Durham E-Theses

Durham E-Theses The Inceptive Ecclesiology of Acts 1-5 and Its Reception in the Patristic Period MIHOC, JUSTIN-ALEXANDRU How to cite: MIHOC, JUSTIN-ALEXANDRU (2015) The Inceptive Ecclesiology of Acts 1-5 and Its Reception in the Patristic Period , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11126/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 The Inceptive Ecclesiology of Acts 1-5 and Its Reception in the Patristic Period by Justin-Alexandru Mihoc Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology and Religion Durham University 2014 Declaration and Statement of Copyright This thesis is the product of my own work and does not include work that has been presented in any form for a degree at this or any other university. All quotations from, and reference to, the work of persons other than myself have been properly acknowledged throughout. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotations from it should be published in any format, including electronic, without the author’s prior written consent, and information derived from it should be appropriately acknowledged. 2 CONTENTS Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 5 I. Acts 1-5: The beginnings of the Church ........................................................................................ 16 I.1 Prolegomena ................................................................................................................................ 16 1. Introductory questions ............................................................................................................... 16 1.1 Title 1.2 Date 1.3 Author 1.4 Structure and composition 2. The Text-types of Acts and their importance ............................................................................ 26 2.1 Acts papyri 2.2 Uncial manuscripts 2.3 The Alexandrian text of Acts 2.4 The Western text of Acts 2.5 The Byzantine (or Majority) text of Acts 3. Literary context and genre ........................................................................................................ 37 I.2 Exegesis ........................................................................................................................................ 43 1. Acts 1-5: a history of beginnings .............................................................................................. 43 1.1 Narrative Openings 1.2 The opening narratives in Luke-Acts 1.3 Acts 1-5 and narrative openings 1.4 Biblical narratives of Creation 1.5 Acts 1-5 as a history of a 'new beginning' 2. The Foundation of the Church: Ascension and Pentecost ........................................................ 59 2.1 The narrative of Acts 1-2 as a foundation story 2.2 The Ascension and the restoration of the Twelve 2.3 Pentecost and the first community 3. The Jerusalem community in Acts 1-5 ...................................................................................... 72 3.1 Idealised descriptions in Acts 1-5 and their literary function 3.2 The sin of Ananias and Sapphira and its function 3.3 Historicity and exegesis in Acts 1-5 I.3 Synthesis ....................................................................................................................................... 85 1. Christian communal life in Jerusalem ....................................................................................... 85 1.1 Baptism in the Spirit 1.2 Prayer and worship in Acts 1-5 1.3 Eucharistic anamnesis: Breaking of the bread 1.4 Community of goods and communal life 2. Acts 1-5 within its Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts ............................................................ 95 2.1 The Jerusalem community of Acts 1-5 and Jewish sectarian groups 2.2 Biblical Creation and Jewish exegesis in Philo 2.3 The Heavenly Jerusalem and the Church 2.4 Foundation narratives in Plato's Timaeus 2.5 Acts 1-5: drawing on Jewish and Greco-Roman ideals 3. Conclusions: Beginnings of the Church in Acts 1-5 ............................................................... 112 3 II. The Reception of Acts 1-5 in Early Patristic Thought .............................................................. 114 II.1 Transmission and Reception of Acts 1-5 .................................................................................. 114 1. Reception History and the transmission of Acts ..................................................................... 114 1.1 Early traces of reception 1.2 Acts in the early biblical canons 1.3 Acts in early versions of the Apostolos and lectionaries 2. Acts 1-5 in their early Patristic Reception .............................................................................. 125 2.1 Acts 1-5 in the so-called Apostolic Fathers 2.2 Justin Martyr and Irenaeus 2.3 Canonical and apocryphal Acts 3. From Irenaeus to John Chrysostom ......................................................................................... 135 3.1 Early exegesis of Acts 1-5: Origen, Tertullian, Eusebius 3.2 The Pentecost story in Patristic interpretation 3.3 John Chrysostom's homilies on Acts 1-5 3.4 Liturgical and iconographical reception of Acts 1-5 3.5 Conclusions on the early reception of Acts 1-5 II.2 Lukan and Patristic Ecclesiologies: The Ideal of the Church .................................................. 156 1. The creation of the Church in Patristic thought ...................................................................... 156 1.1 The 'pre-existence' of the Church 1.2 Early traditions regarding the beginnings of the Church 1.3 Church origins and the apostolic ideal: Eusebius' Church History 2. The Interpretation of the Church ............................................................................................. 181 2.1 Early images of the Church 2.2 The importance of the Church in Patristic writings 3. Conclusions: Luke’s Jerusalem Church and its Reception in Patristic Ecclesiology ............. 196 Summary and Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 199 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………....204 4 INTRODUCTION ‘The primordial harmony between God and the world is the paradise from the beginning, that we lost as a consequence of sin. The Church is the reopened gate towards the restored paradise, the anticipation of this paradise. Besides, reconquering paradise represents not only the fundamental concern of Christianity but also the tension towards it is the impulse of the entire culture, of the entire superior endeavour of humanity.’1 What is the canonical book of Acts if not the most beautiful and dynamic description of the Church and her mission? Luke’s second book and sequel to his Gospel indeed represents the only written account that was preserved of the earliest Church. It narrates the beginning and initial growth of the Christian movement. More specifically, the introductory chapters of Acts record the beginnings of the Church in Jerusalem. And beginnings have always been fascinating and intriguing; attempting to understand them means aiming to grasp the very source and essence of existence and history. And the theme of beginning, as it transpires in these first five chapters of Acts, constitutes the focus of the present study, in which a historical-critical analysis of the biblical text is paired with a historical-theological examination of its reception history and significance for ecclesiology in order to shed some light on the profound significance and vocation of the Church in the world. In my assessment, chapters 1-5 of Acts are to be taken as a distinct literary unit and to be seen as a narrative of beginnings in the sense of a genesis of the Church, in the attempt to tackle the sensitive issue of authorial intent. Furthermore, by introducing an examination of the way both Acts 1-5 and Luke’s inceptive ecclesiology were received in Patristic theology, I endeavour to showcase how the author of Luke-Acts is part of a wider tradition that associates the Creation story with that of the Church. Also, based on the evidence exhibited in the second part, I claim that although Acts 1-5 was largely neglected in the theology of the first centuries, it becomes the paradigm of the Christian life in the subsequent period. Beginning with the third century, the ecclesiological theology of Acts 1-5 gains a significant prominence. The Lukan ecclesiology is recognised to be in harmony with the Patristic understanding of the Church, where the ideals of Christian communal life of Acts 1-5 are seen as 1 Stăniloae 1940: 268 (translation is my own). 5 replicating the Garden of Creation. The beginning of Acts was thus seen by the Fathers as supporting their ecclesiologies and as providing an appropriate response

Load more