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  • From: "Mesfin Atlaye" <mesfin AT idirect.com>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Acts and Paul's relationship to Jerusalem
  • Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2001 12:45:59 -0500


> I do not approve of the rhetorical tactic that is employed by the phrase
> 'I am preaching to the converted when I say...'. Such phrases are
> essentially appeals to authority, which add nothing to the debate, but are
> sadly quite common in NT studies. List members hold a wide variety of
views
> on Acts so you are not 'preaching to the converted'.
> > It is also no news...
>
> Again, this phrase irritates.
>
> Richard Fellows
> Vancouver
-----------------
About my measured words that were taken as a "rhetorical tactic" Zeba Crook
has responded well enough. So I add nothing more. However, my suggestion is
a methodological consideration that all readers of the Pauline corpus can
not ignore. We do not need to (and can not) harmonize the Lukan Acts and the
Pauline letters! Each can stand for what it's worth (but McIntosh and
Microsoft PC in many details when mixed! Gal.2 and Acts 15 for example).

The Lukan "Jerusalem motif" is quite evident everywhere in both Luke's
Gospel and Acts. First, in the prologue of the Gospel, Luke associates the
identity of Jesus with Judea- in Jerusalem- and (Temple, Simeon, Anna,
etc.). Near the end of the Gospel the Lukan Jesus instructs the disciples to
wait for the promise in "Jerusalem." Since the center of Israel is
Jerusalem, Luke needed to establish the connection of Christianity in or
near Jerusalem in his first 7 chapters of Acts. In Chapter 7 the long
theological speech of St. Stephen followed by his death and at the closing
of the chapter the Lukan Paul comes to the picture. Then throughout the book
we read that Paul needed a Jerusalem visit every time he made a "missionary
journey." (contrary to the fact Gal. 1:20-no one seems to believe him so
far, even if he swears "before God!")Not that Paul necessarily did in that
way but Luke portrayed the fact that way. Luke labors to connect Gentile
Christianity with Jerusalem for acceptance. Therefore, the Lukan Paul was
dragged into this "Jerusalem motif" without his autonomy. In his letters
Paul refutes such association with Jeruralem. What I am saying is, simply,
Paul and his thoughts are not the direct focus of Luke. Everything that Luke
says in the book of Acts about Paul by putting words in his mouth are more
of Luke's imaginative creativity to communicate his own agenda than are
direct speeches of Paul himself. Luke did the same with Peter and Stephen
and other personalities. You can notice some of these almost end to end in
the book.

Richard Fellows is perhaps right when he remind me of the fact that not
necessarily "I am preaching to the converted" but I am speaking about the
general consensus among the majority of NT scholars.

Richard,
Really, no need to take offence on my comments that "no news that writers in
the antiquities design speeches and place them on the lips of their
characters." You can check out Richards Randolph's The Secretary in the
Letters of Paul. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament 2
Reihe no. 42 (1991) who wrote in that area. After all nothing much is at
stake in an honest approach to the biblical data.

Peace.

Mesfin A.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Fellows" <rfellows AT intergate.ca>
To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2001 1:40 AM
Subject: [corpus-paul] Acts and Paul's relationship to Jerusalem


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