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The First Christian Historian Writingthe‘ActsoftheApostles’ DANIELMARGUERAT Universite´deLausanne,Switzerland TranslatedbyKenMcKinney,GregoryJ.LaugheryandRichardBauckham           The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom    The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org ©Daniel Marguerat 2004 First published in printed format 2002 ISBN 0-511-04263-9 eBook (netLibrary) ISBN 0-521-81650-5 hardback InmemoryofDomJacquesDupont(1915–1998) CONTENTS Preface pagexi 1 HowLukewrotehistory 1 Howdoesonewritehistory? 2 Luke:thepositionofahistorian 13 Conclusion:Lukeatthecrossroadsoftwohistoriographies 25 2 Anarrativeofbeginnings 26 Seekingaliterarygenre 26 ThepointofviewofLukethehistorian 34 Conclusion:theGospelandtheapostle 40 3 TheunityofLuke–Acts:thetaskofreading 43 Luke–Acts,anarrativeentity 47 Threeunifyingprocedures 49 PermanenceandsuspensionoftheLaw 59 Conclusion:Luke–Acts,adiptych 63 4 AChristianitybetweenJerusalemandRome 65 Paul,Barnabas,Timothyandothers 66 Semanticambivalence:aLucanrhetoricaldevice 68 Atheologicalprogrammeofintegration 75 Conclusion:integrationoftheopposingpoles 82 5 TheGodofActs 85 Twolanguagestospeakof‘God’ 86 HowarethehistoryofGodandhumanhistoryarticulated? 92 Conclusion:theGodofLuke 107 6 TheworkoftheSpirit 109 TheChurchbetweenfireandtheWord 110 TheSpiritbuildstheChurch 113 ‘TheyspoketheWordofGodwithboldness’ 118 TheSpiritandunity 121 ix x Listofcontents FreeorcaptiveSpirit? 124 Conclusion:apragmaticoftheSpirit 128 7 JewsandChristiansinconflict 129 Israel,atwo-sidedface 130 Apropheticmodelofrupture 136 Theturning-pointofhistory 141 Opennessandclosure(Acts21–28) 147 Conclusion:continuityandrupture 151 8 AnaniasandSapphira(Acts5.1–11): theoriginalsin 155 Fivereadingsofthetext 156 ThenarrativestructureofActs2–5 158 Thecommunity,theSpiritandtheWord 164 Anoriginalsin 172 Anethicofsharing 176 Conclusion:anoriginalsinintheChurch 177 9 Saul’sconversion(Acts9;22;26) 179 Aseriesofthreenarratives 183 Whatisspecifictoeachnarrative 191 Conclusion:anenlighteningroleinActs 203 10 TheenigmaoftheendofActs(28.16–31) 205 TheproblematicoftheendingofActs 206 Arhetoricofsilence 210 Acts27–28andthedisplacementofthereader’sexpectation 216 Thelasttheologicaldisputation(28.17–28) 221 Paultheexemplarypastor(28.30–31) 226 Conclusion:thepoweroftheend 229 11 Travelsandtravellers 231 ThenarrativefunctionoftravelinthebookofActs 236 ImagesoftravelinGraeco-Romanculture 239 ThesemanticsofthejourneyinthebookofActs 246 Conclusion:thememoryofatimewhentheWordtravelled 256 Bibliography 257 Indexofpassages 282 PREFACE Luke,notEusebiusofCaesarea,wasthefirstChristianhistorian.Inanti- quity,hewasthefirsttopresentareligiousmovementinahistoriograph- icalmanner.Asforallhistorians,theaimofLukeisidentity.Whenhe recounts the birth of Christianity, its undesirable rupture with Judaism, andthentheuniversaladventureoftheWord,theauthorofActsoffers the Christianity of his time, an understanding of its identity through a returntoitsorigins. MyreadingofthehistoriographicalworkofLukecombinestwopro- ceduresofinvestigation:historicalcriticismandnarrativecriticism.Iam convincedthattheunderstandingofabiblicalwritingrequiresthatitbe immersedinthehistoricalmilieuofitsproduction(thisistheepistemo- logicalcredoofthehistorical-criticalmethod).Constantly,inthecourse ofthestudy,Ishallbeexaminingthecultureandcodesofcommunication oftheancientMediterraneanworldtowhichLukeandhisreadersbelong. However,theauthorofActsisalsoastoryteller;thetoolsofnarrativecrit- icismhelptoidentifythestrategyofthenarrator,theorganizationofthe story,andtheprogrammaticcluesforreadingthathehassowninhistext. Oneoftheinsightsdefendedinthisbookisthatwecannotreachthe theology the author has written into his work without adopting the itineraryheimposesonhisreaders;thisitineraryisthetwistsandturns of the narrative. I think that narrative reading makes it possible to do justicetothethinking,oftenscornedbyscholars,ofthistalentedstory- teller.Becausehetellshisstorywell,Luke’sthinkingisnotsystematic. In rediscovering the hidden architecture of his work, one discovers the mastery and coherence of this great historian and theologian, without whomChristianitywouldbeignorantofmostofitsorigins. ThisbookisthetranslationofelevenchaptersofmyworkLapremie`re histoireduChristianisme(Actesdesapoˆtres)(LectioDivina180;Paris, CerfandGeneva,LaboretFides,1999).Chapter10hasbeenpublishedin aslightlyabridgedforminDavidP.Moessner,JesusandtheHeritageof Israel(Harrisburg,PA,TrinityPressInternational,1999),pp.284–304. xi xii Preface BeguninNovember1992attheGraduateTheologicalUnioninBerke- ley(whereIwasaninvitedscholar),theFrenchversionwascompletedin June1999attheUniversityofLausanne(Switzerland).Itsargumentation hasprofitedfromthequestionsandsuggestionsofcountlesscolleagues, studentsandfriends,manyofwhomarecitedinthefootnotes.Theprepa- rationofthebookowesmuchtomyassistantEmmanuelleSteffek,whose workwasinvaluable,checkingthereferences,thebibliography,andthe multiple re-drafts. The English version depends on the talent of three translators, Ken McKinney, Gregory J. Laughery and Richard Bauck- ham,whomIcongratulateontheirpatienceinunderstandingmyFrench. I am particularly indebted to Richard Bauckham for having reread and correctedtheEnglishtext,andtoDavidAlbanandVale´rieNicolet,whose competencies were precious in checking the final version. The English translationwasmadepossiblethroughagrantofthe‘Socie´te´Acade´mique Vaudoise’,andthegenerosityofadonor. IwonderifLukebenefitedfromasmuchsupport.Ihopeso. 1 HOW LUKE WROTE HISTORY WasthefirsthistorianofChristianityaproperhistorian? There is no doubt that Luke – for this is what we name the anony- mousauthorofthethirdgospelandthebookofActs–intendedtotell a story about the birth of Christianity. He was the first to have writ- ten a biography of Jesus followed by what was later given the title of ‘ActsofApostles’((cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:7) (cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:10)(cid:13)(cid:14)ˆ(cid:15)).Inantiquity,thiswouldnever be repeated. The two volumes of this grand work were divided at the time of the constitution of the canon of the New Testament, before the year AD 200; the first volume was grouped with Matthew, Mark and John to form the fourfold Gospel; the second work was placed at the headoftheepistles,toestablishthenarrativeframeworkofthePauline writings. It is here, at the moment when the corpus of Christian literature be- gins to emerge, that Luke’s writing, dedicated to the ‘most excellent Theophilus’ (Luke 1. 3; Acts 1. 1), was broken in two. The length of thewholeisimpressive.Thesefifty-twochaptersrepresentaquarterof theNewTestament.ModernexegesisreferstothistextasLuke–Actsin order to remind readers that Acts cannot be read without remembering thegospelasLukehaswrittenit. Luke, then, wanted to create a history, but was he a good historian? Exegetes continue to disagree on the answer. In order to take a posi- tioninthisdebateonemustfirstofallclarifywhatismeantbywriting history and what we mean by historiography. It has been shown that the expectations of the reader vary according to the type of historiog- raphy adopted by the author. Paul Ricœur helps us to clarify this point by proposing a useful taxonomy. Secondly, I shall investigate the ethi- calrulesinuseinthefirstcentury.Astudyoftheworkofhistoriansin Graeco-Romanantiquityleadsustonotethathistoriographydidnotwait untiltheEnlightenmenttobeconsciousofitself.AmongtheGreekand Roman historians there is open discussion about the notion of truth in history. 1 2 TheFirstChristianHistorian I intend to move forward, depending successively on the results of recentepistemologicalreflectionaswellasthedeontologicaldebatesof ‘theancients’concerninghistoriography. Howdoesonewritehistory? Untilthebeginningofthenineteenthcentury,thequestionofthehistorical reliabilityofLuke’sworkwasnotevenanissue.Anyonewhowantedto knowhowtheChurchwasbornhadbutoneplacetoturn:theActsofthe Apostles.Thisdocumentprovidedwhatwasnecessaryand,evenmore, whatwastobebelieved.ThebookofActswasbothamanualofthehistory ofChristianityand(especially)thebaptismalcertificateofaChurchborn ofGod. Doubtsarise Doubtsarose,however,whenthedataofActswereseriouslycompared withtherestoftheNewTestament.W.WardGasquedesignatesthefirst critic of the reliability of Acts as Wilhem Martin Leberecht de Wette (1780–1849).1 The problem emerged when the Lucan portrait of Paul was compared with the information given in the letters of the apostle (Acts 9. 1–30; 15. 1–35 compared with Gal. 1. 13 – 2. 21). De Wette arguedthatLuke’sinformationispartlyfalse,partlymiraculousandpartly incomplete. Butthiswasonlythebeginning.Notlongafter,deWettewasfollowed bythewaveofTu¨bingen-schoolcritics(Tendenzkritik)whoimposedtheir readingofaconflictualhistoryofChristianity,whereLukeplayedtherole ofmediator.FerdinandChristianBaur(1792–1860),thebrilliantinitia- torofthishistoricalparadigm,situatedthehistorianLukeatthecritical momentwhenthestateofChristianityrequiredasynthesisbetweenthe PetrinetendencyandthePaulineheritage.BaursawinActs the apologetic attempt of a Pauline author to orchestrate the bringingtogetherandthereunionofthetwopartiesfacetoface. Luke makes Paul appear as Petrine as possible and Peter as Paulineaspossible,bythrowingasmuchaspossibleareconcil- iatoryveiloverthedifferencesthat,accordingtotheunequivo- calstatementofPaulinhislettertotheGalatians,hadwithout adoubtseparatedthetwoapostles,andbyplungingintoforget- fulnesswhattroubledtherelationshipbetweenthetwoparties, 1 W.W.Gasque,HistoryoftheInterpretation,1989,pp.24–6.

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Conclusion: integration of the opposing poles immersed in the historical milieu of its production (this is the epistemo- .. Overbeck appeals to a theory of history; both, in the direct line of posi- .. constraints would be required. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus conforms to the Graeco-Roma
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