THE SPEECH 0F SAINT STEPHEN, the FIRST Christian MARTYR JERUSALEM, PALESTINE, 37 a D

THE SPEECH 0F SAINT STEPHEN, THE FIRST CHRISTiAN MARTYR JERUSALEM, PALESTINE, 37 A D. Thesis for the Degree of M. A MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY ROBERT BRUCE OLDHAM 1989 awe, 33 b 1.5 .PV ﬁ“lﬁ.‘.t'ww \d RETURNING MATERIALS: MSU P1ace in book drop to remove this checkout from your record. FINES wiII be charged if 550E is returned after the date stamped below. as: 3%“ v W 4,9,7 . xx”. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY EAST LANSING - MICHIGAN 48823 DEPARTMENT OF SPEECH AND THEATRE 0 149 AUDITORIUM Nbvember 17, 1969 Dean Jack Bain College of Communication Arts Dear Dean Bain: This letter will certify that all requirements for the M. A. degree in Speech and Theatre have been met by MR. ROBERT OLDHAM. A copy of his thesis accompanies this statement of certification. Sincerely, 3/ K;%§EEmemedhd< 4 _ 91-. a-n-.» «av-nun .9..- THE SPEECH 0F SAINT STEPHEN, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTXR JERUSAW, PALESTJNE: 37 AOD. by Robert Bruce Oldham A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Speech 1969 Accepted by the faculty of the Department of Speech, College of Communication Arts, Michigan State University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree. Kenneth G. Hance Tirector Omsk Guidance Committee: Kenneth G. Hance , Chairman David 0. Ralph Gordon Thomas ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank those who have given of themselves to make these academic labors an experience of pleasure and profit: My advisor, Dr. Kenneth G. Hence, whose patience and encouragement inspired me to complete this study; Dr..David 0. Ralph, who introduced me to methods of speech criticism that helped me immensely with this project; Dr. Gordon Thomas, who helped me realize the power of persuasive speaking; My wife, Virginia, and my children, Mary and John, whose patient endurance of my long hours and limited time for family engagements made the completion of this thesis possible. ii TABLE OF CCN TEN TS Chapter Page L mmwmnm ...;................... 1 II. STRUCTURE mm DEVELOHvIEhT OF STEPHEN'S SPEECH . 16 III. STEPHEI; STORED mp BELIEVERS SCATTERED. 7b Iv.on;CI.Usm\s........................ 82 APPENDIX 88 BIBLIOGRAPHY93 CHAPTER I INTRCDUCTIQ‘ "Brothers and Fathers! Listen to Me!" With this brief introductory appeal the story of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr} begins as he stands to speak in defense of his life before the stately Sanhedrin in the year 37 A.D.~2 Dual charges of speaking in opposition to the Temple and to the Law of Moses had been placed against Stephen for statements he had made in public debate in several synagogues in Jerusalem. The Outcome of that infamous hearing was the death by stoning of one who has been called the “greatest figure in primitive Christianity prior to Paul3 the Apostle with the exception of Jesus of Nazareth, and one who is considered the "central figure between Jesus and Paul.“ Stephen's speech, the only one by him appearing in the New Testa- ment or in traditional writings, is recorded in the seventh chapter of the book of Acts. It is the longest public address included in that book, and it is appraised by many scholars as one of the greatest lDonald Attwater, Mart s From EE- Stephen 333 John Tung mew York: Sheed and Ward, 1957), p. I. 2W.H.C. Frend, Mom And Persecution In The Earl Church: A Stui Of A Conflict rom Maccabees Io Donatus New York: Eniversity 553 3,1937), p. m. 3"Stephen," Encyclopedia Britannica, 1965, XXI, 238. 1‘James Hastings, The Greater Men And Women Of The Bible (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1916), p. 834. 1 speeches in history and “one of the most valuable documents of early Christian literature."5 It may possibly be "the very earliest piece . which has survived."6 Even though this speech is brief, requiring approximately 1350 words arranged in some fifty-eight sentences, its content includes a broad historical survey of the practice of Jewish worship from the time of Abraham to the days of Solomon. "Orators down the centuries have taken it as a model of argument and eloquence."7 Stephen was the "first to set forth decidedly and forcibly the in- consistency of Christianity with lifeless Judaism."8 For this he had to pay with his life. But the impact of his message "had momentous results for the whole later history of tin 'church,"9 and "it influenced the en- tire career of Saul of Tarsus,“10 who later became Paul, the greatest of the Apostles. Although the ancestry of this "forerunner of the Apostle Paul"ll is SJules Lebreton, The History 9; The Primitive Church (New York: Macmillan, 191:2), p. 1797 6Ernest F. Scott, The Varieties 93 New Testament Religion (New York: Charles Scribner'E—Sons, I955), p.12 . 7Heien Walker Homan, Letters _'I_?_o_ _'_I_h_e Martyrs (New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1951), p. 1 . 8Adolph Schlatter, The Church In The New Testament Period, trans. by Paul Levertoff (New m. MEcmilEn‘C'Smpany, 1955) , p. 2'73. 9Scott, New Testament Reli ion, p. 95. 10Canon Farrar, The Life 9}: St. Paul (Philadelphia: Henry Neil Publisher, 1895). p788. "" 11Marcel Simon, Stephen, Saint, Martyr. _S_§. Stephen And The Hellen- ists _I_n_ The; Primitive Church (New York: Longman's Cream-T3537,- p. 5. unknown, he gained considerable prominence in the first century church following his election as one of the seven men mentioned in the sixth chapter of Acts, who were later referred to as the first church deacons. It seems that with the growth of membership in the early church in Jerusalem, tension developed between two groups within tre church, the Hellenists and the Hebrews. The Hellenists were foreign-born, Greek- speaking Jews who had moved to the holy city. The Hebrews were native- bom, Hebrew-speaking members. The Hellenistsinstigated a quarrel with their fellow Hebrew members charging that their widows had been over- looked in the daily distribution of food and financial aid. This disa- greement precipitated such a crisis that the Apostles urged tin congregation to name seven godly men who could relieve them of this burdensome task which had caused them to "neglect the preaching of God's word" (Acts 6:2) and at the same time had brought them much criticism. The congregation wisely followed the recommendation of the Apostles and chose seven Greek-speaking members to serve as assistants to the Apostles. Among those elected by popular vote and first named in the group was Stephen. His selection was based on such outstanding traits that he was spoken of as a "man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, . richly blessed of God and full of power“ (Acts 6:5, 8). With his help the seven must have solved the difficult problem which had divided the small Christian community, for we hear nothing more about it. While it is true that Stephen was named one of the seven whose responsibility it was to distribute church food and funds to the poorer widows of the congregation, he gained much more attention before Jewish assemblies, called h synagogues, as a ”superlative speaker and debater."l2 On at least three annual occasions Jews from many parts of the Roman world went to Jerusalem to observe major festivals initiated by Moses, who, as God's spokesman, commanded that they be kept by the Jews perpetually (Exodus 23:1b-l7 and Leviticus 23:2-8). To accommodate those visiting worshippers from near and far, the Jerusalem Jews had erected synagogues where family members and friends could meet together while in the holy city. The Jewish synagogue, dating back to the Babylonian Captivity some- time around 587 B.C., had become the place of assembly, worship, and the reading and emlanation of the Law, for Jews outside of Palestine and for those in Palestine who were unable to attend the Temple services. It was also the center of Jewish community life wherever Jews lived. In large cities, such as Alexandria and Rome and Jerusalem, there were many synagogues where the people often grouped themselves according to their craft, their language, or their nationality. Each national group had its own synagogue in Jerusalem somewhat as different national groups have their own individual churches in America. Some scholars say that in this city alone there were more than 1480 different synagogues.l3 Others hold this to be an exaggeration. It was in some of those synagogues that Stephen found a “golden 12Johannes Munck, The Acts 93 The Apostles, trans. by Johannes Munck (Garden City: Doubleday ard Company, Inc., 1967), p. 55. 13 J. R. Dummelow, ed., The One Volume Bible Commentary (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1965), 5732.5.— opportunity‘m4 to present his claims about Jesus of Nazareth. Whenever possible he talked at length with those Jews who did not believe in Jesus as the divine Son of God. Certain Jewish "defenders of tradition"15 were greatly disturbed by his call to faith in Jesus as Lord. In at least two of those synagogues Stephen encountered keen opposition and even open hostility. One was the synagogue of the North.African Jews from Libya, with its capital Cyrene, and Egypt, with its capital Alexp andria. Brilliant men suchtas.Apollos,‘who‘was both learned and eloquent in the Scriptures (Acts 18:2h), were in attendance there. The other synagogue was made up of Jews from the provinces of Asia and Cilicia and included a man named Saul, who had come from Cilicia's capital city of Tarsus, and who doubtless heard Stephen's arguments and took part in some of the discussions (Acts 7:58).

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