Corpus-Paul

["David C. Hindley" <DHindley AT compuserve.com>]

On 05/02/99, ""Stevan Davies" <miser17 AT epix.net>" wrote:

> > On 04/30/99, ""Stevan Davies" <miser17 AT epix.net>" wrote:
> > 
> > > [snip] I get the impression that Acts is often dated
> > > to the end of the first century, but it's rarely clear why this should
> > > be.
> 
> Dave Hindley
> > I would imagine the main reason is that it its dedication to Theophilus
> > resembles those made by Josephus to his patron Epaphroditus in the 
> > Antiquities, his Autobiography, etc., all dated to around 95 CE. This is
> > strengthened by the fact that the account purports to be an historical
> > account, but appears to have the intent of augmenting Josephus' 
> > Antiquities
> > by placing early Christian figures within Josephus' historical framework
> > (which otherwise makes no mention of them).
> 
> This is the first I've heard of either of these arguments. The first
> is surely flawed unless we have reason to believe that Josephus,
> and only Josephus, wrote a dedication of this sort. The second
> just sounds crazy... but I could be convinced to the contrary
> if you'd be kind enough to provide additional argumentation. 
> 
> Steve Davies
> College Misericordia

Steve,

I have certainly run across several stray references to the hypothesis that 
Acts was influenced by Josephus' Antiquities. Unfortunately, I have been 
scanning my library to locate some of these without much success. The best 
I can do for the moment is Robert Eisler (_Messiah Jesus_) who refers to F. 
C. Burkitt _Gospel History and its Transmission_, Holtzmann (1873), Adolph 
Hausrath, Keim and Karl Clemen as advocates, and refers to discussions of 
the issue in two well known works of his age (circa 1931). I can assure you 
that I did not conjure this out of thin air.

As for the second, "crazy" is a relative term. <g> If some can seriously 
suggest that Acts is based on a legal brief, for instance, then I am 
confident I can just as seriously offer the suggestion that Acts was ment 
to give Christians of the early 1st century some sense of historical 
closure. That is, it offered a firm link to the world everyone else knew. 
Where Pagan and Jewish histories did not make any reference to early 
Christian developments, the Gospels and Acts helped fill that void.

That does not mean that the author of Acts was not well informed about the 
cities, provinces and states of the empire, or that he did not have access 
to sources concerning, or know traditions about, Paul or the early 
Christian movement. These he did have and did know. I only said that a 
proposed relationship between Acts and Josephus' Antiquities and/or Life 
have been used to suggest a date of composition after 95 CE, and that this 
appeared to be correct in my view.

Regards,

Dave Hindley, BA
Cleveland, OH, USA
DHindley AT compuserve.com