Chair: Dr Steve Walton
Session 1:
'Translation and the Discourse Structure of Acts'
Even a preliminary study of the discourse structure of the Book of Acts is of interest both practically, for example in pointing translators towards more objective criteria for the placing of section headings and other divisions, and also theoretically, in leading to a consideration of the relation between form and content. The paper is planned as a collaborative effort between two colleagues whose respective interests are predominantly linguistic and exegetical.
‘Judas in Luke-Acts’
There are in Luke-Acts five places in which Judas (Iscariot) is named or featured. They are Luke 6:16; 22:3-5, 21-23, 47-48 and Acts 1:15-26. The four gospel pericopes all depend on Mark, in whole or in part, and there are also links to the Johannine tradition. In the passage from Acts, Luke has again made use of existing material: about Judas’s death, this time. He has embedded it in a speech of Peter’s that draws renewed attention to one of the functions of the Judas material in the gospel, i.e., the foundational position of the Twelve. The pericope may also have some programmatic significance for what follows in the rest of Acts. The intention of the paper is to investigate how the evangelist used the material about Judas that was available to him and what he achieved in the process.
Session 2:
'The Shrek Factor: Using Acts 7 as a Key to Luke's Intertextual Strategy'
Shrek (Dreamworks 2001) is a subtle revocation of a hundred older texts, refashioned to tell an entirely new story. Biblical writers frequently employ the Shrek factor, embedding the fragments of an earlier text within a later one. The great stories of Israel serve for Luke as a fund of symbols and metaphors that condition his perception of the world, of God's promised deliverance of his people, and of their identity and calling. It is the thesis of this paper that Acts 7 presents an opportunity to study Luke's intertextual strategy. Stephen’s speech is not only the longest of speeches in the writings of Luke, but it is also a systematic presentation of one view of biblical history. 1. Using Scripture as an act of homage; 2. Using Scripture as a socio- cultural backcloth; 3. Using Scripture as an act of validation; 4. Using Scripture as a point of contrast.
'Acts 7 in a Commentary'
Prof. Alexander will present a draft section on Acts 7 of her forthcoming commentary for the A. & C. Black NT Commentary series.
Session 3:
'The Acts – of God? What is the “Acts of the Apostles” All About?'
Questions of what the Book of Acts is about have traditionally been answered in scholarship by answers about the purpose of Acts; this paper asks what the major topic of Acts is by examining the narrative’s central character: God. Partly by adapting Richard Burridge’s analysis of the Gospels’ central character, and partly by focusing on Lukan language about God’s action in Acts, it becomes clear that God is the major actor in the story of the book. This analysis is then studied in more detail in both the speeches and the mission described in Acts.