Corpus-Paul

[Perry L Stepp <plstepp AT juno.com>]

Not to kick any moldering corpses, but . . . 

> There are obviously two basic camps when it comes to the issue of the 
> reliability of the Book of Acts historically. I tend to not see it 
> as a good source of history, as Luke, in my assessment seems more 
> interested in presenting things in such a way as to make an 
> ideological point then merely capturing "what actually happened". 
> Paul, for example, is "softened", as is the conflict with Jerusalem 
> one almost gets the picture that it was one big happy family, a 
> picture which I think is harshly contradicted in Paul.

This assertion/argument chases its own tail, though.  You seem to be
implying that Paul's remembrances of these events/conflicts are "neutral"
or "factual" when--as you'd acknowledge, no doubt--he also has rhetorical
and polemical reasons for the way he remembers what he remembers.  If we
choose not to give up on "What Actually Happened"--and I for one do
not--then we'd best proceed from the assumption that all histories are
subjective and ideological, even if History (the Platonic form, which we
will not fully realize here) is objective and neutral/factual.

Note: you say of the "we" sections in Acts: 

> Here it *seems* that we have a 
> first hand account. [An aside: I wonder how reliable even these 
> really might be (assuming for a moment that they do reflect a first 
> hand account), given the passage of time and, once again, the 
> ideological nature of Luke's work. It is easy for me to believe that 
> people remember their own histories through their ideological lens, 
> filtering out those things that might threaten their "construct"] 

I would suggest the same caution be applied to pauline
autobiography--even if I might end up deciding that the end result (e.g.,
Galatians 1.18-2.14 [OR e.g. Acts 15]) is pretty close to "What Actually
Happened."

Grace and peace, 

Perry L. Stepp, Ph.D. candidate (Dec 21, c'mon baby!), Baylor University

http://www.tapercities.com/PhilZone/plstepp/
http://db.etree.org/plstepp (up to date)

        Where you go is good and gone,
                All you keep is the getting there.
                          --Townes Van Zandt


________________________________________________________________

GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!

Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!

Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:

http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.