The Speeches in Acts in Relation to Other Pertinent Ancient Literature

Madness in the Method? the Acts of the Apostles in Current Study

“…The burning issue used to be centered on the speeches in ancient historiography: were they real, actual speeches given some shape and form by the historian or were they creations in toto by the authors of historical works? That question, despite some detractors (Porter 1990; slightly more nuanced in Porter 1999), has for the most part been settled in both Classical and New Testament Studies: the historians were largely responsible for composing the speech-in-character (for Acts, see Hilgert 1993;Soards 1994;Johnson 2002); but what remains to be accomplished is a more systematic examination of the generative relationship of the speech to its narrative setting (Tannehill 1991;Penner 1996;). The we-passages are still a matter of significant debate, however (Praeder 1987;Wehnert 1989;Koch 1999;Porter 1999;Mount 2002;Wedderburn 2002), and continue to be the major point where scholars find ', a link to the historical traditions and/or sources of earlier Christianity.…”