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corpus-paul - Re: LOUKAS=LOUKIOS=Author of Acts?

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  • From: Richard Fellows <rfellows AT intergate.ca>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: LOUKAS=LOUKIOS=Author of Acts?
  • Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 01:14:58 -0700


Mark Nanos wrote:

>Whether your theory is correct or not, the logic being applied here needs to
>account for the usage of the diminutive Prisca in Rom. 16, but Priscilla in
>Acts 18, an example which runs in the opposite direction.

Actually, Priscilla is the diminutive form of Prisca, not the the other way
round.

>I would also question whether "more formal" is a useful way to contrast
>Romans and Acts, two very different letters, from different hands, to
>different people, for different reasons. Attention to epistolary theory will
>be necessary if you wish to make such a comparison (see works by Stowers,
>Stirewalt, White, Malherbe, etc.). Actually, the stated purpose as well as
>style of Acts seems to be extremely formal and political. The greetings in
>Rom. 16 to which you refer appear to express a friendly tone, somewhat in
>contrast to the "bold" tone of the letter (15:15), which Paul apparently
>senses the need to explain during the transition from the letter-body to the
>style of the letter-closing.

I was not contrasting Romans with Acts. I was comparing the naming
practices in Romans 16.21 with those in Philemon 23-24. Where Paul had a
choice, he seems to have chosen more formal forms of names in Rom 16.21,
whereas in Philemon 23-24 he chose contractions. We should therefore not be
surpised to find Paul referring to the same person as LOUKIOS in Rom, while
using the hypocoristic "LOUKAS" in Philemon. That was my point. My mention
of Acts 20.4 was merely to suggest that Paul could have used an abbreviated
form of Sosipater at Rom 16.21, but chose not to.

The naming conventions followed by the author of Acts is a separate
discussion. I have not been able to discern any consistent pattern in
Lucius's practice. Sometimes he uses diminutives and abbreviated forms
(Priscilla, Tertullus, Apollos), but at other times he is more formal.

Richard Fellows
rfellows AT intergate.ca
Vancouver, Canada.





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