Historical and literary appropriateness in the mission speeches of Paul in Acts
New Testament critics tend to regard the speeches in the book of Acts either as <i>primarily</i> accurate accounts or as <i>primarily</i> inventions of the author. In either case, the evidence in the speeches proves these simple categorizations false unless they are heavily qualified. The main hypothesis of this thesis is that the twin goals of artistic and historical appropriateness are suitable and useful conceptual tools for the study of speeches in ancient writers, including those speeches in the book of Acts. This 'two-pronged' appropriateness, suggested by a study of the statements of method in ancient secular writers, seems to account more neatly and comprehensively for the evidence in at least the mission speeches of Paul than alternative understandings of the literary device.
Gempf, Conrad H.
Philosophy
Historical and literary appropriateness in the mission speeches of Paul in Acts. New Testament critics tend to regard the speeches in the book of Acts either as <i>primarily</i> accurate accounts or as <i>primarily</i> inventions of the author. In either case, the evidence in the speeches proves these simple categorizations false unless they are heavily qualified. The main hypothesis of this thesis is that the twin goals of artistic and historical appropriateness are suitable and useful conceptual tools for the study of speeches in ancient writers, including those speeches in the book of Acts. This 'two-pronged' appropriateness, suggested by a study of the statements of method in ancient secular writers, seems to account more neatly and comprehensively for the evidence in at least the mission speeches of Paul than alternative understandings of the literary device.
historical_literary appropriateness mission speech paul acts new_testament critic tend regard speech book acts either primarily accurate account primarily invention author either case evidence speech prove simple categorization false unless heavily qualify main_hypothesis twin goal artistic historical appropriateness suitable useful conceptual tool study speech ancient writer include speech book acts two_pronged appropriateness suggest study statement method ancient secular writer seem account neatly comprehensively evidence least mission speech paul alternative understanding literary_device