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  • From: "Karl P. Donfried" <kdonfrie AT email.smith.edu>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Acts and Paul's relationship to Jerusalem
  • Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2001 18:15:30 -0500


Following this line of argument, you would then agree that Paul was not
born in Tarsus?

Karl Donfried

Mesfin Atlaye wrote:
>
> > 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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