use of a speech by the
foundation figure to his successors as a defining ritual act of transfer
finds analogies in Josephus’s account of the succession from Tiberius
to Gaius in Antiquitates judaicae ..– §–, and in the Pseudo-
Clementine Homiliae story of Peter’s address to Clement as part of
the succession. In the second place, Luke-Acts’ employment of lan-
guage about the Spirit’s coming upon (πÝ) the apostles echoes that of
the LXX’s use of such language for the Spirit’s coming upon Elisha.
That this occurs in the context of the foundation figure’s ascent into
heaven in both documents is significant. Only in the case of the suc-
cession from Jesus to the apostles and from Elijah to Elisha does the
succession involve the predecessor’s being in heaven after having left
this earth. In the third place, Luke-Acts’ use of the language of ‘be-
ing clothed’ (here, with the Spirit) is similar to that used in the story
of Joshua’s succession from Moses in Liber antiquitatum biblicarum :–
(Take Moses’ garments and clothe yourself) and the LXX’s narrative
about the succession from Aaron to Eleazar in Num :– (Moses
takes Aaron’s apparel off him and clothes his son, Eleazar). In this
category, Luke-Acts’ links are with both LXX and non-LXX sources,
although the former predominate.
(c) Signs of confirmation that the transfer has been made. The remarkable
correspondences between Jesus’ career in Luke and that of the apostles
in Acts is analogous to the LXX’s practice of having the successor
replicate in his career deeds associated with his predecessor (e.g., Joshua
replicates a number of items from Moses’ career, Elisha replicates
several items from Elijah’s life). To our knowledge, nowhere outside of
the Deuteronomic history’s section of the LXX is this technique found
in so explicit a fashion in the period before or after Luke-Acts.
in the restored Israel. Again, this is analogous not only to the LXX
but also to the philosophical schools and the rabbinic tradition of
authenticated teachers.
The impression created by this search for analogies in the areas of
contents, form, details, and function is that Luke-Acts is in contents
(i.e., use of multiple types of succession stories) most like the LXX; it is
formally (i.e., duality of structure) most like the ancient Mediterranean
writings whose surface structure is controlled by a succession principle
(founder-successor[s]); in the category of details (i.e., linguistic mark-
ers, symbolic rites, confirming signs) is most like the LXX and certain
other Jewish narratives that retell the biblical stories, and in function
finds its analogies across a wide spectrum of Jewish and Greco-Roman
sources. It is as though the author of Luke-Acts stands with one foot in
the Greco-Roman culture of succession with its biographies of founders
and their successors and the other foot in the biblical world of Ancient
Judaism with its stories of successions, and from that dual stance creates
a distinctive synthesis of the two that would nevertheless be recogniz-
able to pagan, Jew, and early Christian alike as a succession narrative.
In so doing, the author of Luke-Acts acts as modern genre critics sup-
pose an author would do.
In fact, the creation of a new type arises from old types. … The new
depends on a ‘leap of the imagination’ from the known to the unknown,
to assimilate it and make it known, either through an amalgamation of
two old types, or an extension of an existing type.39
Whatever name one gives to the genre of Luke-Acts, after this survey its
affinities with a clearly defined body of analogous ancient writings are
obvious.40
Given the formal similarities between Luke-Acts and analogous
Greco-Roman writings,41 the issue that remains unsettled for the two
flexible genres is “changes of scale.” Another is “inclusion of one genre within another”
().
40 William G. Doty, ‘The Concept of Genre in Literary Analysis,’ SBL Seminar Papers,
( vols.; SBLSP ; Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, ), :, says: “generic def-
initions are best understood as relational terms—they demonstrate how some literary
works are similar.” Burridge, , says: “If genre involves ‘family resemblances,’ then the
key to correct generic understanding will be to relate literary works to other works to
ascertain points of contact and divergence.”
41 Varro’s Antiquitates Rerum Divinarum does not belong to the group of writings with
which Luke-Acts has affinities (contra H. Cancik, JBL []: –). Varro wrote
forty-one books under the title Antiquitates. He divided his matter into two categories:
-
human and divine. He devoted twenty-five books to the former and sixteen to the lat-
ter. Under human things he dealt with persons, places, times, and actions. In general
he followed a similar plan for divine things: i.e., sacred actions are performed by per-
sons in certain places at definite times. Book One of Rerum Divinarum is an introduction.
Books two through four deal with the persons who perform the rites (Bk. = pontiffs;
Bk. = augurs; Bk. = sacred college of the Fifteen). Books five through seven deal with
places (Bk. = shrines; Bk. = temples; Bk. = sacred places). Books eight through ten
deal with the times (Bk. = festivals; Bk. = circus games; Bk. = theatrical perfor-
mances). Books eleven through thirteen deal with the rites (Bk. = consecrations; Bk.
= private worship; Bk. = public rites). Books fourteen through sixteen deal with the
gods to whom the religious persons, places, times, and rites are directed (Bk. = the
known gods; Bk. = unknown gods; Bk. = select major divinities). In fragment ,
Varro says the object of his research and writing is that people might reverence rather
than despise these things. He works in the period of the Republic as it came to its end
when Roman religion was more and more in decline. Varro’s work on divine things
is more like an encyclopedia than a history. Burkhart Cardauns, ed., M. Terentius Varro
Antiquitates Rerum Divinarum ( vols; Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, ), gives a col-
lection of the fragments (vol. ) and a German translation and commentary (vol. ).
Augustine in De civitate Dei, Books –, gives a summary of much of Varro’s work. The
Index of terms in volume of Cardauns’ work includes none belonging to the semantic
field of succession.
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David Aune has on two occasions made what others have called “telling
criticisms”1 of Talbert’s arguments regarding gospel genre in general
and the genre of Luke-Acts in particular.2 Because of work on other
projects, Talbert has thus far failed to make a sustained response to
Aune, leading some to think that he has accepted Aune’s critique as
valid. This seems an appropriate place to indicate otherwise.
Gospel Perspectives II
Aune’s critique in the article of was directed against Talbert’s What
Is a Gospel?, a volume usually credited with “the paradigm shift away
from form-critical notions of the gospels’ uniqueness.”3 In it there are
seven criticisms to which we may direct attention.
The first consists of two parts. Argument a runs: “while Talbert has
chosen to refute the critical consensus of NT scholarship as represented
by Bultmann, the real Goliath is K. L. Schmidt.”4 “It is Schmidt, not
Bultmann, who requires refutation.”5
Argument b runs: Talbert assumes Bultmann’s views retain validity
after fifty years.6
Translation: a—Talbert did not do what I would have done. b—
If I do not regard Bultmann’s views as still valid, no one else does.
1 Mikeal Parsons, ‘Reading Talbert: New Perspectives on Luke and Acts,’ in Cad-
bury, Know, and Talbert (ed. M. C. Parsons and J. B. Tyson; SBLBSNA; Atlanta: Scholars
Press, ), .
2 D. E. Aune, ‘The Problem of the Genre of the Gospels: A Critique of C. H. Tal-
bert’s What Is a Gospel?,’ in Gospel Perspectives (ed. R. T. France and David Wenham;
vols.; Sheffield: JSOT Press, ), .–; idem, The New Testament in Its Literary Environ-
ment (Library of Early Christianity; Philadelphia: Westminster, ), .
3 Richard A. Burridge, What Are the Gospels? A Comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography
(SNTSMS ; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ), ; cf. Parsons, ‘Reading
Talbert,’ .
4 Aune, ‘The Problem of the Genre of the Gospels,’ .
5 Ibid., .
6 Ibid.
same complaint: Talbert does not do what I would have done. The
arguments seem to get weaker as we go along through the article.
Argument five, regarding Talbert’s classification of didactic biogra-
phies in terms of five types, again has two parts. Argument a—“While
Types D and E are dubious distinctions, it cannot be doubted that
many ancient biographies functioned in the ways categorized in the
first three types.”15 Argument b—“It is bold for Talbert to strike off
on his own in proposing a new typology.”16 Do not change Leo’s clas-
sification. Translation: a—Although I offer absolutely no evidence for
a rejection of types D and E, I reject them because if I accept them I
must accept also the cultic location of some biographies (which I have
just rejected). b—I like Leo. I regard Leo’s classifications as prescrip-
tive. Why change? Response: Classifications of biographies, like gen-
res of literature, are not prescriptive but descriptive. They shift as new
questions are asked of the data. So a shift from a formalistic classifica-
tion (Leo) to a classification in terms of functions (Talbert) results not
from an overly bold act but from the natural tendency to ask new ques-
tions of the evidence as new circumstances arise. Judging from Classi-
cists’ responses to me over the years, the functional classification is often
helpful. The evidence for types D and E is as abundant as for types A,
B, and C. Conclusion: The critique is untenable, based on judgments
pronounced with no evidence offered and on fallacious assumptions
about the nature of classifications.
The sixth argument runs: In rejecting Bultmann’s third pillar, Tal-
bert is right but he fails to call attention to another strong argument.17
Translation: Talbert is right but does not argue as I would have. Re-
sponse: Thanks for the help. Conclusion: The argument is supportive
in terms of its evidence and meaningless in terms of a critique.
The seventh argument comes after pages – sketch Aune’s ques-
tions and proposals about gospel genre. At the end of his “constructive”
work, he concludes: Talbert could have avoided his difficulties if he had
“approached the ancient literature … with a different and more appro-
priate set of questions.”18 Translation: Here it is again. Talbert did not
do it my way so it cannot be right. Response: I am growing weary of
this broken record. Has Aune ever read Mortimer J. Adler and Charles
15 Ibid., .
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid., .
18 Ibid., .
’
van Doren, How To Read A Book (rev. ed.; New York: Simon & Schus-
ter, )? Conclusion: There is more heat than light in this review.
Rhetoric, however, is no substitute for substance.
example of the a+b genre was Laertius or imply its only examples were
late. The previous essay on ‘Succession in Mediterranean Antiquity,’
moreover, should put the lie as well to this part of Aune’s argument.
The second part of Aune’s first argument is his assertion that I
claim Laertius’ biographies “usually” exhibit an a+b pattern, whereas
in fact only six lives out of eighty-two do so. In Literary Patterns I
noted that the a+b pattern is characteristic of five lives of founders
of philosophical schools in Laertius and listed them as Aristippus, Plato,
Zeno, Pythagoras, and Epicurus.24 My comment was: “The similarities
between the lives of founders of philosophical schools presented by
Laertius and Luke-Acts are remarkable.”25 In ‘Discipleship in Luke-
Acts,’ it was specified that only certain lives in Laertius reflect the
a+b pattern and six were specified: Socrates, Aristippus, Plato, Zeno,
Pythagoras, and Epicurus.26 From first to last I have contended that
only five or six founders of philosophical schools mentioned by Laertius
reflect the pattern, not Laertius as a whole.
Aune’s second argument is that Diogenes is concerned only with
who succeeded whom, not with the legitimacy of their views. If one
grants that such a+b biographies are a phenomenon wider than Laer-
tius, then other evidence can clarify the dispute. Vita Pachomii says
that Pachomius’ successor Orsisius zealously emulated the life of the
founder. Hilary of Arles’ Sermo de vita Honorati says Honoratus’ succes-
sor’s task was to do what the founder had done. These two Christian
appropriations of the a+b biographical form used for founders explic-
itly say that the succession narrative was to demonstrate continuity
between founder and successor. The succession list found in m. Avot cer-
tainly has as its aim to assert continuity between the rabbis of the time
of writing and the oral law of Moses. The succession narrative of Laer-
tius’ Vita Epicuri shows continuity, not identity, between founder and
successors. From the previous essay on ‘Succession in Mediterranean
Antiquity,’ it has become clear that continuity between predecessor and
successor in LXX stories is a guarantee that succession has taken place.
The a+b form, then, is concerned to demonstrate continuity between
founder and true successors and discontinuity between the founder and
false followers.
Aune’s third argument is that the a+b pattern of biography has only
lists of a founder’s successors, not a narrative as Luke-Acts does. In Lit-
erary Patterns I specified that the biographies of Zeno and Epicurus in
Laertius have brief narratives of successors and that the pre-Christian
biography of Aristotle ended with an anecdote about his choice of
a successor.27 In ‘Discipleship in Luke-Acts,’ I pointed out that Vita
Pachomii had a long succession narrative. The previous essay on ‘Succes-
sion in Mediterranean Antiquity’ has, moreover, shown that the LXX
employed detailed succession narratives in which the successor acted in
various ways like his predecessor. Once it is recognized that the a+b
pattern is wider than Laertius’ five or six examples, succession lists are
seen alongside succession narratives as part of the total scene.
Having looked at Aune’s ‘three telling criticisms’ and more, what are
we to conclude? Aune has not read carefully or reported accurately but
opposes a straw man of his construction. His negative assertions do not
apply to my thesis and, therefore, constitute no refutation of my thesis
about the genre of Luke-Acts. Indeed, the more comprehensive data
base on succession in antiquity presented in the previous essay should
make my initial argument even more persuasive to any fair-minded
reader.
At the end of this process one cannot help but wonder: why has
Aune so repeatedly misread and so inaccurately reported the work he
is allegedly evaluating? In this case he seems like a blind man in a
dark room at midnight trying to make sense of a printed text. Having
followed his literary career over the years, I must regrettably say that
this is not the only occasion where this has occurred.
What handle can the interpreter grasp to bring Luke :–: within
the sphere of our understanding? Since the question of the sources of
Luke – is well nigh impossible to answer1 and that of Luke :–:
has become increasingly difficult,2 no argument can be framed with
confidence on the basis of a comparison of the final form of the Gospel
with its sources. An alternate route, the one chosen in this paper, is to
attempt to indicate how a Greco-Roman reader/hearer of Luke-Acts
would have understood Luke :–:.3
Before taking this route, however, it is necessary to justify the focus
on :–: as a coherent unit within the Third Gospel. A survey
of the contents of the early chapters of Luke seems to support the
focus. Before :–: we find the prologue (:–); after it there is the
frontispiece of the public ministry (:–). Within :–: is a unit
dealing with John the Baptist and Jesus in three episodes:4 () :–, the
annunciations of the births of John and Jesus; () :–:, the births
and early lives of the Baptist and Mary’s son; and () :–:, the adult
ministry of John and the prelude to Jesus’ public career. Each of these
three episodes is built around a series of correspondences between the
1 For a concise survey of the discussion, see Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of
the Messiah (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, ), –; Charles H. Talbert, Literary
Patterns, Theological Themes and the Genre of Luke-Acts (SBLMS ; Missoula: Scholars Press,
), , .
2 Cf. Joseph B. Tyson, ‘Source Criticism of the Gospel of Luke,’ in Perspectives on
Acts: e.g., G. B. Miles and G. Trompf, ‘Luke and Antiphon: The Theology of Acts –
in the Light of Pagan Beliefs about Divine Retribution, Pollution, and Shipwreck,’
HTR (): –; Fred Veltman, ‘The Defense Speeches of Paul in Acts,’ in
Perspectives on Luke-Acts, –; Vernon K. Robbins, ‘By Land and By Sea: The We-
Passages and Ancient Sea Voyages,’ in Perspectives on Luke-Acts, –.
4 Talbert, Literary Patterns, –.
material about John and that dealing with Jesus that reflects the Lukan
artistry; each is concerned to portray Jesus’ superiority over John the
Baptist. In all three episodes John is depicted as a prophet (:–;
:; :–), not the Messiah (:ff.), whereas Jesus is pictured in all
three as the Davidic Messiah (:–; :; :, ; :–) and Son
of God (:; :; :). This internal coherence argues for :–:’s
being a single thought unit in the Lukan narrative.
The major objection to such a claim is the possibility that the Third
Gospel once began with :ff.5 Three reasons have recently been ad-
vanced to support this contention. First, there are alleged historio-
graphical parallels to :ff. in other Greek writings which argue for
this passage’s having been the original opening of the Lukan Gospel.
Second, Acts :, may be interpreted to mean that the Gospel once
began with the baptism of Jesus. Third, the placing of the genealogy
in the third chapter of Luke makes more sense if that had been done
before an infancy narrative had been prefixed. This problem, I think,
is more apparent than real. On the one hand, the reasons for think-
ing that the Third Gospel originally began with :ff. are not com-
pelling.6 () The evidence of the first argument cuts both ways. Of the
two examples cited by Raymond Brown, the first (Josephus, B.J., ..
§) comes in the middle of Josephus’ narrative, not at the start of any
main section. The second parallel (Thucydides, Hist. ..) may be the
beginning of a section but is certainly not the start of the document
as a whole. Given these facts, we may acknowledge that :ff. is the
beginning of the third episode of the unit :–:. One should note,
however, that : gives a similar, if not as elaborate, beginning for the
first episode; and :– and :ff. give analogous beginnings in the
first and second episodes for the material that relates to Jesus. The first
argument is not persuasive. () The second argument depends on a
given interpretation of Acts :, . It seems just as plausible, however,
to take Acts’ reference to the baptism of John as a marker for the begin-
ning of the adult career of Jesus as for the start of the Gospel. () Finally,
the position of the genealogy is due to theological considerations. It is
integral to the unit which begins with the baptism and ends with the
tive of Chapter One,’ in No Famine in the Land (ed. J. W. Flanagan and A. W. Robinson;
Missoula: Scholars Press, ), ; idem, The Birth of the Messiah, .
6 Cf. Paul S. Minear, ‘Luke’s Use of the Birth Stories,’ in Studies in Luke-Acts, ed.
) There are two angelophanies.8 (a) In the first, Luke :–, the
angel Gabriel comes to Mary not only to announce the miraculous
conception (:a) but also to tell of the child’s destiny.
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the
Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will
reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be
no end. (:–, RSV) … and the child to be born will be called holy,
the Son of God. (:b)
(b) In the second, Luke :–, an angel of the Lord appears to the
shepherds in the field announcing the birth of one who would be a
Savior, Christ the Lord (:).
) There are four prophecies. (a) Luke :–, the first, is a prophecy
of Zechariah when he was filled with the Holy Spirit (v. ). In the
context of his predictions about John (vv. –), there is praise to God
for raising up a “horn of salvation” in the “house of his servant David”
(v. , RSV). This, of course, refers in its Lukan context to Jesus. (b)
Luke :–, the second, gives us the prophecy of Simeon, to whom
it had been revealed that he should not taste death before he had seen
the Lord’s Christ (v. ). In the Spirit, on seeing Jesus he blesses God.
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy
word;
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation
which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to thy people Israel. (:–, RSV)
(c) In the third, Luke :–, we hear of the prophetess Anna who
spoke of Jesus “to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusa-
lem” (v. , RSV). (d) Finally, Luke :– gives John the Baptist’s
messianic preaching. He speaks of the mightier one who is coming who
will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, a prophecy the author of
Luke-Acts apparently believed was fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts :–, ).
9 Cf. Gen :–. John Drury, Tradition and Design in Luke (Atlanta: John Knox,
.
11 Cf. Esd :ff.; Bar :lff. for Jewish parallels.
have visions; both receive auditions which interpret what is seen. The
same tendency may be found elsewhere in Acts :ff.; : plus :ff.;
Luke :–; :ff. In Luke :– while Jesus is praying there is a
heavenly apparition. The Holy Spirit descends in bodily form as a dove
upon him.12 The symbolism of the dove in Mediterranean antiquity
(i.e., the beneficence of the deity in love)13 is then interpreted by a
bath qol: “You are my Son, my beloved, in you I am well pleased.”14
Here is another anticipation of Jesus’ destiny, one that will become
more striking when viewed in the context of the pagan practice of
divination by means of the flight of birds. In Luke :–:, therefore,
angelophanies, prophecies in the Jewish sense of the word, a portent
followed by an interpretation, and a vision plus an audition combine to
give numerous verbal anticipations of Jesus’ destiny.
Three other pericopes also deserve attention. There are two stories
about the youth in which Jesus displays his wisdom and prowess (:–
; :–). In the episode of the twelve year old Jesus in the temple,
the wisdom of the lad predominates.15 In the test in the wilderness, the
young Son of God demonstrates his spiritual power by means of his
wise use of scripture and thereby defeats his adversary. Finally, there is
the genealogy (:–) which traces Jesus’ lineage back through David
to the father of the human race, Adam, and through him to God.16
The impact of this material will be felt fully only after our foray into
the Greco-Roman milieu of Luke-Acts.
How would such material—verbal anticipations of Jesus’ destiny,
stories of a young prodigy, and a genealogy—have been understood by
12 Leander E. Keck, ‘The Spirit and the Dove,’ NTS (–): –, argues
that ̋ περιστερÀν originally was adverbial, specifying the action of the Spirit. On
Hellenistic soil there was a shift from adverbial to adjectival meaning, clearly evident in
Luke. In the Third Gospel it is the dove-like form that is meant.
13 E.R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period ( vols.; New York:
Pantheon Books, –) :–, after a survey of the uses of the dove in pagan, Jew-
ish, and Christian tradition, concludes: “Beneath the variety of settings the dove itself
shows a unity, and that unity, we may now see, lies essentially in the fact that the dove
represents the beneficence of divinity in love, the loving character of divine life itself.”
14 Ultimately the textual question must be settled by determining the mind of the
Evangelist. If Luke – is an integral part of the Gospel, then Luke : indicates Jesus
was not begotten Son of God at his baptism. The Western reading is thereby excluded.
15 Henk J. de Jonge, ‘Sonship, Wisdom, Infancy: Luke :–a,’ NTS (): –
.
16 Rodney T. Hood, ‘The Genealogies of Jesus,’ in Early Christian Origins (ed. A. P.
Wikgren; Chicago: Quadrangle Books, ), –, still seems to me to offer the best
clue to Luke’s genealogy.
17 Talbert, ‘Literary Patterns,’ in What Is a Gospel? The Genre of the Canonical Gospels
for the first time carrying the fasces, an eagle lighted upon his shoulder.
This was regarded as prophetic because of the Roman use of the flight
of birds of omen to discern the decrees of Fate.18 A classic case, as
described by Plutarch, is that of Numa who was chosen king after
Romulus.19 Numa said that before assuming the kingship his authority
must first be ratified by Heaven. So the chief of the augurs turned the
veiled head of Numa toward the south, while he, standing behind him
with his right hand on his head, prayed aloud and turned his eyes
in all directions to observe whatever birds or other omens might be
sent from the gods. When the proper birds approached, then Numa
put on his royal robes and went down where he was received as the
“most beloved of the gods” (©εοφιλÛστατον). In such a thought world,
the Lukan baptismal narrative would have been viewed as an omen of
Jesus’ status as the beloved Son of God.
Three other Lives from Suetonius’s work will suffice. In Nero –, the
emperor’s family is treated. In we are told that omens at his birth
led to “direful predictions.” Four examples follow, including one on the
day of his purification (cf. Luke :ff.). In Vespasianus –, Suetonius
treats the emperor’s family line. At the beginning of we hear that
Vespasian began to hope for imperial dignity “because of the following
portents.” At least fifteen examples follow, including the prophecy of
Josephus when he was captured during the first Jewish Revolt against
Rome. Suetonius’s Divus Titus includes both prophecies of his future
rule ( and :) and a note about his youthful excellencies in body
and mind (). From Suetonius’s Vitae XII Caesarum one can conclude
that this biographer believed a Life should include something about a
hero’s family lineage, prophecies of his future greatness, and examples
of childhood prodigies as part of his pre-public career. Sometimes there
might be a reference to a miraculous conception. Is Suetonius to be
considered typical of the Greco-Roman biographical tradition in this
regard? The answer is ‘yes.’
Portents, prophecies, and omens are widely used in biographical
literature of Mediterranean antiquity for the period of a hero’s life
before he enters upon his public career. For example, Quintus Curtius,20
18 Cf. Plutarch, Rom. and Livy .. for the use of such means to settle the quarrel
between Romulus and Remus. Plutarch, in this context, speaks of the continuing
Roman practice of taking auguries from the flight of birds.
19 Plutarch, Num. .–.
20 Quintus Curtius, Hist. Alex. (a portent plus an interpretative prophecy).
21 Plutarch, Rom. .; Per. .–; Alex. ., –; Mar. .–.; Lyc. , etc.
22 Philostratus, Vit. Apoll. ..
23 Pseudo-Callisthenes, Hist. Alex. magn..
24 Hadr. ., , ; Sev. .–; Ant. Pius .–.
25 A.J. ..– §–. John Drury, Tradition and Design in Luke’s Gospel, , says: “The
(): –.
36 Quintus Curtius, Hist. Alex. .
37 Plutarch, Thes. ; ; . (begotten by Poseidon); Rom. .; .; Alex. .–.
38 Philostratus, Vit. Apoll. ...
39 Pseudo-Callisthenes, Hist. Alex. magn..
40 Plutarch, Thes. ; Fab. ; Brut. –; Pyrrh. ; Lyc.. (genealogy tracing his lineage
back to Heracles).
41 Philostratus, Vit. Apoll. ..
42 Hadr. .–; Ant. Pius .–.
43 A.J. .. § (genealogy tracing Moses back to Abraham); Vita (the genealogy
of Josephus).
this context. When Philostratus says of the portent at the birth of Apol-
lonius, “No doubt the gods were giving a revelation—an omen of his
brilliance, his exaltation above earthly things, his closeness to heaven,”44
he was speaking of the belief that Tacitus alludes to with reference to
Vespasian. Certain events, says Tacitus, revealed “the favour of heaven
and a certain partiality of the gods toward him.”45 Through omens
the gods revealed their preferences. Tacitus also tells how astrologers
could, on their initiative, uncover fate. He says that Otho accepted the
astrologer Ptolemy’s “prophecies as if they were genuine warnings of
fate disclosed by Ptolemy’s skill. …”46 In a similar manner Suetonius
can say that Domitian knew the very hour and manner of his death
because “in his youth astrologers had predicted all this to him. …”47
Since either divine initiative or human skill could reveal one’s destiny,
Suetonius could write of Augustus:
Having reached this point, it will not be out of place to add an account
of the omens which occurred before he was born, on the very day of
his birth, and afterwards, from which it was possible to anticipate and
perceive his future greatness and uninterrupted good fortune.48
Sometimes, of course, such omens were not believed until after their
fulfillment. Tacitus tells us that the secrets of Fate and the signs and
omens which predestined (destinatum) Vespasian and his sons for power
“we believed only after his success was secured.”49 And even a disregard
of omens often pointed to acceptance of the assumption that there
existed a higher order which was revealed through signs. So Tacitus
tells us that Galba’s disregard for omens was due to the fact that we
“cannot avoid the fixed decrees of fate, by whatever signs revealed.”50
Given this way of thinking, it is to be expected that a biography of
a great man would often contain one or more omens of the destiny
allotted the individual and that they would be given during the period
prior to his public career.
places the Jerusalem temptation last because Jerusalem is the end and goal of Luke’s
gospel. “The temptations are thus made prophetic of Jesus’ course.”
56 Raymond Brown, The Birth of the Messiah, , – (following Laurentin, Jesus,
–) recognizes this principle for Luke :–. This essay suggests the principle
holds for the totality of Luke :–: as it relates to Jesus.
57 E.g., echoes of Old Testament material that are often called midrashic and the use
esp. .
59 Raymond Brown, The Birth of the Messiah, , says the first two chapters of the
1 Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament ( vols.; New York: Scribner, –
), :–.
2 Ludwig Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity (New York: Harper, ).
3 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, On Religion (New York: Schocken, ).
4Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (New York: Free Press, ).
5In New Testament studies, for example, it is this view of religious language that
underlies Wayne A. Meeks’s widely cited article, ‘The Man from Heaven in Johannine
Sectarianism,’ JBL (): –.
6 Edgar Krentz, The Historical-Critical Method (Philadelphia: Fortress, ).
7 Norman Peterson, Literary Criticism for New Testament Critics (Philadelphia: Fortress,
).
8 I have no wish to endorse the Bultmannian theological programme which, I
believe, is seriously flawed. I wish only to contend that religious language like that
found in the Bible is better understood in theological than in political terms and that
’
cism I mean an approach to the text that asks first of all about what the
auditors in Mediterranean antiquity would have heard when the text
was read aloud in their presence.9 It is my belief that an answer to this
question then permits an inference about the author’s general intent.
Second, in the light of such a reading, I intend to comment briefly on
an alternative interpretation of Luke – which illustrates how biblical
study should not be done.
exclusively on the modern readers. Cf. Jane Tompkins, Reader-Response Criticism: From
Formalism to Post-Structuralism (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, ).
10 See chapter , ‘Prophecies of Future Greatness: The Contribution of Greco-
acter of the Gospels has been settled. Cf. Richard A. Burridge, What Are the Gospels?
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ).
The distinctive way Jesus’ birth is told would determine the auditor’s
perception of Luke’s answer.
In order to clarify the Lukan answer, it will be necessary to deal with
two related questions: () what options were available in Mediterranean
culture for speaking about an individual’s origins? and () what would
ancient Mediterranean auditors have understood the various options to
mean?12
What options existed in ancient Mediterranean culture for talking
about an individual’s origins? At least five different schemes come
immediately to mind.
) One way of speaking was to say that a person had a human father
and a human mother. For example, Matt :b says: “And David was
the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah” (RSV). The Third Evan-
gelist employed this option in Luke :–, , , , , where he tells
the reader that John the Baptist was the son of Zechariah and Eliza-
beth. John, like Solomon, had a human father and a human mother.
This, of course, was the normal way of talking about an individual’s
origins.
Implicit within such a description of human origins were certain
religious or philosophical underpinnings. (a) Theological corollary—The
normal way of speaking about human origins assumes at least a semi-
autonomous world system within which at least semi-autonomous hu-
man acts of creativity take place. For example, given the sexual order
of the natural world, a man and a woman can normally produce an
offspring by means of their semi-autonomous sexual acts. If the system
works properly, God is not overtly a direct or an immediate part of the
equation. Of course, if the system is flawed in some way, it may take
some adjustment by God to get it to work properly (e.g., as in the case
of John the Baptist). Even in such a case, however, the child is the result
of a father’s and a mother’s creative activity within the world system. (b)
Christological corollary—In such a scheme, the one who is born is purely
human, nothing more. So Solomon may be wise and may be king but
he is not divine, and John the Baptist may be inspired but he remains a
creature. (c) Soteriological corollary—The one whose origins are explained
12 This essay assumes that the various options were ‘in the air’ in the Mediterranean
world of antiquity so that even an early Christian would have been cognizant of them.
Note in the discussion of each option indications of Christian knowledge.
’
deities who were ‘eternal’ and those who were ‘immortal.’ Cf. C. H. Talbert, ‘The
Concept of the Immortals in Mediterranean Antiquity,’ JBL (): –.
ity. It is not the result of human creativity at all. It rather results from
an inbreaking divine activity. So Simon, in the Acts of Peter, says a god
comes down, and Marcion (Tertullian, Marc. :–) speaks of Christ
appearing in Galilee as a full-grown man. (b) Christological corollary—The
one whose presence is the result of divine intervention is himself divine,
not human. Without father and mother means to be self-generated.
This is a trait of a true god, not a human. (c) Soteriological corollary—
Such a life is due to the transcendent deity’s intervention in the world,
devoid of human involvement. In this scheme one encounters a system
of human passivity. All the activity is God’s.
An ancient Mediterranean auditor would have understood a narra-
tive that portrayed an individual’s origins as ‘without father or mother’
in terms of these corollaries. That Luke did not tell the story of Jesus’
origins in this particular fashion indicates that he did not regard such a
scheme as adequately conveying to his auditors what he wanted them
to hear.
) At other times it could be said that one had a human father and a
divine mother. For example, it was believed that Persephone was the
daughter of the goddess Demeter and the mortal Iasion who made
’
love in a ploughed field (Od. .–); that Achilles was the son of
Thetis, a goddess, and a mortal, king Peleus (Arnobius, Disp. adv. nat.
.; Chariton, Chaer.),16 and that Aeneas was the son of Venus and a
mortal (Ovid, Metam. .–; Arnobius, .).
Again, such a scheme of origins contained within it certain religious
or philosophical corollaries. (a) Theological corollary—God is understood
as the world, either the earth (Gaia) or the ocean (Thetis), viewed as
animate and divine and understood as the mother of all that is. Some
feminist scholars contend that Hera, Athene, Aprodite, Isis, Demeter,
Cybele are but individualized manifestations of the one feminine divine
principle, the primordial mother goddess.17 In so far as this is the case,
it is a pantheistic understanding of deity and world. (b) Christological
corollary—The one so produced partakes of the natures of both parents
and so participates in both the human and the divine spheres. Exactly
how the two spheres are related in the one person varies, depending
upon the context. (c) Soteriological corollary—In this system such a life is
the result of the divine possibilities inherent in the world which have
been brought to fruition by the intervention or involvement of a human
catalyst.
A Mediterranean auditor of a narrative that spoke of origins in terms
of a human father and a divine mother would have heard these things
implied. That Luke did not utilize this scheme in his depiction of Jesus’
origins implies that he did not think such a system adequately conveyed
to his auditors what he wanted them to hear.
), pp. –; and Christine Downing, ‘The Mother Goddess among the Greeks,’
in The Book of the Goddess: Past and Present (ed. Carl Olson; New York: Crossroad, ),
–. This assertion by feminist scholars runs counter to Hesiod’s Theogony which
attempts to integrate popular piety into a scheme which is essentially alien to its
primitive roots.
were the offspring of the god Mars and the woman Ilia (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, Ant. rom. ..–..); that Osiris, a king of Egypt, was
the son of Zeus and a human daughter (Diodorus Siculus, .); that
Alexander the Great was the son of either Jupiter (Quintus Curtius,
Hist. Alex. ) or the god Ammon of Egypt (Pseudo-Callisthenes, Hist.
Alex. magn.) and the mortal Olympias; that Augustus was the offspring of
Apollo and the mortal Atia (Suetonius, Aug. :). This position did not,
of necessity, involve sexual relations between the deity and the human
mother (Plutarch, Num. ) but could be spoken of as occurring by means
of spirit/pneuma (Plutarch, Is. Os. ).
This scheme of speaking about an individual’s origins also involved
a system of allied assumptions of a religious or philosophical nature.
(a) Theological corollary—In this system, God is regarded as other than
the world. The world is the arena of His activity. This, of course, is a
theistic system. (b) Christological corollary—The one so produced shares in
both the divine and the human spheres. (c) Soteriological corollary—Such a
life is the result of human submission to the divine will. Human activity
is involved, but it is in response to the divine initiative. An ancient
Mediterranean auditor would have associated a narrative that spoke
about origins in terms of a divine father and a human mother with
these religious or philosophical connections.
In Mediterranean antiquity there were, then, at least these five op-
tions for speaking about an individual’s origins. Each of these options,
moreover, had certain philosophical or religious corollaries that would
have been recognized, consciously or unconsciously, by auditors. That
the Third Evangelist chose the fifth option as the vehicle for his telling
of the story of Jesus’ origins must surely indicate that implicit within
such a scheme were the religious or philosophical points that he wanted
his auditors to pick up.
When the five options are laid out and the religious or philosophical
corollaries of each position are exposed to view and it is possible to
recognize how each would have been heard by ancient auditors, it is
not difficult to see which Luke regarded as the most appropriate vehicle
for his Christian convictions. Given those convictions, it is not difficult
to see why he eschewed the other four options.
) The option that speaks of one as without father and mother would
be problematic on two counts. Theologically, this position is conso-
nant with Christian convictions. God’s direct intervention is necessary.
Christologically, however, it is deficient in that it eliminates the human-
ity of the one so described. Moreover, soteriologically it is problematic
in that it eliminates all human involvement. If ancient readers would
have associated Option Two with questionable corollaries, it was not
suitable.
the world but acts directly in the world. Christologically, the one so
produced shares in both divine and human spheres. Soteriologically,
such a life is due to human submission to the divine will. Of the options
available for speaking about Jesus’ origins in order to explain how such
a life was possible, Option Five functions best as a vehicle for Luke’s
Christian convictions. It is, then, no surprise that the Third Gospel
tells the story of Jesus’ birth in just the way that it does. The God
who is other than the world intervenes in the world to create one
who is both divine and human and whose birth models the means
of salvation for all people: submission to the divine will. In only one
area does the Lukan infancy narrative deviate from some of the Greco-
Roman traditions that speak of an individual’s being the offspring of
a divine father and a human mother. Under no circumstances would
Luke think of the conception of Jesus as occurring by means of sexual
contact between God and the woman. Like Plutarch, Luke speaks in
a way that has the conception take place by means of Spirit (Plutarch,
Is. Os. ). Mary asks; “How shall this be, since I have no husband?”
The angel says: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, And the power
of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke :–, RSV). The God
who in Jewish tradition was transsexual remains so in the Christian
story of Jesus’ origins in the Lukan Gospel. A narrative told in terms of
Option Five with the safeguards built in to avoid any inference about
sexual contact between deity and woman would be heard by ancient
auditors in a way that was consonant with the expectations of the Third
Evangelist.
Read in terms of a modified form of reader-based criticism, Luke –
is best seen as the explication of Christian believing self-understanding
by means of the Evangelist’s use of the literary genre of the pre-
public life of a hero figure such as is found in ancient Mediterranean
biographies. Such a second-generation post-World War II methodology
justifies a first-generation view of religious language.18
18 The second post-World War II generation’s view of religion and religious lan-
guage was already successfully critiqued in the first generation by Reinhold Neibuhr. A
generation that no longer reads Neibuhr can find a reasonably sympathetic summary
of his positions on this issue in Roger A. Johnson, et al., Critical Issues in Modern Religion
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, ), –.
’
19 Richard A. Horsley, The Liberation of Christmas: The Infancy Narratives in Social Context
).
21 Equally off-target is Geoffrey Parrinder, Son of Joseph: The Parentage of Jesus (Edin-
burgh: T. & T. Clark, ), who contends that the Virgin Birth tradition was due to
ascetical trends in the early church which led to a depreciation of sex and family life.
Whereas this might have been true for later popular religion as reflected in the apoc-
ryphal Gospels (e.g., the Protevangelium Jacobi), it was certainly not true for Luke, given
this essay.
oftentimes of little use either for accurate description or for assistance in the current
theological enterprise. Perhaps the best available is Louis Bouyer, The Spirituality of the
New Testament and the Fathers (vol. of A History of Christian Spirituality; New York: Seabury,
).
2 R. H. Fuller, The Foundations of New Testament Christology (New York: Scribner’s,
).
3 F. W. Danker, ‘The Endangered Benefactor in Luke-Acts,’ in SBL Seminar Papers,
(): –.
Philo uses it the same way. He speaks of three grades of people: αρχÞ-
µενο̋, the man who is just beginning his training; προκÞπτων, the one
who is making progress; and τÛλειο̋, the perfect or mature person
(Leg. .). In Quod deterius potiori insidari soleat he uses προκοπÜ to
speak of moral progress in life. In De posteritate Caini he contrasts
προκÞπται̋ (those making progress) with τελειÞτητι (those attaining per-
fection). In De somniis .– he describes the perfect man (τÛλειον)
as neither God nor man, but as on the border-line between the uncre-
ated and the perishing form of being. The man who is on the path
of progress (προκÞπτοντα) is placed between the living and the dead,
between those who have wisdom for their life-mate and those who
rejoice in folly. Philo, of course, regards the source of one’s progress
not as nature but as God. Later, Greek-speaking Christians made use
of this terminology and assumed a similar conceptual world. In Vita
Pachomii we hear that the monastic father made progress (πρÞκοψα̋);
5 Henk J. de Jonge, ‘Sonship, Wisdom, Infancy: Luke :–a,’ NTS (): –
.
6 For the data in the following paragraph, see G. Stählin, TDNT :–.
that he took joy in those who made progress (τν προκÞπτων) in virtue
and increased in faith (). We also hear that some of the brothers had
not attained perfection (τελειÞτητα, ). Among monks as well as moral
philosophers life’s journey was described as making progress toward
perfection. In the New Testament’s nine uses of προκοπÜ and προκÞ-
πτειν two are very close to the widespread use in popular philosophy
in speaking of the personal moral and spiritual progress of individuals
( Tim :—Timothy; Luke :—Jesus). In Luke : the emphasis
is on the spiritual progress of the youth, Jesus. Although this facet of
the development of the Lukan Jesus has been recognized by research,
it is usually treated in isolation from the rest of the Lukan narrative.7 It
needs to be seen, however, in the context of the unfolding of the divine
plan in Luke-Acts.
The second observation is that the Third Evangelist traces an unfold-
ing history of salvation in his two-volume work.8 The author signals
new stages in what God is doing by reference to significant divine
inbreaks (sometimes accompanying human prayer). For example, in
Acts the movement to the Gentiles is a major new development in
salvation history. Its actualization is accomplished only by the direct
intervention of God. In Acts the prayers of Cornelius and Peter are
accompanied by visions and auditions which direct the course of events.
The intent of God to open a new front in the expansion of the gospel
is signaled by an unexpected outpouring of the Holy Spirit while Peter
is still speaking. In Acts the person to be used as an instrument for
the mission to the Gentiles is overpowered by the Lord in an event
which includes a vision (the light—v. ) and an audition (the voice—
vv. –). In Acts :– the beginning of the missionary outreach of
Barnabas and Paul results from a prophetic word spoken in the midst
of the church’s worship. In the Third Gospel there are also significant
new stages in the unfolding of God’s plan in the life of the Lukan Jesus
which are marked by divine intervention. For instance, in Luke :–
, in the midst of prayer, the Lukan Jesus experiences a vision (v. a)
and an audition (v. b). This, he says later (:–), is the basis for
his ministry of power in Galilee (:–:). That the Evangelist intends
the reader to see the event as a development within the Lukan Jesus is
7 Stählin’s failure to distinguish adequately between the level of the historical Jesus
(for whom it is impossible to trace any development) and the level of the Lukan Jesus
kept him from pursuing the obvious development in the Third Gospel.
8 To acknowledge this fact does not commit one to the thesis of Conzelmann.
evident both from the second person form of address in :b (“Thou
art my beloved Son” RSV) and from the first person speech in :–
(“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me”
RSV). Furthermore in Luke :ff. and :ff., the confession of Peter
and the transfiguration are portrayed as prayer scenes in which there
is a recognition on the part of the Lukan Jesus of a new departure in
the unfolding of God’s plan for his way—rejection, suffering, death.
That the Evangelist thought in terms of Jesus’ own understanding is
confirmed by : which speaks of the Lukan Jesus’ intentionality.
The third observation is found in Luke :–, a Lukan paragraph
composed of a number of independent traditions which portrays the
Lukan Jesus as looking toward Jerusalem and his death. In the course
of the unfolding of the thought unit, Jesus says: “Behold, I cast out
demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and on the third
(day) I am being perfected” (τελειοµαι—first person singular, present
indicative passive).9 That this completion refers to his death is evident
from what follows: “it cannot be that a prophet should perish away
from Jerusalem” (RSV). In any case, here the Third Evangelist depicts
the Lukan Jesus as saying that he will be perfected or brought to
completion in his death. This is much the same thing that is said in
Heb : and :– where Jesus’ being made perfect (τελειεαι and
τελειω©εÝ̋) refer to his having learned obedience through suffering. The
significant thing to note at this point is that the Evangelist regards the
life of Jesus in developmental terms and leads his readers to believe
that the Lukan Jesus was aware of and consciously participated in this
development.
To sum up, the Third Evangelist portrays an ever unfolding plan of
God in the history of salvation, both in the career of the Lukan Jesus
and in the life of the church of the apostolic age. In the Gospel of
Luke, the Evangelist’s choice of terminology at one point shows that he
interprets the significance of this unfolding in the life of Jesus in terms
of the Hellenistic concept of the progress of the individual in spiritual
growth between beginning and perfection.
Once this is grasped, it is possible to look at the Lukan Jesus’ life
in terms of five stages; (a) his dedication to God by his parents as an
infant (Luke :–); (b) his personal agreement with their parental
decision as a youth (Luke :–); (c) his empowering by the Holy
10 Bo Reicke, ‘Jesus, Simeon, and Anna (Luke :–),’ in Saved By Hope (ed.
ment of the Presentation in the Temple,’ Art Bulletin (): ; for the literary tradi-
tion, see Ps-Bonoventura, Meditations on the the Life of Christ (ed. and trans. I. Ragusa and
R. B. Greene; Princeton: Princeton University Press, ), . For the combination,
see Heidi Hornik and Mikeal Parsons, ‘Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Presentation in the Temple:
A ‘Visual Exegesis’ of Luke :–,’ PRSt (): –.
for his task. Luke :–, the formal opening of Jesus’ ministry in the
Third Gospel, has Jesus read from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the
poor” (RSV). Then, after returning the scroll, Jesus sat down and said:
“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (RSV). The
reference is, of course, back to the baptism-prayer scene with its descent
of the Holy Spirit on Jesus (cf. Acts :; :).
It is noteworthy that in the plot of the Third Gospel Jesus found it
necessary to receive an empowering for ministry before he embarked
on his public career. He had been conceived by the Holy Spirit; he
had been dedicated to God by his parents as a babe; he had person-
ally identified with his parents’ decisions about him and consciously
assumed the yoke of the kingdom of heaven. Yet none of these could
substitute for the necessary anointing-empowering given him when he
prayed after his baptism. What is needed for adequate ministry in the
Lukan understanding is a prior empowering by God’s Spirit. It was
this that the Lukan Jesus received in :– and of which he was con-
scious in :–. It was out of this empowering that he entered into his
Galilean ministry (:–:). The keynote there is power.
(d) Acceptance of Rejection, Suffering, and Death. Luke :– marks a
crucial turning point in the plot of the Third Gospel. It functions to
conclude the Galilean ministry which began with :; it also sets in
motion a new departure in the unfolding of God’s plan in the narrative
of Luke-Acts. Two questions about Jesus’ identity give focus to the
passage as a whole. Herod asks, “Who is this?” (:, RSV) Jesus himself
reiterates the query. “Who do you say that I am?” (:, RSV) Luke ’s
answer is that Jesus is the one who, through prayer, moves into a new
stage of the spiritual process, a stage that involves rejection, suffering,
and death.
On the one hand, it is a Lukan concern to show that prayer is the
instrument by which God directs the development of the history of sal-
vation.14 It is no surprise, therefore, to find the Evangelist in Luke
signaling a new development in the Lukan Jesus’ career by two para-
graphs that show Jesus at prayer (:ff.; :ff.). Both references to
prayer in Luke : and :– are distinctively Lukan. Both link
Jesus’ prayer with his coming suffering. In : the Lukan Jesus’ word
about his suffering, rejection, and death is the response to Peter’s con-
fession that arises out of his session of prayer. In :– Jesus’ prayer
transports him to the heavenly world where a conversation with two
heavenly residents ensues about his exodus (his departure from this
world which includes his death, as well as his resurrection and ascen-
sion). The Lukan Jesus’ grasp of his future suffering is once again tied
to his prayer.
On the other hand, if prayer was the medium through which the
Third Evangelist believes Jesus came to an awareness of God’s will
for a new departure in his life, the content of that will involved not
immediate exaltation but rather rejection, suffering, and death. The
one who had been anointed with the Spirit would be rejected and
killed.
How can it be that the Spirit-empowered Jesus must suffer? The
answer lies in the eschatology of main line Christianity in the first
century. This eschatology combined a ‘now’ and a ‘not yet’ (cf. Paul
in Cor , ; Phil ). The New Age had broken in with the resur-
rection of Jesus, but the Old Age continues until the Parousia. Believ-
ers live where the ages overlap. How to hold on to these two reali-
ties (now—not yet) has always been among the most difficult tasks for
Christian life and thought. There is perennially the temptation to allow
one to swallow the other. Either the emphasis is so focused on the pow-
ers of the New Age at work in believers that an eschatological reserva-
tion is lost, or the focus is so directed to believers’ involvement in the
structures and limitations of this life that the power of the Holy Spirit
in the midst of weakness is overlooked.
The Third Evangelist, having presented Jesus in his Galilean min-
istry as a Spirit-empowered conqueror of evil, now is concerned to
show that even such a Spirit-empowered figure is subject to the limi-
tations of this age. He is not immediately and automatically triumphant
because of the Spirit unleashed in his life in healing, exorcism, and
powerful teaching. He will be rejected and killed. Only the other side
of this subjection to the limitations of this age will he enter into his
final glory. Theologically, it is necessary to juxtapose ‘anointed with the
Spirit’ and ‘destined to die’ because to say less would be to break the
delicate balance between the ‘now’ and the ‘not yet’ of Christian exis-
tence.15
15 “Sufferings … point the sufferer … toward the future, and thus stamp ‘not yet’
upon the consummation of salvation. To this extent they have an antifanatical function.
…” (E. S. Gerstenberger and W. Schrage, Suffering [trans. J. E. Steely; Nashville:
What purpose could such suffering serve for the Lukan Jesus? In
order to answer this question, two items of background information are
necessary, one from Luke and the other from the New Testament at
large.
On the one hand, the Third Evangelist frames Jesus’ earthly career
within two temptation sequences (Luke :–; :, –, ). The
first, Luke :–, must be read against the background of Jesus as both
the culmination of all that God had been doing in the history of Israel
and the second Adam. The genealogy of Luke :– portrays Jesus
both as the culmination of Israel’s history and as second Adam. The
order of the temptations in Luke :– echoes not only the threefold
temptation of Adam and Eve in Gen : (cf. John :) but also the
temptation of Israel in the wilderness as given by Ps (cf. Cor :–
). The temptations of the Lukan Jesus in :– thereby become anti-
typical of the experience of Israel in the wilderness and of the original
pair in the garden. Whereas those who came before were disobedient,
Jesus as second Adam and as the true culmination of Israel’s heritage
is obedient. He has reversed Adam’s fall and Israel’s sin. This tempta-
tion narrative thus understood has the effect of setting all that follows in
Jesus’ earthly career under the sign of ‘Jesus’ obedience.’ Remember: in
the Lukan plot, Jesus is the unredeemed first-born who belongs wholly
to God. The second temptation sequence comes in Luke :, –,
. It is also a threefold temptation, this time of the crucified Jesus. The
Lukan Jesus has spoken earlier of the divine necessity of his death (:,
; :–).16 In the garden he has surrendered to the divine will even
if it means death (:–). Now he faces the temptation to use divine
power for self-preservation (a power he still has—:). Three times he
is confronted with the demand: “save yourself ” (:, , ). That he
does not is his obedience unto death, the perfection of his obedience to
the Father (remember :). The Lukan frame around the public min-
istry of Jesus defines the Lukan Jesus’ career as the way of obedience,
even unto death.
Abingdon, ], ). That Luke was concerned about such a problem is argued by
C. H. Talbert, ‘The Redaction Critical Quest for Luke the Theologian,’ in Jesus and
Man’s Hope (ed. D. Y. Hadidian; vols; Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Theological Seminary,
), :–.
16 Should one think of the divine necessity in terms of the law of the unredeemed
first-born?
On the other hand, in the New Testament one stream of early Chris-
tian thought saw Jesus’ death not only as an atonement for sin and as a
defeat of the powers of evil but also as Jesus’ ultimate act of obedience
or faithfulness to God (e.g., Phil :; Rom :–).17 Jesus died rather
than sin. In this context, Jesus’ suffering and death were regarded as the
arena in which his obedience to God was perfected. Heb : says: God
made “the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering” (RSV).
Heb :– says: “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through
what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eter-
nal salvation to all who obey him” (RSV).18 Pet :– says:
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same
thought, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as
to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer by human passions
but by the will of God. (RSV)
Paul, Hebrews, and Peter speak of a suffering endured by Christ
which is the arena in which obedience to God is perfected.19 Luke’s
view of Jesus’ suffering belongs to this facet of New Testament thought.
It is in the context of a view of suffering that is integral to the process
of spiritual growth that Luke should be understood. The Lukan
Jesus, through prayer, has come to see that he is about to enter a new
here. Most recently, see Luke T. Johnson, ‘Romans :– and the Faith of Jesus,’ CBQ
(): –, and the bibliography listed there.
18 Eduard Schweizer, Lordship and Discipleship (Naperville: Allenson, ), , says
that Hebrews here regards Jesus’ death as the final, finishing stage of his obedient
suffering. There are roots both in the Jewish and in the Greek worlds. The Hellenistic
background is that which regarded suffering as an education (παιδεÝα) which leads to
progress and in the end perfection. The Old Testament has as one interpretation of
suffering that pain can be a means of discipline employed by God (e.g., Jer :–,
where Jeremiah’s own sufferings have the purpose of bringing him closer to God). Such
suffering is to be cherished (e.g., Ps :; :). This view is found also in post-biblical
Judaism (e.g., Bar. :–, where one is chastened in order to be sanctified). In
Hellenistic Judaism the perfection that was suffering’s goal was understood as complete
and exclusive devotion to God. Progress toward it was a lifelong process but could be
completed in death (cf. Macc :). On the Jewish background, see Jim Alvin Sanders,
Suffering as Divine Discipline in the Old Testament and Post-Biblical Judaism (Rochester, N.Y.:
Colgate Rochester Divinity School, ) and E. S. Gerstenberger and W. Schrage,
Suffering, Part One (OT).
19 Wolfgang Schrage (Suffering [Nashville: Abingdon, ], ) argues that Pet :
does not intend to say that suffering liberates from all the dross of the world and sin and
turns one’s gaze from peripheral matters to the center; rather in the fire of suffering it
is revealed what is faith and what is not. Two responses are necessary. First, in revealing
what is not faith suffering strips away the dross. Second, Pet :– most definitely
asserts a purifying function for suffering whether or not Pet : does.
phase of God’s plan for him. He is moving beyond the initial stage of
empowering into a dimension of life which, though still empowered, is
characterized by rejection (:). In this phase he will learn obedience
through what he suffers. His obedience to God in the face of rejection,
persecution, suffering, and finally death will signal his victory over sin
as one who belongs totally to God.
The importance of rejection, persecution, suffering, and the threat of
death in the process of spiritual growth is that each of these holds up
the possibility of the loss of something which the self either holds dear
or is tempted to hold on to. One is threatened with the loss of eco-
nomic security, of status, of reputation, or of life itself. Circumstances
remove the possibility of one’s holding on to any of these finite treasures
as security. The suffering of rejection detaches one from these real or
potential false gods. One learns obedience to God alone through what
is suffered. Rejection or suffering shatters real or potential idols and
allows God to draw one to himself alone. This redemptive dimension
of suffering would not be possible without the prior stage of empower-
ing. From the Third Evangelist’s perspective, only as God lives within is
there the potential for suffering to be experienced as the perfection of
one’s obedience. The way of the Lukan Jesus, then, was from empow-
ering through suffering to glory.
(e) Resurrection, Ascension, Exaltation. The Lukan view of Jesus’ glorifi-
cation can only be grasped if seen in the context of the early Christian
understanding of Jesus’ resurrection. In earliest Christianity the resur-
rection of Jesus encompassed three different realities: () Jesus’ victory
over death; () Jesus’ removal from human time and space into another
dimension (that of God); and () Jesus’ new function as cosmic Lord. In
Luke-Acts the unity of these three realities is broken and they become
three separate events on a chronological time-line: () the resurrection
of Jesus is reduced to the reality of his victory over death; () the ascen-
sion becomes in Luke-Acts Jesus’ removal to heaven; and () the exal-
tation designates the moment of Jesus’ new status as Lord and Christ.
By taking the different pieces of a whole individually, the Evangelist can
focus on the meaning of each without distraction. Taken together, they
represent the Lukan Jesus’ entry into glory (cf. Luke :).
To sum up, Luke gives us a developmental picture of Jesus in which
his individual progress spiritually is depicted as the gradual unfolding
of the divine plan in Jesus’ way.
20 C. H. Talbert, Literary Patterns, Theological Themes and the Genre of Luke-Acts (Mis-
Underhill also argues that “Christians may well remark that the psy-
chology of Christ, as presented to us in the Gospels, is of a piece with
that of the mystics.”26 I would qualify her remark by saying that at least
in Luke this seems to be the case. Underhill speaks of five stages of spir-
itual development: awakening, purification, illumination, purgation or
the dark night of the soul, and the unitive life. Of these, two are relevant
parallels to what one finds in the Lukan depiction of Jesus: illumina-
tion and purgation or the dark night.27 In illumination there is the initial
experience of the presence of God in power which may be accompa-
of Underhill’s stages: () awakening (Luke :–); () purification (Luke :—Jesus’
baptism by John the Baptist being the culmination); () illumination (Luke :–); ()
the dark night (Luke –); and () union (Luke and Acts).
MARTYRDOM IN LUKE-ACTS
AND THE LUKAN SOCIAL ETHIC
1 C. H. Talbert, Luke and the Gnostics (Nashville: Abingdon, ), ch. ; Gerhard
Schneider, Die Passion Jesu nach den Drei Alteren Evangelien (Munich: Kösel, ), .
2 Luke :– and Acts : are often cited as exceptions to this claim. Neither
actually is. Both speak about the death of Jesus as the seal of the new covenant.
3 Richard Zehnle, ‘The Salvific Character of Jesus’ Death in Lucan Soteriology,’ TS
(): –; I. H. Marshall, Luke: Historian and Theologian (Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Zondervan, ), .
against him (Luke :, , , , , ). He is delivered up by the
Jewish chief priests and scribes (Luke : and :–; : and ,
, , ; cf. Acts :, ; :) and executed by Gentiles (Luke :;
Acts :). His death is parallel to the sufferings of the prophets of old
at the hands of the Jews (Luke :; Acts :—“which of the prophets
did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced
beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now
betrayed and murdered,” RSV). So Jesus stands at the end of a long
line of martyrs. Like the martyrs in Macc :, and Macc :
and :, Jesus is silent before his accusers (Luke :). As in the
martyrdom of Isaiah, Jesus’ martyrdom is due to the Devil (Luke :,
). As in the case of the martyrs slain by Herod (Josephus, Ant.,
..– §–), there is an eclipse at Jesus’ death (Luke :).
His demeanor in martyrdom leads to the conversion of one of the
thieves crucified with him (Luke :–). Jesus’ death as a martyr is a
fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies (Luke :–, ; Acts :–
), a part of God’s plan (Acts :).
When we focus on the Lukan picture of Stephen’s demise, we find
that the story of Stephen parallels that of Jesus. Both are tried before
the Council (Luke :ff.; Acts :ff.). Both die a martyr’s death.
Acts :, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (RSV), echoes Luke :,
“Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit” (RSV). Acts :, “Lord,
do not hold this sin against them” (RSV), echoes Luke :, “Father,
forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”4 Both stories
contain a Son of man saying: Luke : and Acts :. This is remark-
able since Acts : is the only occurrence of the title Son of man
outside the Gospels and on any lips except those of Jesus. Both men’s
deaths issue in evangelistic results (Luke :–; Acts :ff.; :ff.).
Moreover, the story of Stephen’s martyrdom fulfills Jesus’ words: Luke
:–, especially verse (“some of you they will put to death,” RSV;
is included by such witnesses as à*. The language and thought are Lukan (Father—
Luke :; :; :; :; forgive because of ignorance—Acts :; :; intercede
for executioners—Acts :). Sayings of Jesus are found, moreover, in each of the main
sections of the crucifixion narrative (:–, , ). If one is missing here the pattern
would be disturbed. It could have been omitted either because it was believed to have
conflicted with vv. – or because the events of A.D. – were thought to show
that it was not answered. The probabilities are that it is an integral part of the Third
Gospel.
-
cf. also Luke :–). The deaths of both Jesus and Stephen are por-
trayed as martyrdoms in Luke-Acts. Having noted this fact, it is now
necessary to focus on two facets of the Lukan theology of martyrdom.
Martyrdom as Rejection
These martyrdoms are understood by the Evangelist in the first in-
stance as the rejection of God’s spokesmen which results in the rejection of
the rejectors by God. This aspect of the Lukan mind can be grasped if
we look at those martyrdoms in the context of the Evangelist’s under-
standing of Israel. This understanding may be set forth in five summary
statements.
Lord. The unrepentant portion of the nation, however, has forfeited its
membership in the people of God (Acts :). A formal statement of the
rejection of the unrepentant portion of the Jewish nation is delivered
three times, once in each main area of missionary activity. Acts :
has Paul and Barnabas say to the unbelieving Jews in Antioch of
Pisidia: “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first
to you. Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy
of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles” (RSV). In Acts :
the scene is Corinth. Here, when the unbelieving Jews opposed him,
Paul said: “Your blood be upon your heads! I am innocent. From now
on I will go to the Gentiles.” Finally, in Acts :– Paul says to
the unbelieving Jews in Rome: “Let it be known to you then that this
salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen” (RSV).
) It is incorrect to say only that for Luke it is when the Jews have
rejected the gospel that the way is open to the Gentiles .6 It is equally
incorrect to say only that when Israel has accepted the gospel that the
way to the Gentiles is opened.7 Both, indeed, are parts of the total view
of Luke.8 That is, both Acts :– on the one hand and Acts :;
:; and :– on the other are parts of the total perspective of the
third Evangelist. In the first place, the Jewish Christian community in
Jerusalem, as the restored Israel, is the means through which salvation
comes to the Gentiles (Acts :–). The Gentiles are incorporated
into believing Israel. They are, however, incorporated without circum-
cision and the law, that is, without first becoming proselytes (Acts ).
In the second place, the explanation why the Lukan church feels no
obligation to evangelize the national-racial entity of Israel is that these
unrepentant ones have excluded themselves from Israel, the people of
God (Acts :; :; :–). Hence, in Luke’s view, by the end
of Acts the people of God are no longer a race or a nation but those
who believe (Luke :–). The unbelieving Jews remain an histori-
cal people who experience the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of
the temple (Luke :a; :–; :–; :–), but they do not
belong to Israel, the people of God. The destruction of the temple and
6 Hans Conzelmann, Die Apostelgeschichte (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, ), ; Ernst
Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles, A Commentary (trans. B. Noble; Philadelphia: Westmin-
ster, ), ff.
7 Jacob Jervell, Luke and the People of God (Minneapolis: Augsburg, ), –.
8 S. G. Wilson, The Gentiles and the Gentile Mission in Luke-Acts (Cambridge: Cam-
) The question whether Luke, like Paul in Rom –, envisioned a final
conversion of the entire Jewish people prior to the parousia, prompted
by the inclusion of the Gentiles in the people of God, is debatable.
Most scholars think that the Lukan Paul of Acts :–, unlike the
historical Paul of Rom , seems resigned to a Gentile church.10 A few
Lukan scholars think that Luke, like Paul in Rom :, looked forward
to a time when the Jews as a people would be reinstated.11 Acts :;
Luke :, ; and Luke :– are about the only supports for this
stance that are not simply too far-fetched. There is enough question
about even these texts, however, to make it improbable that the Gentile
Christian community from which Luke-Acts came expected any final
conversion of the nation as a whole before the parousia. The Evangelist
would not have ruled out the conversion of any individual Jew, but
as far as the direction of the church’s mission was concerned, it was
to Gentiles. In this Luke is akin to Justin Martyr, who believed that a
remnant of Jews was still being saved by conversion to Christianity in
his own day (Dial. ; ; ). Justin, furthermore, allowed these Jewish
Christians who lived within the church to practice the law (Dial. :).
In the Lukan narrative we note that those responsible for the deaths
of Jesus and Stephen are the chief priests and their associates, not
the Pharisees. On the one side, in the Third Gospel the Pharisees
vanish as soon as Jesus enters Jerusalem in : (the last we hear
of Pharisees is in : on the outskirts of the city.). The opponents
in the passion narrative are the chief priests, rulers, Sadducees, and
the Council (Luke :; :, , ; :, , , , ; :, ,
; cf. :—“how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to
be condemned to death, and crucified him,” RSV). On the other
side, in Acts – the enemies of the church are all associated with
the temple (Acts :, –, , , ; :, , , , , , , ).
Likewise, Stephen in Acts : is brought before the Council, where he
is interrogated by the high priest (:).
9 This became standard Christian argument. Cf. Eusebius, Hist. eccl. ..–.
10 E.g., Marshall, Luke: Historian and Theologian, –.
11 A. W. Wainwright, ‘Luke and the Restoration of the Kingdom of Israel,’ ExpTim
(): –; Robert Karris, ‘Missionary Communities: A New Paradigm for the
Study of Luke-Acts,’ CBQ (): –.
Martyrdom as Legitimation
A second dimension of the Lukan understanding of martyrdom is
that such deaths serve to legitimate Jesus and the Christian cause and to
function as catalysts for evangelistic outreach. This aspect of the Lukan
mind can be grasped if we look at these martyrdoms in the context
of the understanding of martyrdom in Greco-Roman, Jewish, and early
Christian thinking.12
in the Early Church (Oxford: Blackwell, ); Norbert Brox, Zeuge und Märtyrer (Munich:
Kösel, ); H. A. Fishel, ‘Martyr and Prophet,’ JQR (): –, –.
-
ever die for his philosophy. The same sentiments are found, however, in
Lucian (Pisc. ): “in their life and actions … they contradicted their
outward appearance and reversed (philosophy’s) practice.” Epictetus
(Diatr. ..) says: “What, then, is the thing lacking now? The man …
to bear witness to the arguments by his acts.” Seneca (Ep. .) joins
the chorus: “There is a very disgraceful charge often brought against
our school—that we deal with the words, and not the deeds, of philos-
ophy.” In view of this cynicism about philosophers’ sincerity, sometimes
only the willingness to die or actual death could validate a philosopher’s
profession.
Several examples of philosophers sealing their profession with either
their deaths or their willingness to die illustrate this fact. Tertullian
(Apol. ) tells us that Zeno the Eleatic, when asked by Dionysius
what good philosophy did, said it gave contempt of death. When he
was called on to prove it, given over to the tyrant’s scourge, he was
unquailing as he sealed his opinion even to death. In Vita Secundi,
Secundus, because of an incident that had caused his mother’s suicide,
put a ban on himself, resolving not to say anything for the rest of
his life—having chosen the Pythagorean way of life. The Emperor
Hadrian arrived in Athens and sent for Secundus to test him. When
Secundus refused to speak, Hadrian sent him off with the executioner
with instructions that if he did speak his head should be cut off. If he
did not speak, he should be returned to the Emperor. When he was
returned to Hadrian after having been willing to die for his vow of
silence, Secundus was allowed to write answers to the twenty questions
asked by the Emperor—which answers were put in the sacred library.
His willingness to die had validated Secundus’s philosophy. Origen
(Cels. .) commends Celsus when the pagan says:
If you happen to be a worshipper of God and someone commands you
either to act blasphemously or to say some other disgraceful thing, you
ought not to put any trust in him at all. Rather than this you must
remain firm in face of all tortures and endure death rather than say
or even think anything profane about God.
The sealing of one’s profession in death as a martyr sometimes issued
in furthering the cause of the philosopher. Plato’s Apologia tells the story
of Socrates’ death. In chapter Socrates says:
I fain would prophesy to you; for I am about to die, and that is the hour
in which men are gifted with prophetic power. And I prophesy to you
who are my murderers, that immediately after my death punishment far
heavier than you have inflicted on me will surely await you.
What is meant in this context is that there will be more accusers than
there are now. His position vindicated by death, Socrates’ disciples will
attack the Athenians as never before.
On the other hand, however, Greco-Roman teachers gave two seri-
ous cautions about martyrdom. Martyrdom is not to be sought. Seneca
(Ep. .) says: “Above all, he should avoid the weakness which has
taken possession of many—the lust for death.” Martyrdom does not
provide certain results. That is, it does not guarantee the furtherance of
one’s cause. It may win some but not necessarily others (Lucian, Peregr.
; Marcus Aurelius ..).
would have reservations about an overeagerness for martyrdom because they believed
that life belonged to God. Therefore, one is not free to dispose of it at will. For the Jew-
ish casuistry developed to help Jews avoid martyrdom, see David Daube, Collaboration
with Tyranny in Rabbinic Law (New York: Oxford University Press, ).
ous the others become?” Compare also the Martyrium Apollonii and
the Martyrium Potamiaenae et Basilidis. Lactantius (d. A.D. ), Divinarum
institutionum libri VII ., says: “It is right reason, then, to defend
religion by patience or death in which faith is preserved and is pleasing
to God himself, and it adds authority to religion.”
On the other hand, Christians shared the pagan and Jewish reserva-
tions about martyrdom. An overeagerness for martyrdom is denounced
(e.g., Mart. Pol. : “We do not approve those who give themselves up, for
the gospel does not teach us to do so”; Act. Cypr. says: “Since our dis-
cipline forbids anyone to surrender voluntarily.”). Martyrdom was not
regarded as a certain proof.14
14 H. Musurillo, The Acts of the Christian Martyrs (Oxford: Clarendon, ), passim.
-
not lead to the conversion of everyone (cf. Luke :–, where only
one of the two thieves crucified with him is converted; the other rails at
Jesus).
How then would Luke’s first readers/hearers have perceived his
account of the martyrdoms of Jesus and Stephen? Three things would
likely have stood out. First, neither man died because of a lust for death.
Both were healthy selves. Second, both legitimated their profession
as they sealed it with their blood. Both were sincere in their stands.
Third, this legitimation is evidenced in the conversion of others as
a result of their deaths. Martyrdom has an evangelistic function. In
the ancient world this Lukan motif would have served as part of the
confirmation of the Christian message. Its persuasiveness was that of a
selfless commitment on the part of stable persons.
15 Richard Cassidy, Jesus, Politics, and Society: A Study of Luke’s Gospel (Maryknoll, New
17 Ibid., –.
-
it becomes merely Jesus’ entry into the site of his subsequent teaching
(Luke :–:). Moreover, Luke :– has Jesus explicitly reject
violence against Jewish authority. Nonviolent confrontation aimed at
dialogue and hoping for a change of behavior seems the best descrip-
tion of the Lukan Jesus’ stance toward the Jewish structures. This was
doubtless due to the fact that Jesus and the Jews shared common
assumptions about God and values. With such a people dialogue could
be profitable.
The Lukan view of martyrdom offers specific support to this cor-
rection of Cassidy’s thesis. Were the deaths of the Lukan Jesus and
Stephen designed by either to influence the political structures of the
times (that is, Roman political structures)? Were their deaths the result
of Rome’s resistance to their political agitation? The answer to both
questions must be in the negative. In Luke-Acts these deaths were the
outcome of a struggle within the people of God, which at that time
was also a racial-national entity. The deaths, moreover, had their pos-
itive influence on those within the people of God: the thief converted
on the cross was almost certainly a Jew, and the spread of the gospel in
Acts and was by Christians (cf. Phil :–, where Paul’s impris-
onment and threatened martyrdom caused most of the Christians to be
bold in preaching). The Lukan Jesus and his followers, like the Phar-
isees of Jesus’ time, had as their concern the proper ordering of the
life of God’s people.18 If the Lukan Jesus adopted an attitude of indif-
ference regarding rulers and the forms under which they ruled, the
Christians in Acts basically looked with favor on the Roman structures
because, when they worked at their best, they protected the preachers
of the gospel from attack (e.g., Acts :–; :–; :–; :–
; :–), and, even when they were flawed (e.g., Acts –), they
facilitated the preaching of the gospel.
The Lukan Jesus’ primary vehicle for social change—if such lan-
guage is even legitimate in describing Lukan thought—was the struc-
ture of life in the community of his disciples. Among his followers the
Lukan Jesus sought a revolution in social attitudes. His disciples were to
live in the present in light of God’s reversal of all human values in the
Eschaton. Such a stance, of course, was regarded by some as “turning
the world upside down” (Acts :), even if that was not a primary or
even a conscious intention of the Christians. By embodying structures
), .
of social relationships that reflected the new life in the Spirit under the
Lordship of Jesus, the Christian community functioned in the larger
society as an agent of social change.
It would be improper, I think, to close without at least raising the
question of the relevance of the Lukan perspective for modern life.
Two contemporary Christian ethicists reflect the stance we have found
in Luke-Acts: John Howard Yoder19 and Stanley Hauerwas.20 Yoder’s
thesis is that the first duty of the church for society is to be the church.
That means to be a society which through the way its members deal
with one another demonstrates to the world what love means in social
relations. In this way the church fulfills its social responsibility by being
an example, a witness, a creative minority formed by obedience to
nonresistant love. From this point of view, the church does not attack
the social structure of society directly, as one power group among
others, but indirectly by embodying in its life a transcendent reality.
Hauerwas acknowledges both his debt to Yoder and to the Gospel of
Luke. The Lukan Jesus, he argues, did not go to the top (to Caesar
or to Pilate) to get something done. Nor did he go to the Left (the
Zealots). He went instead to the poor and the sinners. He established
a community to embody God’s grace. By insisting on being nothing
less than the community of love, moreover, the church forces the world
to face the truth of its own nature. “The most vital form of Christian
social ethics must actually be a concern about the kind of community
that Christians form among themselves.”21
To conclude: The Lukan Jesus is no more a social activist of the
Gandhi variety than of the Zealot type. Like the Pharisees of the
historical Jesus’ time, he is preoccupied with the ordering of the life of
the people of God. It is through the leaven of the life of the community
of the Lukan Jesus’ disciples that the world is turned upside down. This
19 Yoder is known to a wide reading audience by his The Politics of Jesus (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, ). There he argues that “a social style characterized by the
creation of a new community and the rejection of violence of any kind is the theme of
New Testament proclamation from beginning to end” (p. ). He has strong support
from Jacques Ellul, Violence (New York: Seabury, ), who shows the fallacy of the
logic of the assumption that violence, while wrong in the oppressor, becomes right when
used by Christians for desirable social change. The best summary of Yoder’s position
is found in Stanley Hauerwas, Vision and Virtue (Notre Dame, Ind.: Fides, ), in a
chapter entitled, ‘The Nonresistant Church: The Theological Ethics of John Howard
Yoder,’ –.
20 Stanley Hauerwas, ‘The Politics of Charity,’ Int (): –.
21 Hauerwas, Vision and Virtue, .
-
Theological Ramifications
Theologically, what is the role of Jesus’ resurrection in Luke? For the
third evangelist, God raised Jesus as part of the divine plan. In Luke
:, Jesus predicts: “The Son of Man must [δε
] suffer many things,
and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed,
and on the third day be raised [γερ©ναι, aorist passive]” (RSV).
2 John T. Squires, ‘The Plan of God in Luke-Acts,’ (Ph.D. diss., Yale University,
).
Luke : and : employ τελε
ν (“accomplish,” RSV). Luke :
reads: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything written
of the Son of Man by the prophets will be fulfilled.” This includes Jesus’
resurrection (“and on the third day he will rise”). Luke :– con-
tinues the same thread. The risen Jesus says:
“Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and
the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand
the scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ
should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.” (RSV)
Christological Ramifications
Christologically, the resurrection functions both as part of Luke’s at-
tempt to maintain the identity of the pre- and the post-Easter Jesus
and as God’s reversal of the human no to Jesus. First, the resurrection
serves as part of a larger motif emphasizing ‘this same Jesus.’ There
is a pattern in Luke-Acts that seeks to guarantee that the one who
dies, is buried, is raised, and ascends in Jerusalem and its environs is
the same Jesus who worked in Galilee. () Luke : says: “And all
his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee
stood at a distance and saw these things” (RSV). The echoes of :–
(the choice of the twelve apostles) and :– (a notice that the twelve
were with him and also some women) are unmistakable. The continuity
of the witnesses ensures that the Jesus who died is the same as the one
who worked in Galilee. () Luke : reads: “The women who had
come with him from Galilee followed, and saw the tomb, and how
his body was laid” (RSV). Again, an echo of :– is heard. Again,
the effect is to guarantee that it is the same Jesus who was buried.
() Luke :– has the two angels remind the women who find the
Soteriological Ramifications
Soteriologically, the resurrection functions both to provide the means
by which salvation may flow from Jesus and to define the nature of the
ultimate victory over death.
) In Luke-Acts salvation flows from the living Jesus.4 This is true for the
periods both before and after Easter. Thus, this is so before Easter (e.g.,
Luke :–; :–; :–, –; :–). Even the promise to the
thief on the cross was a promise made by the living Jesus (Luke :–
). In the period after Easter, this is still true. Luke :– links
the proclamation of repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name
to his resurrection from the dead. The emphasis is continued in Acts.
In :–, the call to “Repent, and be baptized everyone of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (RSV)
is predicated on Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation (so also in :, ;
:–; :–). In : the same point is explicit: “God exalted
him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel
and forgiveness of sins” (RSV). In : one hears it yet again: “Christ
… by being the first to rise from the dead … would proclaim light
both to the people and to the Gentiles” (RSV). It is by virtue of his
resurrection that salvation flows from Jesus in the period after his death.
Luke shares this emphasis with other early Christians (pre-Pauline—
Rom :; :b; Phil :–; Deutero-Pauline— Tim :; Heb :;
:; :).
4 Ibid., .
Calver Verlag, ], ) indicates the trend of recent research is to accept v. as an
integral part of the Third Gospel.
appeared, the disciples supposed they saw a spirit. The story rectifies
the disciples’ belief with two proofs. First, Jesus says: “See my hands
and feet, that it is I myself, handle me, and see; for a spirit has not
flesh and bones as you see that I have” (:, RSV). The pagan
Lucretius (Rer. Nat. .) enables one to sense the significance of this for
Luke’s readers. He says: “For nothing can touch or be touched except
a bodily substance.” This kind of saying was also known to an early
Christian like Tertullian (An. ; Marc. :), who used it to argue for the
corporeality of Jesus. In contrast to this, consider the gnosticizing Coptic
Gospel of Thomas, “Jesus said: I will give you what eye has not seen and
ear has not heard and hand has not touched and which has not come
into the heart of man” ().
Second, when Jesus says, “Have you anything here to eat?” the
disciples give him a piece of broiled fish and “he took it and ate before
them” (:–, RSV; cf. Acts :; :). The significance of this
act for Jewish sensitivities is clear: Angels do not eat (e.g., Tob :;
Josephus, A.J. .. §; Philo, Abr. ); human beings do eat. For
Luke, the risen Lord, no less than the pre-Easter Jesus, is flesh and
bones, corporeal, truly human. Not only does the risen Jesus eat, but he
also can be seen (even the wounds in his hands and feet) and touched.
The two stories (Luke :– and –) say the same thing about
the nature of Jesus’ victory over death. It is not to be understood as
an escape from this perishable frame (the Greek immortality of the
soul) but as a transformation of it. It is to be understood neither as a
transformation into a purely spiritual, angelic being nor as the mere
survival of his shade (cf. Sam :–). Jesus remains flesh and bones,
though immortal. His existence, although bodily, is nevertheless not
limited by the normal human constraints (e.g., :, “He vanished out
of their sight,” RSV; :, “As they were saying this, Jesus himself
stood among them,” RSV). Again, the similarities with the Fourth
Gospel are striking (John :, “the doors being shut … Jesus came
and stood among them,” RSV; :, “the doors were shut, but Jesus
came and stood among them,” RSV).
In Luke-Acts Jesus is understood, in part at least, as the prototype of
Christian existence. He is the pioneer (ρχηγÞ̋, Acts : [“Author,”
RSV]; : [“Leader,” RSV]; cf. Heb :; :) who goes before,
opening the Way for his disciples to follow. His existence is, then, a
model for his followers (cf. Luke :– and :–, where Jesus’
dealing with temptation is an example for Christians facing the same
difficulties). Given this mindset, if Luke speaks about the nature of
Jesus’ victory over death, he is also making a comment about the nature
of the victory over death for which Christians hope (cf. Phil :–;
John :). Luke’s answer, therefore, is very much the same answer
as Paul’s ( Cor ). Still, Luke does not make his confession in an
analytical or systematic manner but rather offers his confession in
the form of a narrative of the risen Christ who is understood as the
prototype of Christian existence. In the nature of Jesus’ victory over
death, one sees the victory for which his disciples hope as well. It
is a bodily existence in which marks that allow for the recognition
of individuality remain, but it is not subject either to death or to
the normal constraints of bodily existence as known this side of the
transformation from mortal to immortal.
Ecclesiological Ramifications
Ecclesiologically, the resurrection of Jesus functions in Luke to clarify
the nature of the Eucharist as mealtime with Jesus.8 The Lukan Jesus is
frequently involved in meals: (a) with sinners (:–; :–; :–);
(b) with Pharisees (:–; :–; :–); (c) with disciples (:–
; :; :–; Acts :—the term is literally “to take salt with
someone,” but the Latin, Syriac, and Coptic translations read “to eat
together”—cf. RSV, “while staying with them,” :); (d) with the
multitudes and disciples (:–). Three of the meals in which the
earthly and risen Jesus is involved mention the breaking of bread (:–
; :–; :).
) Luke :– portrays Jesus as one who satisfies the hungry, feeding
them through his disciples (cf. Luke :, “He has filled the hungry
with good things”; :, “Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall
be filled”). In Luke the feeding is in the neighborhood of Bethsaida
(‘House of fishing’). Although the crowd could not be satisfied by their
natural circumstances, Jesus can meet their need. He takes the five
loaves and two fishes, blesses and breaks them, and gives them to his
disciples to set before the crowd. “And all ate and were satisfied” (v. ,
RSV).
8 Talbert, Reading Luke, –; Robert F. O’Toole, The Unity of Luke’s Theology
9 Talbert, Reading Luke, –; for a survey of the literature, see François Bovon,
Luke the Theologian (trans. Ken McKinney; Allison Park, Pa.: Pickwick, ), –.
) In Luke : the risen Jesus “took bread and blessed, and broke
it, and gave it to them” (RSV). This action echoes the previous meals
of : and :. At this point, although the disciples have previously
been kept from recognizing Jesus (v. ), now their eyes are opened
and they do recognize him (v. a). The table fellowship that was inter-
rupted by Jesus’ death is here resumed at the risen Christ’s initiative.
Hereafter, the disciples will go on doing this in remembrance of him
(:), and they will mediate to the multitudes the nourishment Jesus
provides (:). Then, too, this incident is but one of several occasions
on which the risen Jesus ate with his followers (Luke :–; Acts :;
:). It serves as a bridge between the meals the earthly Jesus had
with his disciples and the later church’s Eucharist.10
In Acts we hear of the church’s being involved in breaking bread
(Acts :, ; :; :–—all but the last text in the setting of
Christian worship). Since ‘breaking bread’ is Eucharistic language in
the Third Gospel and since elsewhere in early Christianity there is
evidence of cultic meals with only bread and no mention of wine
(e.g., Acts John –; Acts Thom. , –, ; Pseudo-Clementine
Rec. and Hom. :), this seems the appropriate way to construe the
expression ‘breaking bread’ in Acts.
All of this yields the distinctive Lukan understanding of the Eucha-
rist. If Paul understands the Lord’s Supper as the moment when Chris-
tians remember Jesus’ death11 and the Fourth Gospel views the Eucha-
rist as the cultic extension of the incarnation, Luke-Acts regards it as
the extension of mealtime with Jesus. Such Eucharistic breaking bread
with Jesus looks back to mealtime with Jesus during his earthly career
and his request that it be continued (Luke :–; :–); it is now
grounded in Jesus’ resurrection appearances to his disciples in con-
nection with the breaking of bread (Luke :; Acts :; :); and
it anticipates the coming Messianic banquet in the Kingdom of God
10 Robert C. Tannehill, The Narrative Unity of Luke Acts ( vols.; Philadelphia: Fortress,
), :.
11 For various ways this could be understood, see C. H. Talbert, Reading Corinthians
Missiological Ramifications
Luke-Acts sees the church in terms of mission. This mission is grounded
in the resurrection of Jesus in at least three ways.12 First, mission is
based on the authoritative word of the risen Christ. Resurrection-
appearance narratives are of two types. Some function merely to prove
that Jesus is alive; others serve not only this purpose but also to allow
the risen Christ to give further instructions to his disciples. Luke :–
falls into the latter category. After establishing that Jesus is alive and
what the nature of his victory over death is (vv. –), the story shifts
focus so that verses – serve the needs of the disciples for further
teaching, in particular, about the christological meaning of scripture.
Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise
from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be
preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (RSV; cf.
Acts :b)
The one who speaks this word of command is the one whose prophe-
cies during his earthly career have now been fulfilled (v. ; cf. :–).
In the ancient world, fulfilled prophecy legitimated the one who made
the prediction (cf. Deut :–). If Jesus’ words have been fulfilled,
he is a true prophet who speaks with authority. It is this authoritative
prophet, now risen from the dead, who gives the command to mission.
Second, mission is enabled by the risen Christ’s gift of the Spirit.
Luke : reads: “And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon
you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high”
(RSV; cf. Acts :–, a). One reason the risen Christ commands the
disciples to remain in Jerusalem until the Spirit is given concerns the
Lukan belief that a valid testimony to Christ requires two witnesses,
in accordance with Deut :, namely, the witness of the apostles
and the witness of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts :, “we are witnesses to
these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those
who obey him,” RSV; cf. :–, “grant to thy servants to speak thy
word with all boldness, while thou stretchest out thy hand to heal,
and signs and wonders are performed through the name of thy holy
servant Jesus,” RSV). Another reason the disciples are to remain in
Jerusalem until they receive the gift of the Spirit has to do with the
Lukan conviction that God has the initiative in salvation history, so that
what human beings do must be done in response to divine leading and
empowering (cf. Luke :–, where successful fishing is done only after
and in obedience to the directions of Jesus) . A third reason the disciples
are not to depart Jerusalem before receiving the Spirit is quite simply
that until this gift is bestowed on them, they will have no personal
desire to bear witness. Acts : is not a command; it is a promise. “You
shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you
shall be my witnesses” (RSV). If disciples have been empowered by the
Spirit, they will bear witness. This is the promise the risen Jesus makes.
In Lukan missiology, the principle is clear cut: There is no mission
without a prior empowering! This empowering was promised by the
pre-Easter Jesus (Luke :) and the resurrected Christ (Luke :a;
Acts :, a), but it was made possible because of Jesus’ resurrection-
exaltation. Acts :– puts it plainly:
This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being there-
fore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the
Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you
see and hear. (RSV)
Third, those who will be involved in mission are placed under the pro-
tection of the risen Lord. Luke : says that prior to his ascension, the
risen Jesus “led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he
blessed them” (assured them of God’s favor and support; RSV).13 Bless-
ings were often part of final-departure scenes in Jewish literature (e.g.,
Gen :; :–). This act of blessing is like that of the high priest,
Simon, in Sir :–. With a priestly act, the risen Christ puts his
disciples who are to be involved in mission under the protection of God
before he leaves them (cf. Matt :, “and lo, I am with you to the end
of the Age,” RSV; John :, , “Holy Father, keep them in thy name.
… I do not pray that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that
thou shouldst keep them from the evil one,” RSV, for similar concerns).
After blessing the disciples, Jesus ascends heavenward. For their part,
the disciples obediently return to Jerusalem, there to await the gift of
the Spirit and the beginning of their mission to the nations.
13 Frederick W. Danker, Jesus and the New Age (Philadelphia: Fortress, ), .
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1 Thomas M. Finn, From Death to Rebirth: Ritual and Conversion in Antiquity (New York:
sity of Michigan Press, ) works out the contrast between a moral type of conversion
in which the stress is ethical, a movement from vice to virtue in which the convert
recognizes his/her shortcomings in light of a heightened awareness of morality, and a
cognitive type of conversion in which there is a collapse of an entire system of premises
and assumptions about how the world works and its replacement by one radically dif-
ferent, a change of worldviews. In Acts, Jews and God-fearers are offered forgiveness
for sins through Jesus (a moral type of conversion) while pagans are called upon to
experience a shift from polytheism to monotheism (a cognitive type of conversion).
5 The audience-oriented approach taken here is like that of Peter J. Rabinowitz,
Acts (New York: Crossroad, ) in the section on Acts :–. Some scholars would
also include Dio Chrysostom’s De exilio and Aelius Aristides’ ^Ιερν λÞγοι. I have
reservations about both and so have omitted them.
7 See Finn, From Death to Rebirth, –, for a discussion of the term.
:
8 One could also refer to the conversion of the brother of Apollonius of Tyana in
of all this?” The other answers: “I have come back to you transformed
… into a happy and blissful man—in the language of the stage, ‘thrice
blessed.’ ” The friend replies: “In so short a time?” The other responds:
“Yes. Don’t you think it wonderful, in the name of Zeus, that once
a slave, I am now free; once poor, now rich indeed; once witless and
befogged, now saner?” The friend replies: “I don’t clearly understand
what you mean.” The other then tells of his experience. He was going
to Rome to see an oculist about eye trouble. While there he went early
one morning to pay his respects to Nigrinus the Platonic philosopher,
something he had not done for some time. Nigrinus began to speak to
him. He praised philosophy and the freedom it gives; he ridiculed the
things that are commonly counted blessings like wealth and reputation,
dominion and honor, purple and gold. As a result, the other says: “I
couldn’t imagine what had come over me.” The other now regarded all
these things as paltry and ridiculous and was, in his words, “glad to be
looking up, as it were, out of the murky atmosphere of my past life to
a clear sky and a great light.” He forgot his eye ailment as he became
sharpersighted in his soul. “There you have it! I am going about enrap-
tured and drunk with the wine of his discourse” (LCL). This dialogue,
then, is also indicative of a conversion from vice to virtue.
In both examples of conversion to philosophy given above, the con-
version is moral. There is a renunciation of a lifestyle (drunkenness,
luxury) that is now replaced with a higher virtue (sobriety, simplicity).
At the same time, the philosophic convert remains within the pagan,
polytheistic worldview. His conversion is moral not cognitive.10
On the other hand, a cognitive type of conversion was also known to
both Jewish and pagan persons in antiquity.
10 Wayne A. Meeks, The Origins of Christian Morality: The First Two Centuries (New
Haven: Yale University Press, ), , agrees with A. D. Nock that “being or becom-
ing religious in the Greco-Roman world did not entail … moral transformation.” His
position is critiqued by Thomas M. Finn, review of Wayne A. Meeks, The Origins of
Christian Morality: The First Two Centuries, CBQ (): . There are texts that cast
doubt on the long held stereotype about Greek religion: () Euripides, Bacchae, lines –
(“O blessed he who in happiness knowing the rituals of the gods makes holy his way
of life and mingles his spirit with the sacred band.”); () Theophrastus, Pietate, extant
in fragments attested by Porphyry (Abst.), discusses the relationship between ethics and
sacrifice (e.g., “One must go to the sacrifices having a soul pure from evils.”); () Por-
phyry, De abstentia, quotes an inscription at the entrance to the sanctuary at Epidauros:
“Pure must one be when entering the temple. … But purity is thinking holy things.”
Among pagans, it was not just in philosophy that conversion meant a changed lifestyle.
This is not to deny that in some pagan religion ethics were irrelevant; it is to say that
not all pagan cultic religion was devoid of ethical concern.
:
Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, ), : “Conversion in Joseph and Aseneth
is … conceived as a transition from death and destruction which characterize the
predicament of the godless to the life and immortality enjoyed by those who worship
the true God, and creation imagery is the descriptive language used most often.”
13 Shumate, Crisis and Conversion, .
14 Ibid., .
15 Ibid., .
16 Ibid., –, .
17 Ibid., .
18 The language of turning (πιστρÛφειν and cognates) is shared by pagans, Jews, and
Christians.
19 A. D. Nock, Conversion (London: Oxford University Press, ), , , , .
:
20 The translation is from James H. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseude-
e.g., Porphyry’s Vit. Plot. speaks only of his following Ammonius continuously for
eleven years.
23 This was regarded as an exception by Nock, Conversion, –.
24 This is not to deny that some conversion narratives tell only of adhesion, e.g.,
Ovid, Metam. .–, tells of the adhesion of one Acoetes to the worship of Diony-
sius.
were still flourishing. I have a most amazing thing to tell as the result
of my visit to the oracle of Mopsus. The ruler of Cilicia was himself
still of two minds toward religious matters. This, I think, was because
his skepticism lacked conviction, for in all else he was an arrogant and
contemptible man. Since he kept about himself certain Epicureans, who,
because of their admirable nature studies, forsooth, have an arrogant
contempt, as they themselves aver, for all things such as oracles, he sent
in a freedman, like a spy into the enemy’s territory, arranging that he
should have a sealed tablet, on the inside of which was written the
inquiry without anyone’s knowing what it was. The man accordingly,
as is the custom, passed the night in the sacred precinct and went to
sleep, and in the morning reported a dream in this fashion: it seemed
to him that a handsome man stood beside him who uttered just one
word ‘Black’ and nothing more, and was gone immediately. The thing
seemed passing strange to us, and raised much inquiry, but the ruler was
astounded and fell down and worshipped; then opening the tablet he
showed written there the question: ‘Shall I sacrifice to you a white bull
or a black?’ The result was that the Epicureans were put to confusion,
and the ruler himself not only duly performed the sacrifice, but ever after
revered Mopsus.” (LCL)
Here a pagan person turns from skeptical philosophy to traditional
religion.
A second example of the dual turning in the conversion to cultic
paganism is found in the first book of Horace’s Carmina (ca. B.C.).
Carmina describes the poet’s renunciation of skeptical philosophy and
his return to the traditional state religion:
My religious devotions were mean and infrequent.
I strayed, a foolish man of wisdom,
But now I set my sails
in reverse, compelled to trace
25 Translation from David Mulroy, Horace’s Odes and Epodes (Ann Arbor: University of
important because Nock’s distinction between Jewish and Christian conversion and
cultic pagan adhesion underlies most New Testament scholarship today. See, e.g.,
Meeks, The Origins of Christian Morality, ; John E. Stambaugh and David L. Batch,
The New Testament in Its Social Environment (LEC; Philadelphia: Westminster, ), –
; and Martin Goodman, Mission and Conversion: Proselytizing in the Religious History of the
Roman Empire (Oxford: Clarendon, ), .
27 Ramsay MacMullen, ‘Two Types of Conversion to Early Christianity,’ VC
(): – and elsewhere, contends that early Christianity grew mainly through
demonstrations of divine power/miracles. There would have been a cultural predispo-
sition in this direction apart from Christianity.
army, is effected when he hears that Judith has slain the Assyrian gen-
eral, Holofernes. “And when Achior saw all that the God of Israel had
done, he believed in God with all his heart, and accepted circumcision
and was adopted into the household of Israel” (Jdt :). Both teaching
and marvels functioned as catalysts for conversion in ancient Judaism.
Divine Grace
Fourth, Dupont argues that in Acts the roots of conversion are in divine
grace. God grants salvation (:; :; :; :, ; :). The same
assumptions are found in non-messianic Jewish and pagan traditions.
28 The Christian Apocryphal Acts express the conviction that more than anything
else miracles initiate the process of conversion. Cf. Eugene V. Gallagher, ‘Conversion
and Salvation in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles,’ Sec Cent (): –.
:
32 Both Jews and pagans were aware of and concerned about conversions away from
their positions to others. Macc (:–, –; :–) tells of Jewish conversion
in Palestine to pagan ways under Antiochus Epiphanes. Cf. Harry A. Wolfson, Philo:
Foundations of Religious Philosophy in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam ( vols.; Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, ), :–, who identifies at least three reasons for
Jewish conversion to paganism in Alexandria. Aulus Gellius, Noct. att. ..– tells of
Demosthenes’ leaving Plato for Callistratus; . tells how Protagoras forsook philosophy
for rhetoric.
33 An obvious question to be raised at this point has to do with whether or not
pagans and non-messianic Jews engaged in aggressive proselytizing as did the mes-
sianists and Christians. The issue is focused especially on non-messianic Judaism.
Since the work of Schurer and Juster at the beginning of this century, most schol-
ars have subscribed to the view that Jewish proselytizing reached a peak of intensity
in the first century A.D. In recent years there has been some dissent (e.g., J. Munck,
D. Rokeah, E. Will, and C. Orrieux, and most recently, Martin Goodman and Scott
McKnight). James Carleton Paget, ‘Jewish Proselytism at the Time of Christian Ori-
gins: Chimera or Reality?’ JSNT (): –, surveys the evidence and argu-
if they felt one, would have been with the object/content of the Chris-
tian conversion experience (that is, Christ), not with its formal compo-
nents.
ments and concludes that some Jews proselytized, contra Goodman and McKnight.
Shaye J. D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (LEC; Philadelphia: Westminster,
), , draws a similar conclusion: “There is no evidence of an organized Jewish
mission to the Gentiles, but individuals seem to have engaged in this activity on their
own.”
1 Charles H. Talbert, Reading Acts: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Acts of
) Still others think Acts :– has a novelistic function. The lamps
are an incidental detail—like mention of the time of night, the length of
the discourse, the number of stories in the house, and the name of the
youth—included by a good fictional imagination in a story designed to
portray the power of the risen Jesus at work in Paul.5 A judgment about
the genre of the material and the lack of the historicity of the material,
however, does not thereby exclude a ‘meaning function’ for the details
in the narrative of Acts.
) Yet others think that Acts :– has a symbolic function.6 The story
depicts the church with the word and sacrament as the sphere of light
and life, outside of which is darkness and death, and warns believers to
remain awake lest they fall into the darkness and perish. Whereas Luke
would doubtless have agreed with the proposed theological statements
associated with the symbolic interpretation (e.g., Luke :–), it is
not characteristic of Luke to allegorize his narratives.
), .
4 E.g., F. F. Bruce, The Book of Acts (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, ), .
5 Luke T. Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles (SP ; Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press,
RTP (): –. Both Gerhard Schneider, Die Apostelgeschichte, Teil (HTKNT;
Freiburg: Herder, ), –, and Robert Tannehill, The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts,
( vols; Minneapolis: Fortress, ), :–, are sympathetic with Tremel’s thesis.
:–
) Pagan charges against other pagans. Romans feared night meetings for two
reasons: conspiracy and immorality. On the one hand, conspiracy was
associated in the Roman mind with night meetings. (a) Cicero’s speech
against Cataline reflects the mindset. He asks the accused:
Do you not see that your conspiracy is held fast by the knowledge of all
these men? Do you not think that there is a man among us who does not
know what you did last night or the night before last, where you were,
whom you summoned to your meeting, what decision you reached? (Cat.
., LCL)
Later Cicero describes in detail the association of the conspiracy with
nocturnal activity.
As it was growing dark, they (Cataline’s conspirators) went secretly to
the Mulvian Bridge and there divided their party into two groups in the
near-by houses, so that the Tiber and the bridge lay between them. …
At about three o’clock in the morning when the envoys of the Allobroges
with a large retinue and accompanied by Volturicius were beginning to
cross the Mulvian Bridge, these men fell upon them, and both sides drew
their swords. (Cat. .–, LCL)
(b) Juvenal continues the comment on the conspiracy of Cataline in his
Satirae.
Where can be found, O Cataline, nobler ancestors than thine, or than
thine, Cethegus? Yet you plot a night attack, you prepare to give our
7 E.g., Ernst Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles (Philadelphia: Westminster, ), .
8 Hans Conzelmann, Acts of the Apostles (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, ),
.
houses and temples to the flames as though you were the sons of trous-
ered Gauls, or sprung from the Senones, daring deeds that deserved the
shirt of torture. (Sat. .–, LCL)
The connection of conspiracy with night meetings was ingrained in the
Roman consciousness.
On the other hand, sexual immorality was associated by Mediter-
ranean peoples with night meetings. First, in the th century B.C.,
Euripides has Pentheus voice the Greeks’ concern about Bacchic night-
time excesses.
It chanced that, sojourning without this land,
I heard of strange misdeeds in this my town,
How from their homes our women have gone forth
Feigning a Bacchic rapture, and rove wild o’er wooded hills,
in dances honouring
Dionysus, this new-God—whoe’er be. (Bacch. –, LCL)
Second, Cicero, writing in the first century B.C., mentions in passing a
concern about “the performance of sacrifices by women at night” (Leg.
.). Marcus proposes to Atticus:
Assuredly we must make most careful provision that the reputation of
our women be guarded by the clear light of day, when they are observed
by many eyes, and that initiation into the mysteries of Ceres be per-
formed only with those rites which are in use in Rome. … And, that we
may not perchance seem too severe, I may cite the fact that in the very
centre of Greece, by a law enacted by Diagondas of Thebes, all noctur-
nal rites were abolished for ever; and furthermore that Aristophanes, the
wittiest poet of the Old Comedy, attacks strange gods and the nightly
vigils which were part of their worship. (Leg. ., LCL).
Third, Livy also speaks about such nighttime immorality connected
with religious rites.
A nameless Greek came first to Etruria, … a priest of secret rites per-
formed by night. There were initiatory rites which at first were imparted
to a few, then began to be generally known among men and women. To
the religious elements in them were added the delights of wine and feasts,
that the minds of a larger number might be attracted. When wine had
inflamed their minds, and night and the mingling of males and females,
youth with age, had destroyed every sentiment of modesty, all varieties of
corruption first began to be practiced. (., LCL)
:–
) Jewish charges against pagans. The Wisdom of Solomon from the st
century B.C. accuses pagans of the same type of immorality in associa-
tion with their night meetings.
For whether they … celebrate secret mysteries or hold frenzied revels
with strange customs, they no longer keep either their lives or their
marriages pure. (:–, NRSV)
) Pagan charges against Christians. During the nd and rd centuries
A.D., the charge of loving the dark and practicing immorality therein is
explicitly levelled against Christians.
(a) Justin in his Dialogus cum Tryphone asks his Jewish debate partners
if they believe the pagan charge that after their banquets Christians
extinguish the lights and indulge in unbridled sensuality (). Trypho
says that he does not believe the charges of nocturnal immorality made
by the rabble ().
(b) Theophilus of Antioch also echoes the charge.
They (the unintelligent people who falsely accuse Christians) said that
our wives are the common property of all and live in promiscuity, that
we have intercourse with our own sisters. (Autol. ., Grant)
(c) Athenagoras refers to the same thing in his Legatio pro Christianis .
(d) Tertullian also knows the charges that a Christian, before the light
is extinguished, checks to see where his mother or sister may be so as
to be able at least to avoid them in the sexual excesses which will follow
(Apol. .–.).
(e) Minucius Felix offers the fullest statement of the charges, as
expressed by the pagan, Marcus Cornelius Fronto:
) Pagan charges against Jews. Josephus, Contra Apionem .–, says that
Apion told the tale that Jews used to catch a Greek, fatten him up, kill
him, eat his entrails, and swear an oath upon this sacrifice that they
would ever be at enmity with the Greeks.
) Pagan charges against Christians. In the second and third centuries A.D.,
pagans charged Christians with infanticide/cannibalism as part of their
(c) Minucius Felix, Octavius , contends that Saturn did not expose his
children but devoured them; Jupiter, moreover, taught Bellona to steep
her sacred rites with a draught of human gore.
) Christian charges against other Christians. Justin, Apologia i , says that
Simon Magus, Menander, Marcion, and those who take their names
from these men are called Christians even though they are rejected by
mainstream believers. These heretics may very well be guilty of “eating
human flesh.”
The charges of cannibalism and/or infanticide are so pervasive in
Mediterranean antiquity from pre-Christian times until well into our
era among so many different groups that anyone in that culture who
heard about a night meeting, associated with cultic practices, that
involved the death of a child would automatically be suspicious. The
story in Acts :– would almost certainly have been heard in the
context of these associations.
Already in pre-Christian times, the two charges of the practice of
sexual immorality in the dark and the killing of children in religious
rites were associated as part of a total picture of undesirable practices.
Livy and Wis : show this to be the case for both pagans and
Jews. The link between the two charges continued into the second and
third centuries of our era (e.g., Justin, Dial. ; Origen, Cels. .). It can
with justification be said that there was a Mediterranean mindset that
linked night meetings having religious overtones with immorality and
the killing of children.
The miracle story of Acts :– had among its ingredients the
death of a boy in the context of Christian worship. The reference
to the ‘many lights’ in verse would say to the auditor that the
Christian assembly was not doing anything under cover of darkness.
The circumstances surrounding the death of Eutychus (an accident
due to his falling asleep) and his resuscitation by the leader of the
assembly say that the Christian assembly neither intended nor tolerated
his death. He left alive! A story told in the terms given it in Acts :–
would dispel an auditor’s suspicions and allay an auditor’s fears.
Its apologetic overtones would defend Christian assemblies against the
hostile stereotypes described in this essay. Given the cultural milieu,
Acts :– would function in this way whether or not explicit charges
were at that moment being made against Christians and whether or
not its author intended it to do so.14
This paper deals with two problems, one major and one minor, related
to the depiction of the Gentile mission in Acts. () How is the origin of
the Gentile mission in Acts to be understood theologically? () Why is
there a disproportionate amount of attention given to Jewish rejection
of the gospel in Acts? These two questions will be treated in order. We
begin with the first.
Luke-Acts is a narrative account in two parts: part one, the life of the
founder of the Christian community; part two, a sketch of the Chris-
tian community from its beginnings in Jerusalem to its expansion to
Rome. The story is about a Jewish founder and a community of Jewish
followers in Palestine that ultimately becomes a predominantly Gentile
Christian community in lands outside Palestine. How did a Palestinian
Jewish movement become a non-Palestinian Gentile one? That is the
historical question. What justification was there for a Palestinian Jewish
movement becoming a non-Palestinian Gentile one? That is the reli-
gious question. It is on the latter question that this essay focuses.1
How is the origin of the Gentile mission understood by the author
of Luke-Acts? Research offers us two options. On the one hand, some
scholars contend that Luke thinks the Gentile mission originated be-
cause of Jewish rejection of the gospel.
It was to the Jews that salvation was first offered, and offered again and
again. It was not until they refused it by their vilification of Jesus that the
emissaries of Christianity turned to the Gentiles.2
1 Dixon Slingerland, ‘The Jews in the Pauline Portion of Acts,’ JAAR ():
–, argues that Acts is not historical either in its picture of Paul or its portrayal of
the Jews. Whatever one makes of such a claim, it is irrelevant for our purposes. This
article is concerned solely with Acts’ theology.
2 Ernst Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles (trans. R. McL. Wilson; Philadelphia:
Westminster, ), ; Jack T. Sanders, The Jews in Luke-Acts (Philadelphia: Fortress,
).
) Acts : tells how, when Paul preached to Jews in Corinth and
experienced their rejection of his message that the Christ was Jesus,
the apostle said:
Your blood be upon your heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go
to the Gentiles. (RSV)
3 J. C. O’Neill, The Theology of Acts in Its Historical Setting (London: SPCK, ), .
4 Jacob Jervell, Luke and the People of God (Minneapolis: Augsburg, ), –; Ger-
hard Lohfink, Die Sammlung Israels. Eine Untersuchung zur lukanischen Ekklesiologie (StANT
; München: Kösel-Verlag, ), ; Augustin George, ‘Israël dans l’oeuvre de Luc,’
RB (): –.
: -
) Israel did not reject the gospel but became divided over the issue.
Some were repentant (Acts :; :; :; :, ; :; :; :;
:–; :; :–); others were unrepentant (Acts :–; :,
–; :; :, –; :–; :; :–).
) The repentant Jews are the restored, purified, true Israel. The unre-
pentant portion of the People has forfeited its membership in the peo-
ple of God (Acts :).
5 The same two points of view lie side by side in the Pseudo-Clementines, Recogn.
:. and ..—the Gentile mission results from unbelief of Jews; Recogn. .—the
Gentile mission follows belief of Jews.
his intelligence. This essay will argue that the apparent contradiction
can be resolved if read in light of Luke’s overall perspective regarding
the divine plan.6
According to Luke-Acts, there is a divine purpose that stands behind
the events of history. It is spoken of as the βουλc το ©εο in Luke :;
Acts :; :; :–; :; :. It is referred to as God’s ©Ûληµα
in Luke :; Acts :; :. It is described as God’s ξουσÝα in
Acts :.
Events of history happen according to this divine plan in Luke-Acts.
This is sometimes described with the term δε
as in Luke :; :;
:; :; :; :; :; :; :; :; Acts :; :; :;
:; :; :; :; :. It is referred to by κατa τe ρισµÛνον
in Luke :; by ρισµÛνο̋ πe το ©εο in Acts :; and by ÿz
ñρισεν in Acts :. In Acts : the term used is προχειρÝσασ©αι;
in Acts : it is προεχειρÝσατο. The expression is qν ναγκα
ον in
Acts :. In Luke :; :; :; Acts :; :–, it is µÛλλει
that refers to the fact that events happen according to the divine plan.
The realization of the divine plan is often spoken of in terms of
fulfillment. Luke :; :; :; Acts :; :; :, all use πληρον.
Luke : uses συµπληροσ©αι. Luke : and : employ τελε
ν.
This divine plan or will of God can be known by humans. The
scriptures of Israel make it known: for example, Luke :–; :–;
Acts :, –, ; :; :–. Angelic announcement reveals
it as well: for example, Luke :–; :–; Acts :–, , –;
:–. Living humans prophesy in ways that make the divine will
known: for example, Luke :–, –; Acts :–. Both the pre-
Easter Jesus (for example, Luke :, ; :–; :) and the risen
Christ (for example, Luke :; Acts :–; :) express the divine
purpose for others to know. Sometimes God’s purpose is manifest by
special appointment, as in Acts :. In various ways, the will of God
which lies behind and determines the course of history is made known
to humans.
When God’s plan is made known to humans, it often explains the
meaning of events: for example, Acts :–; :–; :–; :–
; :–. It also may evoke an active response to something that
needs doing: for example, Acts :–; :–. This latter fact shows
6 John T. Squires, ‘The Plan of God in Luke Acts,’ (Ph.D. diss., Yale University,
). Robert C. Tannehill, ‘Israel in Luke-Acts,’ JBL (): –, regards it as
the unifying element in Luke-Acts.
: -
correctly argues, disagreeing with S. Schulz, ‘Gottes Vorsehung bei Lukas,’ ZNW
(): –.
Three examples from the pagan world give one a feel for that seg-
ment of the culture.
Assyrians and the Israelites are taken into bondage. Verse says the
exile was because of Israel’s sins; verse says what was done was “as
the Lord spoke by all his servants the prophets.” In Kgs the south-
ern kingdom is taken away into Babylonian exile. Moses’ prophecy in
Deut about what would happen if Israel proved disobedient is shown
to have been fulfilled in the subsequent narrative of Kings. History
moves according to the divine plan as disclosed and effected through
prophecies.
Reading Luke: A Literary and Theological Commentary (New York: Crossroad, ), –;
idem, ‘Promise and Fulfillment in Lucan Theology,’ in Luke-Acts: New Perspectives from
the Society of Biblical Literature Seminar (ed. C. H. Talbert; New York: Crossroad, ),
–.
(): , says of the Lukan scheme: “we recognize it for the anti-Semitic lie that
it is.”
10 Talbert, Reading Luke, .
: -
He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in
the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their
thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with
good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. (RSV)
The same is true of the beatitudes and the woes (Luke :–, –).
That the Evangelist is explicit in places like these enables the reader to
say for certain that the reversal theme is intended and to anticipate it
later in the narrative when it is not explicitly signaled.
What enables the reader to say that various passages that have no
explicit designation as such reflect the reversal motif is a knowledge
of the common cultural assumptions that lie behind a given text. Only
because the reader knows the general Jewish cultural estimate of priests,
levites, and Samaritans can she hear the parable of the Good Samar-
itan as a reversal of values (bad priest and levite—good Samaritan). It
is not spelled out explicitly in the text. Yet because of the reversal motif
that is explicit elsewhere and because of a knowledge of general cultural
assumptions not spelled out in the text, one does not hesitate to read or
hear the parable in terms of the reversal motif.
It was common Jewish conviction that when the Law was revealed
at Sinai, it was offered to all nations. When the nations refused it,
God gave it to Israel. Three examples illustrate the position, () Mekilta,
‘Bahodesh,’ , on Exod :, says that although God gave the Torah
openly, the nations were unwilling to accept it. So He declared his
word unto Jacob. () Sifre on Deuteronomy §, says that when God
revealed himself he did so not only to Israel but to all the nations.
They rejected his revelation. So when the Lord saw that, he gave the
Law to Israel. () Pesikta Rabbati :, says that before the Lord gave the
Torah to Israel, he went around offering it to all the seventy nations.
Since no one of them would accept it, it was finally offered to Israel.
G. F. Moore contends that this position was “the teaching of both great
schools of the second century, the schools of Ishmael and Akiba, and is
therefore presumably part of the earlier common tradition from which
they drew.”11 We are dealing, then, with a belief of at least the late
first century. It was Jewish convention that God’s revelation had been
offered first to the Gentiles; after their rejection of it, God had turned
to Israel who accepted it.
:.
) In addition to the sound and fire, Philo speaks of the speech that
could be understood by all the audience.
Then from the midst of the fire … there sounded forth to their utter
amazement a voice, for the flame became articulate speech in the language
familiar to the audience (Decal. .).
We have already seen that part of the Jewish conviction about Sinai
was that it was offered to the nations. Midrash Tanhuma c says it
went into seventy languages so that all could understand (cf. t Sotah :).
Sound, fire, and speech understood by all were characteristic of the
Sinai theophany. The same ingredients are found in Luke’s narration
of the Pentecostal events of the New Covenant. Taken together with
the fact that Jubilees regards Pentecost as the day associated with the
renewal of the covenant made with Moses and the fact that at least
by the second century rabbinic Judaism regarded Pentecost as the day
the law was given at Sinai, it seems that Acts intends to understand
the Christan Pentecost in terms of the events that took place at Sinai.
Just as a revelation of God was disseminated from Sinai, so a new
communication goes forth at Pentecost. This is the key signature for
the composition that follows.
Unlike the events at Sinai where God goes first to the Gentiles
and only after their rejection of his revelation turns to Israel, the new
divine disclosure goes first to Israel and only after her rejection of the
gospel do the messengers turn to the Gentiles who listen. The narrative
of Acts continues the Lukan reversal theme. In connection with the
inauguration of the New Age, there is a status reversal. Whereas it was
formerly rejection by Gentiles/acceptance by Israel, now it is rejection
:–.
: -
This essay deals with the theology, implicit and explicit, in the nar-
ratives about sea storms in Acts and Luke :–.1 It attempts
to answer two questions: () What theological content would ancient
Mediterranean listeners have heard in these narratives? and () How
do the theological implications of these two stories fit into the Lukan
whole?2
Composition
Acts belongs to a large thought-unit dealing with Paul’s journey from
Caesarea to Rome. It consists of introductory (:–) and concluding
(:–) itineraries enclosing three episodes (:–; :–; :–
).
1 This essay was co-authored by Talbert and his student, John Herbert Hayes, and
literature which either focuses on the question of sources or treats the text of Luke-Acts
as something other than a religious document (e.g., a secular narrative).
Acts comprises the introductory itinerary and the first two episodes
of the larger thought unit.
Comparative Materials
Acts is an example of the type-scene involving sea storm and ship-
wreck.3 Narratives of storm and shipwreck are widespread in Mediter-
ranean antiquity. Among the extensive remains we may mention the
following:4
3 The language of type-scene is that of Pamela Thimmes, Studies in the Biblical Sea-
Hayes as part of a project sponsored by the Spire for Individualized Research at Wake
-
and Noble, ), –; Susan Marie Praeder, ‘The Narrative Voyage: An Analysis
and Interpretation of Acts –,’ (Ph.D. diss., Graduate Theological Union, ),
. The Elder Seneca, Controv. .. and ., illustrates the use of stylized sea-storm
episodes in his declamations.
6 The list that follows is a part of a larger collection compiled by J. H. Hayes,
7 Luke T Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, ),
only the true philosopher is calm in a crisis (Lucian, Peregr. –; the
story of Pyrrho in Diogenes Laertius, Vit. phil. .; cf. Acts :–);
(e) when in crisis, pray (T. Naph. :–; cf. Acts :–). Most of these
moral points function in subsidiary roles in Acts .
The theological functions of sea narratives, viewed in terms of cau-
sality,8 fall into four categories:9
) Storm due to other than a divine cause and outcome due to gods or
God (Herpyllis; Lucian, Merc. cond. –; Nav. –; Aelius Aristides, ^Ιερν
λÞγοι .–; Achilles Tatius, .; .; Virgil, Aen. .–; Ovid, Trist.
..–; T. Naph. :–; Josephus, Vita –; Acts Phil. .–).
) Storm due to other than a divine cause and outcome due to natural
or human agents (Apollonius Rhodius, Argon. .–; Polybius, .;
Ninus C; Chion, ; Dio Chrysostom, Orat. .–; Xenophon of Eph-
esus, Ephes. .; .; .; Lucian, Tox.–; Ver. hist. .–; .; Aelius
Aristides, ^Ιερν λÞγοι .–; Hist. Apoll. reg. Tyr. –; Heliodorus,
.; .; Virgil, Aen. .–; Ovid, Metam. .–; Quintus Cur-
tius, Hist. Alex. Magn. ..–; Phaedrus, Fab. .; Petronius, Satyr.
; Lucan, .–; .–; Tacitus, Ann. .–; Josephus, B.J.
.–).
the categories ‘natural’ and ‘divine’ were used. See R. M. Grant, Miracle and Natural
Law in Graeco-Roman and Early Christian Thought (Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing,
).
9 This typology was suggested by C. H. Talbert and developed by J. H. Hayes
during the summer of as part of the Spires Program for Individualized Research
at Wake Forest University.
10 Gary Miles and Garry Trompf, ‘Luke and Antiphon,’ HTR (): –.
11 David Ladouceur, ‘Hellenistic Preconceptions of Shipwreck and Pollution as a
Context for Acts –,’ HTR (): –.
12 The fast refers to the Day of Atonement, th Tishri. For Jews, the Feast of Booths
five days after the fast marked the end of the season for sailing. Generally, from May
(?) until September was regarded by Mediterranean people as the safe season for sea
travel.
-
pilot and owner of the ship who want to sail despite the bad time of
the year13 (:—“the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and
the owner of the ship than to what Paul said,” NAB); (c) the search
for a suitable harbor in which to spend the winter (:—“Since the
harbor was unfavorably situated for spending the winter, the majority
planned to put out to sea … in the hope of reaching Phoenix, a port
in Crete,” NAB); (d) the fact that other ships had spent the winter in
a safe harbor (:—“Three months later we set sail on a ship that
had wintered at the island,” NAB). All of these details make the same
point. The storm and shipwreck were not due to divine judgment but
rather to a natural cause, namely, the time of the year. Such a depiction
of Paul’s experience of storm and shipwreck could be understood as
a protection against possible misunderstanding in terms of category :
since one cannot escape divine justice, the storm is caused by God as
a judgment on a guilty party, Paul. That the narrator was aware of
such a possibility is evidenced by the views espoused by his characters
in :b: “This man must certainly be a murderer; though he escaped
the sea, justice has not allowed him to remain alive.”
Over against any impression that Paul was judged guilty by God
because he was involved in a storm and shipwreck, Acts makes
explicit that the storm and shipwreck were due to the time of the year
(:). Over against any claim that Paul’s escape from the dangers of
the deep was due to human prowess, Acts makes explicit that the
deliverance was in accord with the divine plan (:–; :–;
:). The effect of the former is to declare that Paul’s involvement
in storm and shipwreck was not evidence of his guilt. The effect of the
latter is to say that Paul’s preservation is part of the divine plan to carry
the gospel to Rome by means of this innocent man. You cannot stop the
divine plan! This seems likely to be the way an ancient Mediterranean
listener would have heard the narrative, given the cultural conventions
about sea storms and shipwrecks.
13 Since grain was needed in Rome, Claudius had instituted a policy to secure a
regular supply. Suetonius, Claud. ., says Claudius assumed the expense of any loss
suffered by ship owners due to winter storms. Pliny the Elder, Nat. .., says that
not even the fury of storms closed the sea, because of avarice (David W J. Gill and
Conrad Gempf, eds., The Book of Acts in Its Graeco-Roman Setting [Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Eerdmans, ], ).
Context
The reading suggested above on the basis of comparative material is
reinforced by an examination of the immediate contexts of Acts .
Two contexts should be considered: () Acts :–, the narrative
which follows chapter and which goes together as part of the larger
thought-unit of :–:, and () Acts :–:, the large thought-
unit which precedes chapter .
Acts :– constitutes Episode Three in the thought-unit of :–
: and consists of two parts: :– and :–. In the first part,
Paul is bitten by a viper (v. ) which causes the natives to think he is a
murderer who, though he escaped from the sea, has now been caught
by divine justice (v. ). When he is not affected by the snakebite, the
natives change their opinion (v. ). He is not a murderer; he is a god.
Two observations emerge from verses –. First, there is an explicit
statement by the characters of the Mediterranean assumption that the
animal kingdom, often a serpent, functioned as a vehicle of divine
justice. Second, the serpent bite is explicitly understood as a corollary
to involvement in storm and shipwreck. Both are believed by the natives
to function in the same way, as divine judgment.
Three examples from the Greco-Roman world illustrate one or both
dimensions of the case. (a) In Anthologia Graeca ., we read:
The shipwrecked mariner had escaped the whirlwind and the fury of the
deadly sea, and as he was lying on the Libyan sand not far from the
beach … naked and exhausted by the unhappy wreck, a baneful viper
slew him. Why did he struggle with the waves in vain, escaping then the
fate that was his lot on the land? (LCL)14
14 Sometimes a villain escaped judgment by the sea because he was destined for a
further punishment (e.g., Caesar escapes by being hurled to shore by a miraculous tenth
wave [Lucan, Bell. civ. .–] because the parricide was being saved for the death
he deserved). See Morford, The Poet Lucan, .
15 B. P. Reardon, ed., Collected Ancient Greek Novels (Berkeley: University of California
A son having murdered his own father and fearing the laws fled into the
desert. As he passed through the mountains he was pursued by a lion;
and being pursued by a lion he went up into a tree, and finding a snake
as he went up into a tree and being unable to go up on account of the
snake he came down again. Wrong doing does not escape the attention
of god. The divine always brings the wicked into Dike.16
Similar assumptions are expressed in Jewish sources as well.17 (a) In the
Tosefta, Sanhedrin : [E], R. Simeon ben Shatah (ca. A.D. ) said he
saw a man with a sword running after a fellow. The two ran into a
deserted building. When Simeon entered, he saw the one slain and the
other with the sword dripping blood. The rabbi comments: “But He
who knows the thoughts of man will exact punishment from the guilty.
He did not move from the spot before a snake bit him and he died.”18
(b) The Jerusalem Talmud, Berakhot : [XIVD], contains a tradition
about R. Haninah ben Dosa (before A.D. ) who, when praying, was
bitten by a snake but did not interrupt his prayers. Not only was the
rabbi not affected by the bite but the snake died at the entrance to its
den. In the Babylonian Talmud, after these events Haninah is reported
to have said: “It is not the snake that kills, but sin” (b. Berakhot a).19
A righteous man is unaffected by snakebite, just as a wicked man is
punished by it.
This latter point corresponds to the Jewish mind-set found in Dan
:, in which Daniel says to the king: “My God sent his angel and shut
the lions’ mouths … because I was found blameless before him.” That
this idea is not limited to a Jewish context is evidenced by the Greco-
Roman tradition found in Horace, Carmina .. There the poet proves
his righteousness with the news that while he was strolling unprotected
through the woods, a wolf fled from him, leaving him unharmed. The
animal kingdom, like the sea, punishes the wicked as the agent of divine
justice. It does not, however, harm the righteous.
The same cultural mind-set is reflected in Christian sources as well.
In the Acts of John a villain lusted in vain after the married Drusiana.
When she died, he bribed the steward of her husband to open the
tomb so he could have his way with the corpse. When they entered, but
before the act could occur, a serpent appeared and slew the steward
16 Henry J. Cadbury, The Book of Acts in History (London: Black, ), .
17 L. H. Silberman, ‘Paul’s Viper: Acts :–,’ Forum (): –.
18 The Tosefta: Neziqin (trans. Jacob Neusner; New York: KTAV, ), .
19 The Babylonian Talmud: Seder Zera’im (ed. I. Epstein; trans. M. Simon; London:
Luke :–
It is time to turn to Luke :– to ask what theological overtones an
ancient listener would have heard. Again, remarks that follow will be
developed in terms of composition, comparative materials, and context.
Composition
This is a miracle story with the usual three parts: problem (vv. –a),
miracle (v. b), and reaction to the miracle (v. ). Its obvious point is
that Jesus has power over the wind and the sea.
Comparative Materials
Ancient listeners might have heard a range of implications.
) When Luke :b gives as the reaction to the miracle the question,
“Who then is this, who commands even the winds and the sea, and
they obey him?” (NAB) echoes from the LXX could have been heard.
Ps : (LXX; MT :) reads: “Thou rulest the power of the sea, and
thou calmest the tumult of its waves.” Ps :– (LXX; MT :–
) reads: “And he commands the storm, and it is calmed into a gentle
breeze, and its waves are still. And they are glad, because they are quiet;
and he guides them to their desired haven.” Of course, the one about
whom the LXX speaks is Yahweh. The story, then, applies to Jesus the
attributes of the Lord. Who is Jesus? Jesus is one with Yahweh’s power.
) The question, ‘Who is this?’ might have evoked other echoes as well.
Two biographies of Pythagoras offer relevant data about the popular
belief that would have been ‘in the air’ in Luke’s time. Porphyry, Vita
Pythagorae , says of the philosopher that “he calmed storms on rivers
and seas, for the comfort and safe passage of his friends.”21 Similar feats
were performed by his followers Empedocles, Epimenides, and Abaris.
Iamblichus, Vita Pythagorae , says that one sign of the philosopher’s
divinity were his “tranquilizations of the waves of rivers and seas,
in order that his disciples might the more easily pass over them.”22
Among others who did such things was Empedocles of Agrigentum,
surnamed the ‘wind-stiller.’ In Vita Pythagorae , moreover, a story is
21 Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, ed., The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library (Grand Rapids,
23 Ibid., .
24 It is possible that Acts : reflects the same type of polemic in its context: “Three
months later we set sail on a ship that had wintered at the island, an Alexandrian ship
with the Twin Brothers as its figurehead” (NRSV). While Paul and his company were
tossed about on the sea and finally delivered by the God to whom Paul belonged, the
Twin Brothers, those famed deliverers of travelers in peril at sea, spent the winter in the
safe harbor at Malta (so J. H. Hayes).
Context
Luke :– is part of a large thought-unit, :–:, in which four
miracle stories demonstrate Jesus’ power (:–; :–; :–;
:–, –). These stories are followed by :–, in which Jesus
gives power and authority to the Twelve for their mission work.25 Luke
:–’s function in this thought-unit is to say that Jesus’ power in-
cludes authority over the sea. His ‘sent ones’ are, therefore, not outside
the sphere of his control and protection when they travel on the sea.
Moreover, the exorcism story in :–, set in Gentile territory, in
which demons, resident in unclean swine, try to escape Jesus’ power by
rushing into the waters of the lake, functions in part to say that demons
are by no means eluding the authority of the one to whom even wind
and water hearken. Jesus is Lord of the sea and its storms. His ‘sent
ones’ may have faith that they are safe in his power for the assigned
tasks that lie before them.
Foreshadowing in Luke-Acts
In Luke-Acts, as in other texts of Mediterranean antiquity, there is fre-
quent use of foreshadowing. In Greek and Roman epics, for example,
one finds devices to forecast the future, both the future that finds ful-
fillment within the narrative and the future whose fulfillment is beyond
the narrative.27 Sometimes the foreshadowing is done by the author,
sometimes by a divine being within the narrative, and sometimes by
a mortal character (all of which are found in Luke-Acts). These fore-
shadowings frequently take the form of prophecies of the future: for
example, in the Aeneid .–, the author hints that Lausus will meet
his death; in the Aeneid .–, the goddess Diana’s words to Opis
foreshadow the later death of Camilla with the attendant death of her
slayer; and in the Aeneid .–, Andromache foresees the future fate
of Astyanax and of the Trojans in general. A Greco-Roman hearer
of Luke-Acts, therefore, would have understood the evangelist’s use of
foreshadowing.
The closest parallels to the Lukan use of foreshadowing by prophecy,
however, are from the LXX. Luke’s repeated use of prophecy ful-
fillment, for example, functions as foreshadowing by divine forecast,
sometimes within a dream or vision, sometimes apart from a dream or
vision.28 This reflects the same practice in the LXX.
27 George E. Duckworth, Foreshadowing and Suspense in the Epics of Homer, Apollonius, and
( Sam :–). Solomon has his brother and rival, Adonijah, killed
( Kgs :–). (b) Absalom goes in to his father’s concubines in the
sight of all Israel ( Sam :–). The foreshadowing allows the
narrator to dispense with continual enactment of divine intervention
that might overschematize the plot, and to benefit from the artistic
gains of “omnipotence behind-the-scenes.”30
This foreshadowing is much like the divine forecast of Acts ::
“Just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must
also bear witness in Rome” (NAB). What follows throughout the trials
before authorities may seem like a secular narrative devoid of divine
intervention, but the action is controlled by the foreshadowing of divine
forecast. Following biblical models, it is a theological narrative with
omnipotence behind the scenes.
dealing with Elijah tells stories of his accomplishments. Then the reader
learns that Elisha is anointed as prophet in his stead ( Kgs :), and
that the Spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha ( Kgs :). Following that, a
series of events connected with Elisha depicts his deeds, which have
similarities with deeds of Elijah. For example, Elisha parts the water
( Kgs :–) as Elijah had done ( Kgs :); Elisha promises a gift of
water ( Kgs :) as Elijah had done ( Kgs :); Elisha multiplies the
oil ( Kgs :–) as Elijah had done ( Kgs :–); and Elisha raises a
child ( Kgs :–) as Elijah had done ( Kgs :–). In these two
cycles, the deeds of Elijah function as foreshadowing by demonstrat-
ing what will be accomplished by Elisha, who has the Spirit of Elijah’s
hero. Demonstrations of the Spirit in the Elijah cycle foreshadow events
worked out in the Elisha cycle. Whether it be foreshadowing by divine
forecast, by dream, or by demonstration, Acts and Luke :– fit
nicely into the overall Lukan literary and theological design.
It is the last two sets of parallel events that concern us here. If Acts
:–: functions as a declaration of Paul’s innocence by human
authorities, parallel to the declarations of Jesus’ innocence by human
authorities in Luke :, , , , can his deliverance from storm,
shipwreck, and from snakebite be seen as a parallel to Jesus’ resurrec-
tion?33
Jesus’ death in Luke raises the question whether, from a human point
of view, he is a guilty criminal and, from the divine perspective, is
accursed. Declarations of his innocence by human authorities make it
clear that his death is not the execution of the guilty but the innocent
sufferings of a martyr. The vindication of his resurrection and exalta-
tion reveals that he is not accursed of God but is Lord and Christ.
Similarly, after Paul is taken into custody he is kept a prisoner, possibly
indicating that, from a human vantage point, he is wicked. Moreover,
he experiences shipwreck and snakebite, events that might convey that
he was a wicked man receiving his just deserts from God. Declara-
tions by human authorities of his innocence make it clear that he is no
criminal, and the circumstances of his shipwreck and snakebite speak
forcefully of his innocence and righteousness before God. Both Luke
and Acts end with declarations of their respective heroes’ innocence by
both human and divine authority. In the Third Gospel, Jesus’ vindica-
tion takes the form of his resurrection and exaltation; in Acts, Paul’s
33 M. D. Goulder, Type and History in Acts (London: SPCK, ), , describes the
events of Acts as Paul’s “death” and those of Acts :– as Paul’s “resurrection,”
paralleling Jesus’ death in Luke and his resurrection in Luke .
-
“allegorical” reading of Acts in terms of Jesus’ death and resurrection (Acts, ).
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Of what value is the Acts of the Apostles for the study of early Chris-
tianity? This question demands answers on two levels: () Of what value
is Acts for our knowledge of Christianity near A.D. (i.e., for the
time when the book was written)? and () Of what value is Acts for our
knowledge of Christianity during the apostolic age (i.e., for the time
of the events narrated, before A.D. )? The latter is the focus of this
chapter. Our query is about the historicity of Acts, that is, Acts’ value
for our knowledge of Christianity up through Paul.
The question of the historicity of Acts has been neglected since the
early years of this century.1 Two reasons for this neglect seem to be
primary: () There has been in this century a shift of focus in the study
of Acts from historical to theological concerns, and () the complexity
of the problems and the extent of the knowledge from multiple fields
required to deal with the issues are so threatening as to make scholars
look to less demanding areas of study.
If one agrees that such neglect should be remedied, one then faces
the further question: What do we really mean by the historicity of Acts?
One’s answer to this question determines how one goes about arguing
either for or against the historicity of Acts. So what and how are two
sides of the same coin. In fact, one can see the what assumed by noting
the how of the argument.
A survey of the secondary literature reveals three levels of argument
about what and how, plus three specific issues crucially related to the
matter of the historicity of Acts. The purpose of this chapter is to
describe these three levels and three issues in order to define as pre-
cisely as possible what one means when one speaks about the historicity
of Acts. Until the nature of the problem is clearly defined, progress
toward the larger matter of the value of Acts for the study of early
Christianity is delayed.
1 Colin J. Hemer, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History (ed. C. H. Gempf;
Contemporary Color
The argument from contemporary color assumes that a document is
not historically accurate if it contains errors and anachronisms.2 By
inference, a document must be historically accurate if one does not
find errors and anachronisms. Hence, the quest to show or to deny
the historicity of Acts involves the search for signs of the presence or
absence of contemporary color, that is, the fitness of details in Acts to
our knowledge of its environment.
Let us begin with a few representative examples of Acts’ congruence
with its milieu.
2 E. Mary Smallwood, The Jews under Roman Rule: From Pompey to Diocletian (Leiden:
Brill, ), , gives an example of this type of argument in denying historicity to a
purported letter from Hadrian to his brother-in-law about the emperor’s visit to Egypt
in A.D. .
) Town assemblies. Acts :– and (possibly) : describe the function
of town assemblies in the operation of a city’s business. This is char-
acteristic of the first and perhaps early second centuries. In the second
century A.D., however, these town assemblies were replaced by town
councils.
) Details about the administration of affairs associated with the Jewish temple in
Jerusalem. (a) Both inscriptions3 and literary sources (e.g., Philo, Legat.
; Josephus, A.J. .. §; B.J. .. §–; .. §–) speak
about the prohibition against Gentiles in the inner areas of the temple.
Acts :– presupposes this. (b) A Roman tribune had to possess
Roman citizenship. During the reign of Claudius citizenship could be
bought with a sufficient number of bribes (e.g., Dio Cassius ..–
). The tribune in Acts :, Claudius Lysias, who had bought his
citizenship, apparently had gained it during the time of Claudius, when
bribes were in fashion. (c) Roman soldiers were permanently stationed
in the tower of Antonia with the responsibility of watching for and
suppressing any disturbances at the festivals of the Jews (e.g., Josephus,
B.J. .. §). To reach the affected area they would have had to
come down a flight of steps into the Temple precincts (Josephus, B.J.
.. §). The events of Acts :– reflect these details precisely.
3 Cf. C. K. Barrett, The New Testament Background: Selected Documents (New York:
and even more so to get Bernice correctly associated with Festus. She
lived with her brother, Agrippa, for only a limited time during Festus’s
procuratorship.
This type of evidence has been assembled carefully by a host of
scholars. One of them, the Roman historian A. N. Sherwin-White,
concludes,
For Acts, the confirmation of historicity is overwhelming. Yet Acts is, in
simple terms and judged externally, no less of a propaganda document
than the Gospels, liable to similar distortion. But any attempt to reject
its basic historicity even in matters of detail must now appear absurd.
Roman historians have long taken it for granted.6
There are those, however, who believe the same type of evidence argues
against the historicity of Acts. A few typical examples should suffice.
) Geography of Palestine. First, Acts :, which says, “So the church
throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built
up” (RSV), has been taken to mean that Judea was understood to have
been directly connected to Galilee. If so, then Luke had an incorrect
understanding of Palestinian geography. In response, one must note
first that Luke does not always use Judea in the same way. (a) Some-
times Judea refers to the Roman province which, in contrast to Galilee,
was subject to Roman procurators (Luke :; :). (b) At other times
it refers to the whole of Palestine (Luke :; :; :; Acts :). (c)
In still other places Judea refers to the part of Palestine inhabited by
Jews, excluding Samaria (Acts :) and Galilee (Acts :) and even
Caesarea (Acts :). (d) Sometimes Luke distinguishes between Judea
6 A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament (Grand
and Jerusalem (Acts :; :). In Acts : Judea is used as in instance
(c). One must note secondly, given Acts : (“scattered throughout the
region of Judea and Samaria,” RSV) and :– (which has the journey
pass from Antioch through Phoenicia and Samaria to Jerusalem), that
Luke knows the proper arrangement of Palestine’s component regions.
The order of the regions mentioned in : must be due to other than
geographical reasons.7
A second example is Acts :, which says the soldiers brought
Paul from Jerusalem to Antipatris, a distance of some forty-five miles,
overnight. Thirty miles constituted a suitable day’s journey whether by
land or by sea. Both the numbers involved (two hundred soldiers, sev-
enty horsemen, two hundred spearmen) and the speed of the journey
(thirty-eight to forty-five miles in a night) are exaggerated to emphasize
the importance of the person being accompanied and the extent of the
danger.
There are certainly points at which the contemporary color of Acts
can be challenged, but they are few and insignificant compared to the
overwhelming congruence between Acts and its time and place. What
is one to make of such evidence?
There is widespread agreement that an exact description of the
milieu does not prove the historicity of the event narrated. Henry
J. Cadbury’s The Book of Acts in History makes two points: () Acts fits
beautifully into its contemporary setting (Greco-Roman, Jewish, and
early Christian), and () accurate local color in no way proves general
historical accuracy.8 This has prompted a strong response from Ward
Gasque.
Cadbury’s statement … that Greek and Latin novels are often as full
of accurate local and contemporary color as are historical writings is
misleading. … Whereas the author of Acts is carefully accurate in his
representation of the time and places of which he writes, the local and
contemporary color contained in the writers of fiction is that of the time
and places in which they write.9
One level on which the argument about the historicity of Acts is carried
on is that involving the quest for contemporary color. Taken alone,
however, its results are indecisive.
7 Martin Hengel, Between Jesus and Paul (Philadelphia: Fortress, ), .
8 Henry J. Cadbury, The Book of Acts in History (London: Adam & Charles Black,
), .
9 Ward Gasque, A History of the Criticism of the Acts of the Apostles (Tübingen: Mohr,
Historical Sequence
The argument from historical sequence assumes that a document is
not historically reliable if it lacks a correct sequence of the events
narrated. By inference, a document must be historically trustworthy
if the events it relates are given in their proper chronological order.
Scholars involved in this type of argument, therefore, look for evidence
to corroborate or correct the historical sequence given by Acts. This
evidence comes from Greco-Roman and Jewish sources on the one
hand and the Pauline epistles on the other.
Greco-Roman and Jewish sources speak about certain events also
mentioned by the narrative of Acts. They enable one to check the
relative chronology of the events in Acts. Five such events are usually
noted.10
) Acts : and : speak of a famine under Claudius (A.D. –).
The famine is mentioned in Acts before the death of Herod (:–
). Josephus (A.J. .. §–; .. §–) mentions a famine in
Jerusalem relieved by the good graces of Queen Helena of Adiabene
connected with the procuratorship of Tiberius Julius Alexander (A.D.
–) and possibly with that of his predecessor, Fadus. Josephus, how-
ever, locates the famine after the death of Herod. Assuming Josephus’s
accuracy, Agabus’s prophecy is, therefore, not precisely placed in the
sequence of Acts (:). It may belong to the period when the signs of
trouble were first apparent in Egypt.11 Or the order of the two events
may have been inverted due to some Lucan tendency.12
Seminar Papers, (SBLSP ; Atlanta: Scholars Press, ), –; Karl P. Donfried,
‘Chronology,’ ABD :–; G. B. Caird, ‘Chronology of the New Testament,’ IDB
:–.
11 Hemer, The Book of Acts, ; K. S. Gapp, ‘The Universal Famine under Claudius,’
century historian Orosius (..–) places the edict in the ninth year
of Claudius (A.D. ), citing Josephus as an authority. Two matters
cause some pause. First, we know of no such reference by Josephus in
his extant materials. Second, Dio Cassius (..) mentions Claudius’s
embargo on Jewish meetings in Rome in A.D. , but there is no hint
of actual expulsion. As a result, some have wanted to identify the
embargo on public meetings with the expulsion and regard them as
two references to the same event and then to date the event to A.D. .
If so, then the relative chronology of Acts at this point is problematic.
If, however, as seems preferable, one takes the references to be to two
different events and accepts Orosius’s date of A.D. , the relative
chronology is correct.
(): –.
16 His schema is approved by W. G. Kümmel, Introduction to the New Testament (Nash-
ville: Abingdon: ), , and J. A. Fitzmyer, ‘The Pauline Letters and the Lucan
Account of Paul’s Missionary Journeys,’ in SBL Seminar Papers, (SBLSP ; Atlanta:
Scholars Press, ), .
There are, of course, some details Acts does not mention just as there
are some things the epistles do not mention. The most serious gap
in the sequence is that in Paul’s letters one finds no clue as to when
his work in the province of Galatia should be placed. We learn only
that Paul had been among the Galatians twice when he wrote them
(Gal :). In spite of these gaps, the overall correspondence between
the relative order of events in Acts and in Paul’s letters is remarkable.
The major problem in any attempted correlation between Paul’s
letters and Acts is that of Paul’s visits to Jerusalem. The situation
can be simply stated. In Paul’s letters one hears explicitly about three
visits of the apostle to Jerusalem: (a) Gal :–; (b) Gal :–; (c)
Rom :–. In Acts there are five such visits described: (a) Acts :–
; (b) Acts :–; :; (c) Acts :–; (d) Acts :; and (e)
Acts :–. The first visits mentioned in Paul’s letters and in Acts
are usually thought to be the same, in spite of certain difficulties. It
is Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion. The last visits in
Paul’s letters and in Acts are usually thought to be the same, in spite of
certain differences. It is his visit to deliver the collection, at which time
18 J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians (th ed.; London: Macmillan,
), –.
19 A. M. Ramsey, ‘What Was the Ascension?’ in Historicity and Chronology in the New
–.
23 Knox, Chapters in the Life.
24 George Misch, A History of Autobiography in Antiquity ( vols.; Cambridge: Harvard
(): .
28 Adolph Harnack, The Acts of the Apostles (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, ).
Harnack concludes,
The agreement which in these numerous instances exists between the
Acts (chs. i–xiv) and the Pauline epistles … is so extensive and so detailed
as to exclude all wild hypotheses concerning those passages of the Acts
that are without attestation in those epistles. The Acts is an historical
work that has nothing in common with the later ‘Acts of the Apostles,’
and is not to be judged by the standard nor criticized by the method
which suits these.29
) The second aspect of this level of work has to do with the challenges
to the integrity of various episodes in the narrative of Acts. It is some-
times argued that a single episode in Acts is actually a combination of
more than one event and hence is not to be taken as historically reli-
able.30
Acts , Paul’s visit to Corinth, is a prime example. Does Acts con-
flate two or more Pauline visits to Corinth into one? Jerome Murphy-
O’Connor seems to think so.31 On the one hand, Acts : says that
Aquila and Priscilla had lately come to Corinth from Italy because
Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. As we have
seen, this expulsion is confirmed by Suetonius (Claud. .), who says,
“Since the Jews were continually making disturbances at the instigation
of Chrestus, he (Claudius) expelled them from Rome.” The question
about the expulsion relates to its date.
The fifth-century historian Orosius (..–) says,
Josephus refers to the expulsion of Jews by Claudius in his ninth year. But
Suetonius touches me more in saying, “Claudius expelled from Rome the
Jews constantly making disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus.”
If Orosius is taken at face value, then the event is linked to A.D. .
Dio Cassius, a third-century historian, speaks of an event that hap-
pened in A.D. . He says,
As for the Jews, who had increased so greatly by reason of their multitude
that it would have been hard without raising a tumult to expel them from
the city, he did not drive them out, but ordered them, while continuing
their traditional mode of life, not to hold meetings. (..)
29 Ibid., .
30 Gerd Lüdemann, Early Christianity according to the Traditions of Acts (Minneapolis:
Fortress, ), –, , , , .
31 Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, St. Paul’s Corinth (Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier,
).
The question is, Are Orosius and Dio Cassius speaking about the
same event or two separate events? Murphy-O’Connor contends they
are referring to one and the same event: namely, as a result of a distur-
bance in a Roman synagogue concerning Christ, Claudius expelled the
missionaries who were not Roman citizens and temporarily withdrew
from that Jewish community the right of assembly.32
On the other hand, Acts : says that when Gallio was proconsul
of Achaea, the Jews brought Paul before the tribunal. From an inscrip-
tion found at Delphi, Gallio’s presence in Corinth can be dated to A.D.
–.33 If this is so, then Acts actually contains in its narrative about
Paul’s coming to Corinth two separate visits of the apostle to the city,
one in A.D. and the other in A.D. –. A document that conflates
separate events into a narrative and treats them as one is obviously not
historically reliable.
Stephen Benko, however, concludes that the accounts of Claudius’s
dealings with the Jews in Rome cannot be convincingly conflated into
a single episode, but that trouble did arise on two occasions during
his reign: A.D. and A.D. .34 The main reason for refusing to
conflate the events is that the one denies what the other affirms. Dio
Cassius says Claudius in did not expel the Jews; Orosius agrees with
Suetonius that Claudius did expel the Jews and dates it to . The
most natural way to take accounts that are diametrically opposite is
to regard them as referring to different events. If so, then the unity
of Acts is upheld. Priscilla and Aquila arrived in Corinth sometime
after their expulsion from Rome in . Paul joined them and was there
during Gallio’s tenure in –. A document that narrates episodes that
have integrity has a high claim to historicity; one that conflates separate
events into one does not.
From this cursory survey of the types of argument having to do with
individual events and episodes one can see the nature of the issues.
Regarding the evidence assembled by Harnack, an opponent might say,
Yes, a number of details in Acts – are confirmed by Paul’s letters,
but what about those that are not? Is it legitimate to infer historicity for
uncorroborated details because some details check out? Regarding the
32 Ibid., .
33 Adolf Deissman, Paul: A Study in Social and Religious History (New York: Harper,
), –; Murphy-O’Connor, St. Paul’s Corinth, –.
34 Stephen Benko, Pagan Rome and the Early Christians (Bloomington: Indiana Univer-
debates about the unity of individual episodes, one can see that every
issue is debatable and that what is probable appears different to various
scholars.
This appendix so far has sought, by a hasty survey, to indicate the
three levels on which the debates about the historicity of Acts are
carried on. No one is sufficient to carry the day, either for or against
the historical value of the Acts of the Apostles. Any successful argument
must involve all three levels of evidence: accurate contemporary color,
sound historical sequence, and confirmed facts and individual episodes
with integrity. Even then the argument is incomplete. This is because
the matter of Acts’ historicity also involves three specific issues: () the
speeches, () the portrait of Paul, and () the miracles. No argument
for or against the historicity of Acts is adequate that omits even one of
these issues. The second part of this paper, therefore, will survey these
issues and how they play a role in the overall case one way or the other.
35 Martin Dibelius, Studies in the Acts of the Apostles (ed. H. Greeven; New York:
Scribner’s, ).
36 Henry J. Cadbury, ‘The Speeches in Acts,’ in The Beginnings of Christianity (ed.
F. J. Foakes Jackson and Kirsopp Lake; vols.; Grand Rapids: Baker, ), :–.
), .
38 Julius Kaplan, The Redaction of the Babylonian Talmud (New York: Bloch, ), .
39 Hemer, The Book of Acts, .
40 Ibid., .
41 Derived from Ernst Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles (Philadelphia: Westminster,
), –, and Philip Vielhauer, ‘On the ‘Paulinism’ of Acts,’ in Studies in Luke-Acts
(ed. L. E. Keck and J. L. Martyn; Nashville: Abingdon, ), –.
44 The categories are those of R. H. Fuller, The Foundations of New Testament Christology
Miracles
Since the nineteenth century the historical value of Acts has been called
into question because of the presence of miracles in its narrative. This
posture is still dominant. Gerd Lüdemann is a typical representative of
this perspective in the current generation. Regarding the healing of the
lame man in Acts , he writes,
There is no historical nucleus to the tradition of the miracle story in
vv. –. Those who are lame from their childhood are (unfortunately)
not made whole again. But the story reflects the existence of a Christian
community which reported great things of Peter’s activity in Jerusalem
and/or miracles performed by him.46
Regarding the story of Peter’s release from prison by an angel in
Acts , Lüdemann writes,
the miraculous release bears within itself its own historical refutation.
However, we may still presuppose a historical nucleus in it, namely that
Agrippa had Peter arrested.47
For someone with this presupposition about miracles, Acts is indeed a
questionable entity.
Over against Lüdemann, one finds a scholar like the late Colin
Hemer. Hemer says,
I am content to operate in a framework where the possibility of miracle is
accepted and its appearance is not an automatic cue for reinterpretation
or special interpretation.48
Within that framework we may still require reasonably rigorous testi-
mony … but their possibility may be accepted in principle.49
Are miracles possible? The possible is always a function of one’s world-
view. Worldviews are highly resistant to disconfirmation. The material-
istic worldview, represented by Lüdemann, dictates that the world was
and is ruled by iron physical laws that not even God could or can bend.
Walter Wink comments:
Wink points out that these changes in attitude are not based on a
single scrap of new evidence from the ancient world but on shifting
evaluations of what is possible. What one considers possible determines
one’s stance on the miraculous in the Acts of the Apostles.51 On the
matter of what is considered possible, scholars differ. These differences,
of course, affect their evaluations of the historicity of Acts.
Having looked at the three levels of argument and the three specific
issues associated with the question of the historicity of Acts, what can
be concluded? What does one mean by the historicity of Acts? Judging
from how the argument is conducted, it possible to say that an affir-
mation of the historical worth of the Acts of the Apostles can be given
only if and when certain answers are possible on the levels of contem-
porary color, historical sequence, and individual episodes on the one
hand, and to the issues of speeches, portrait of Paul, and miracles on
the other. Confidence in the historicity of Acts requires a certain type
of answer to be given in all six cases.
Even then the issue is not settled because of a final matter, namely,
the burden of proof demanded. Lüdemann poses the problem. He says,
The real question is whether Luke’s information has to be proved to be
true or rather whether it is only false if it can certainly be shown to be
so.52
If one can show that external evidence confirms the accuracy of Acts’
contemporary color at numerous points, does that give one the right to
assume the accuracy of points that cannot be checked? If one can show
that at a significant number of points the historical sequence of Acts’
narrative checks out as sound, does that mean that one can assume
the soundness of sequence at those points that cannot be checked? If
50 Walter Wink, ‘Our Stories, Cosmic Stories, and the Biblical Story,’ in Sacred Stories
(ed. Charles and Anne Simpkinson; San Francisco: Harper, ), .
51 Ibid., .
52 Gerd Lüdemann, Early Christianity, .
one can show that many individual matters of fact can be confirmed
and the unity of a number of episodes can be established, should one
infer that matters of fact that cannot be confirmed externally can be
assumed to be accurate and that other episodes that are unverified by
external data are indeed possessed of integrity?
One group of scholars believes it is responsible to infer the accuracy
of unconfirmed material because of the accuracy of confirmed mate-
rial. F. F. Bruce serves as spokesman for this position. He says,
When a writer’s accuracy is established by valid evidence, he gains the
right to be treated as a reliable informant on matters coming within his
scope which are not corroborated elsewhere.53
The other group thinks it is not responsible to accept anything in
Acts as historically reliable unless it has been corroborated by other
data, either external or internal. The former feel free to speak globally
about the historicity of Acts; the latter are willing to speak about Acts’
historical reliability in a much more limited sense. Martin Dibelius says,
“the historical reliability of Acts must be measured in each individual
case.”54 Assumptions matter.
Enough corroborating data has been assembled already by scholars
to enable one to conclude that Acts is not mere fiction and that its
record is reasonably reliable in areas where it can be checked. There
are, however, enough unchecked areas and enough problems in areas
that can be checked to keep professors and graduate students in work
for the indefinite future.
Of what value is the Acts of the Apostles for the study of early Chris-
tian history, in particular the period prior to A.D. ? That depends on
what one thinks about Acts’ historicity. How is the historicity of Acts
determined? If the thesis of this essay is correct, the historical value of
Acts is determined by an argument that includes the three levels and
that addresses the three specific issues described above. Ultimately, the
pervasiveness of one’s argument will depend on the burden of proof
demanded of it.
Testament and Its Modern Interpreters (ed. E. J. Epp and G. W. Macrae; Atlanta: Scholars
Press, ), .
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INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS
ancient auditors, , , , , , genre, , , –, , , ,
, gentile mission, ,
angelophany, , , gnostic,
antiheretical, gospel harmony, , ,
apology/apologetic, , , , , grow(th), –, –
, heresy,
apostles, , , , , , , historical sequence, –
atonement, , , historicity, , –, , –
authorial audience, –, , humanist readings,
– ignorance,
authorial intent, , , immorality, –, ,
autobiography, , , immortals, , ,
baptism, , , , , , , implied author,
biography, –, , , –, , implied reader,
, , , , infanticide, –
birth narratives, , , , , , intentional fallacy,
justification,
Calvinistic reading, – Marcionite,
cannibalism, – martyr(dom), , –, ,
canonical criticism, – –,
characterization, Marxist reading,
conspiracy, , , , medieval exegesis, –
contemporary color, , miracles, , –, –
conversion, , , , – miraculous conception, , , ,
corporeality, , , ,
correspondences, , , – misunderstanding, –
covenant, , Nestorians,
death of Jesus, , , , , – narrative criticism, –
, , –, , –, non-resistance,
, , nonviolent resistance, –
diachronic, , obedience, , –
divine plan, , –, , , origins, –
, , , – pantheism, ,
development(al), , –, , , parousia, ,
– passion narrative,
enlightenment readings, – perfect(ion), –,
eschatology, , , , , pioneer, ,
eucharist(ic), , – portrait of Paul, , –
fate, , , prayer, , , , –,
foreshadowing, , – progress, –, ,
I. Old Testament
Philippians James
:– :–
:–
:– , Peter
: :, ,
:
:– :
:– :
:– ,
Colossians :–
:
Peter
Thessalonians :
:
:– John
:– :–
: :
: :
Jude
–
Apocrypha
Tobit Maccabees
: :ff
:
Judith :,
:
: , :
:–
Wisdom of Solomon :
:– , , :
Sirach Maccabees
: :–
:– : ,
:
Maccabees :
:–, – :
:–
:– Esdras
: :ff
:,
Pseudepigrapha
Josephus B.J.
A.J. .. § –
.. § – .. §
. § , .. §
.. § – .. §
.. § .. §
.. § .. §
.. § ..– § –
.. § , , .. §
.. § – , , , .. §
..–.. . § –
§ – .. § ,
.. § , , , .. §
.. § – .. § –
.. § – .. § –
..– § , .. § –
.. § – .. §
.. § C.Ap.
.. § . §
.. § , . § –
.. § Vita
.. § –
.. § ,
..– § – Philo
.. § – Abr.
.. §
.. § – Decal.
.. § ,,, , :
, :
. § – Legat.
.– § – .
.. § – Leg.
..– § – , .
.. § – Post.
.. § –
.. § – , Somn.
..– § – .–
.. §
V. Rabbinic Writings
Mek. Talmud
Bahodesh b. Abod. Zar. a
b. Ber. a
b. Ber. b
Tanh. y. Ber. .
c y. Pes. ..a ,
Mishnah Tosefta
Abot Sanh.
, . [E]
: Sotah
:
Homily
Diogn.
. Lactantius
.– Epit.
..
Ep. Apos.
– Mart. Pol.
.
Eusebius ,
Hist. eccl.
.. Minucius Felix
Praep. ev. Oct.
.. .
. .–
. .
.
Aeschylus Cicero
Ag. Cat.
– .
.–
Anthologia Graeca De or.
. ..
.
Apollonius Rhodius Ep. Brut.
Argon. .
.– Leg.
.
Appian Nat. d.
Hist. rom. ..–
.. ,
Caesar
Apuleius Bell. gall.
Metam. .
.
. Dio Cassius
.–
Aristotle ..
Soph. elench. ..
.– , , ..
§ b .. ,
.. ,
Aulus Gellius ..–
. , ,
Hadr. Lucian
.– Alex.
,
Homer , , ,
Od. Bis acc.
.– ,
.– Hist. conscr.
.–
Merc. cond.
Horace –
Carm. Nigr.
. –
Pisc.
Iamblichus Peregr.
Vit. Pyth.
–
, Tox.
– ,
Isocrates Ver. hist.
Aeginet. .– ,
Lucretius
Justinian Rer. Nat.
Dig. .
...–
..– Marcus Aurelius
.., , , ..
,
.., Ovid
.., Metam.
.. , .–
.., , .–
.–
Juvenal .–
Satr.
.– Petronius
. ,
Livy Phaedrus
. , , Fab.
. ,
Lucan
Bell. civ. Philostratus
.– Vit. Apoll.
.– .
.