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Turning to God in Acts

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Turning to God in Acts TURNING TO GOD IN ACTS: INSIGHTS FROM THREE KEY CONVERSION NARRATIVES BY LUKE A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Charles Sturt University By Russell Warnken B Ec, M Div, M Th Charles Sturt University August 2018 ii Table of Contents Certificate of Authorship ............................................................................. v Acknowledgements ..................................................................................... vi Abstract ........................................................................................................ vii Abbreviations ................................................................................................ x Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1. Methodology ........................................................................................... 11 1.1 The genre of Acts ............................................................................... 11 1.2 Narrative Criticism ............................................................................ 26 1.3 Textual Criticism ................................................................................ 61 1.4 The narrative unit chosen ................................................................. 63 1.5 Chapter outline ................................................................................... 68 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 68 2. Conversion in Context ........................................................................... 73 2.1 Conversion in Judaism ...................................................................... 74 2.2 John the Baptist .................................................................................. 92 2.3 Conversion in paganism ................................................................... 97 2.4 Conversion in philosophy .............................................................. 101 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 105 3. The Conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26–40) ............... 109 3.1 The passage: setting, structure and development ....................... 109 3.2 The position of the passage in Acts ............................................... 115 3.3 Textual issues.................................................................................... 119 3.4 Divine agents .................................................................................... 121 3.5 Human involvement ....................................................................... 127 3.6 Baptism .............................................................................................. 146 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 153 4. The Conversion of Saul (Acts 9:1–30) ................................................ 157 iii 4.1 The passage: setting, structure and development....................... 157 4.2 Textual issues ................................................................................... 168 4.3 The conversion of Saul .................................................................... 171 4.4 Human involvement ....................................................................... 216 4.5 Divine agency ................................................................................... 228 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 239 5. The Conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10:1–11:18) ................................ 243 5.1 The passage: setting, structure and development....................... 244 5.2 Textual issues ................................................................................... 251 5.3 Divine agents .................................................................................... 258 5.4 Human involvement ....................................................................... 288 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 317 6. Conclusion: Reflections on Turning to God in Acts ......................... 319 6.1 The approach taken ......................................................................... 319 6.2 Divine agency ................................................................................... 323 6.3 Human agency ................................................................................. 332 6.4 The importance of the conversion experience ............................. 356 6.5 The church grows by conversions ................................................. 358 6.6 Wider implications .......................................................................... 359 In conclusion ........................................................................................... 366 Bibliography ............................................................................................... 371 iv Certificate of Authorship I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at Charles Sturt University or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgment is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by colleagues with whom I have worked at Charles Sturt University or elsewhere during my candidature is fully acknowledged. I agree that this thesis be accessible for the purpose of study and research in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Executive Director, Library Services or nominee, for the care, loan and reproduction of theses. Signature: Date: 11 July 2017 v Acknowledgements A part-time thesis is a long journey with many ups and downs. It is a journey that needs special companions to finish it. Two people deserve special mention in regard to this thesis. First of all, my principal supervisor, Dr David Neville, Head of the School of Theology, Faculty of Arts and Education, Charles Sturt University. This thesis would never have reached this stage without his generous support and encouragement, unflagging patience and scholarly counsel. I also need to thank my wife, Annette, for her continued encouragement and support, as well as her willingness to put up with an absent husband, isolated in his study over a long period of time. I also thank Dr Bernard Doherty, a colleague in the School of Theology, for his valuable assistance with chapter 2, and Reverend Professor James Haire for his contribution to the early chapters of my thesis. vi Abstract In this thesis I use narrative criticism, supplemented by features of historical and textual criticism, to examine Luke’s accounts of the conversions of the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26–40), Saul (Acts 9:1–30) and Cornelius (Acts 10:1–11:18). Narrative criticism was chosen as a methodology to concentrate on what Luke wrote and to avoid unresolvable historical-critical issues (for example, sources and reconciling the Paul of his letters with the Paul of Acts). The stance adopted is that of a present-day reader who uses various critical tools such as the latest Koine Greek text, textual criticism and historical analysis of the Lukan text to read, as far as possible, the passages in Acts as the Lukan reader might have read them. I propose that Acts 8:4–11:18 is a literary block which has a major theme of conversion and from which I have chosen to examine closely three conversion accounts: the Ethiopian eunuch, Saul and Cornelius. To better understand the Lukan narrative of Saul’s conversion in Acts 9 I have also looked at the Lukan Paul’s reflections on his conversion in Acts 22:1–16 and 26:1–23. vii To contextualize the three conversion accounts I survey conversion in Second Temple Judaism (including John the Baptist), Hellenistic paganism and philosophy. My aim is to understand the likely influences on early Christians that shaped their understanding of conversion and how those who heard the call to repent and be baptized understood it? I conclude that the strongest influence, but not the only one, was most likely Second Temple Judaism. While I consider how Luke structures his conversion narratives to create an impact, my main focus is on how Luke portrays the divine and human characters in each account. In the three narratives examined I find that the initiative in the conversion process is with divine agency, which also has a guiding role in the ensuing developments in each conversion. However, divine agency is manifested in different forms, including angels, visions, divine voices, providential ordering of events, the Holy Spirit, even a manifestation of the ascended Jesus. There is variety also in those who are converted and how they are converted. I further argue that despite its prominence divine agency does not overwhelm human involvement. Rather, it is played out in ways that allow the human characters to remain fully human. At the least, these characters have to cooperate willingly with the divine. The viii intersection of the divine and the human is most clearly seen in the act of baptism, which is common to all three conversion accounts. In baptism human agency responds to divine agency, the human embraces the divine and encapsulates
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