Jonathan Burke
Living On The Edge: Challenges To Faith (2013)
https://www.academia.edu/41774119/Living_On_The_Edge_Challenges_To_Faith
p. 265-269
Questions about the New Testament
How accurate is the book of Acts?
Current scholarly attitudes range widely, from negative to positive.1123 German theologian
Adolf von Harnack’s extreme criticism
has been discredited, 1124 but
Ramsay’s views1125 are considered exaggerated,1126 and
Sherwin-White’s praise1127 is qualified.1128
Professor of Religion
Charles Talbert judges
Acts to be consistently accurate with regard to many details:1129 1130
Thessalonican city authorities called politarchs (Acts 17:6, 8),
Grammateus is the correct title for the chief magistrate in Ephesus (Acts19:35),
Felix and Festus called procurators (Acts 23:24, 26; 24:27),
centurion Cornelius,
tribune Claudius Lysias (Acts 10:1; 21:31, 23:36),
the title proconsul (Greek anthypathos), used for the governors of two senatorial provinces (Acts 13:7-8; 18:12),
the prohibition against Gentiles in the Temple’s inner court (Acts 21:27-36),
the function of town assemblies (Acts 19: 29-41),
soldiers in the tower of Antonia descended stairs into the Temple precincts (Acts 21:31-37).
Historian
Justin Taylor describes the accuracy of Acts positively,1131 and lists many examples:
trial scenes throughout Acts,1132
reference to Phrygo-Galatia (Acts 16:6; 18:23),1133
the voyage from Troas (Acts 16:11-12),1134
Lydia a historical figure (Acts 16:14),1135 1136
magistrates named correctly (Acts 16),1137
Paul objects to a beating without examination (Acts 16:37),1138
a synagogue in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1),1139
Jason before the city rulers (Acts 17:5-9),1140
Jews in Berea (Acts 17:10),1141
Athens full of idols (Acts 17:16),1142
the Athenians’ curiosity (Acts 17:21),1143
Paul on the Areopagus (Acts 17:19),1144 1145 1146
the ‘unknown god’ (Acts 17:23),1147 1148
Paul’s visit to Athens (Acts 17:16-33),1149
Jews expelled from Rome (Acts 18:1-2),1150
Gallio the governor of Achaia (Acts 18:12),1151
the tribunal of Gallio (Acts 18:12-16),1152
events in Ephesus (Acts 19:28-41),1153
Paul’s appeal to Caesar (Acts 25:11-12).1154
1123 ‘British scholarship has been relatively positive about Acts’ historicity, from
Lightfoot and Ramsay to W.L. Knox and Bruce. German scholarship has, for the most part, evaluated negatively the historical worth of Acts, from Baur and his school to
Dibelius, Conzelmann, and Haenchen. North American scholars show a range of opinion.’, Setzer, ‘Jewish Responses to Early Christians: history and polemics, 30-150 C.E.’, p. 94 (1994).
1124 ‘It is difficult to acquit Harnack here of an exaggerated hypercriticism.He offers a
lengthy list of inaccuracies (Acts pp. 203-31), but most of the entries are bizarrely trivi-
al:’,
Hemer & Gempf, ‘The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History’, p. 7 (1990).
1125 ‘Over a hundred years ago, the British archaeologist Sir William Ramsay set out
to disprove the historicity of Acts, but, after extensive work, particularly in Turkey, be-
came convinced of the book’s reliability and converted to Christianity.’, Blomberg, ‘From
Pentecost to Patmos: An Introduction to Acts Through Revelation’, p. 15 (2006).
1126 ‘'Ramsay no doubt put the point much more strongly than many of his contemporaries would have been prepared to accept, and he was capable of making assertions about Luke's historical accuracy which went beyond what could be shown by the available evidence.’, Marshall, ‘The Acts of the Apostles: an introduction and commentary’, p. 34 (1980).
1127 ‘For Acts the confirmation of historicity is overwhelming. Yet Acts is, in simple terms and judged externally, no less of a propaganda narrative than the Gospels, liable to similar distortions. But any attempt to reject its basic historicity even in matters of
detail must now appear absurd. Roman historians have long taken it for granted.’, Sherwin-White, ‘Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament’, p. 189 (1963).
1128 ‘he is quite willing to believe Luke made mistakes.’, Marshall, ‘The Acts of the Apostles: an introduction and commentary’, p. 36 (1980).
1129 Talbert, ‘Reading Luke-Acts in its Mediterranean Milieu’, pp. 198-200 (2003);
‘There are certainly points at which the contemporary color of Acts can be challenged,
but they are few and insignificant compared to the over-whelming congruence be-
tween Acts and its time and place.’, ibid., p. 201.
1130 However, Talbert also notes ‘There is widespread agreement that an exact description of the milieu does not prove the historicity of the event narrated.’,ibid., p. 201
1131 ‘The narrative of the Acts contains many details which can be related to in-
formation from other sources and help build up a picture of the Roman provinces of
Macedonia and Achaia in the middle of the first century of our era.Valuable light is cast
on Roman institutions in the provinces, civic life in Greek cities and Roman colonies,
economic and social realities, communications, religion, especially Judaism.’, Taylor, ‘The
Roman Empire in the Acts of the Apostles’, in Joseph (ed.), ‘Aufstieg und Niedergang der
römischen Welt’, volume 2, part 26, issue 3, p. 2437 (1996).
1132 ‘In fact, the “trial scenes” in Acts reflect well enough the proceedings of the Ro-
man legal system. The magistrates at Philippi impose on Paul and Silas the standard
penalty for vagrant undesirables (Acts 16,22-23.36). Those at Thessalonica receive a
bond for good behavior (17, 9).’, ibid., p. 2491.
1133 ‘Now “Phrygo-Galatian country”describes admirably the region of Antioch-by-
Pisidia and Iconium which Paul and Barnabas evangelized during the previous journey:
both cities belonged to the province of Galatia, but the native culture and population of
the region were Phrygian.’, ibid., p. 2439.
1134 ‘Samothrace is the highest island of the Aegean, andso presents a landmark
for which a boat sailing from Troas to Neapolis would naturally make. The distance
from Troas and Samothrace is a good day’s sailing with a favourable wind; a further day
would normally bring the vessel to Neapolis; in Acts 20,6, the return from Neapolis to
Troas took five days.’, ibid., p. 2442.
1135 ‘Lydia seems to have been a historical person.’, ibid., p. 2448.
1136 ‘The opinion also of
G. Lüdemann, Das fruhe Christentum nach den Traditionen
der Apostelgeshichte. Ein Kommentar, Göttingen, 1987, p. 190.’, ibid., p. 2448.
1137 ‘It would not be surprising if Greek speakers at Philippi continued to call
the principal magistrates of their city strathgoi, even after the official title had
become duumviri. Naples provides a parallel; it seems that the title of the pre-Roman
magistrates – dhnarcoi – continued to be in use for the duumviri of the colony. In that
case, the us in Acts of the term strathgoi for the duumviri would indicate the author’s
local knowledge and also illustrate the persistence of pre-Roman tradition in the colony
of Philippi.’, ibid., p. 2453.
1138 ‘The point in the first case is that as a Roman citizen he should have been given a
proper trial before suffering corporate punishment. It would be logical if the law gave
such protection to a citizen, at least in this period when citizenship was still a rela-
tively uncommon privilege outside Italy.’, ibid., p. 2456.
1139 ‘Several inscriptions attest the presence at Thessalonica of Jews and even of
Samaritans. They appear to date from the Later Roman Empire, but there is no reason
to doubt that a Jewish community existed already in the 1st century of our era. In fact
an inscription dating from the 1st century or shortly after was found at Thessalonica
with a dedication to Qeω Uyistω kata epitaghn IOΨEΣ. SCRÜRER believes that the
last word would be an attempt to render the Tetragrammaton. This inscription can then
be classified with some probability as Jewish and so attest a Jewish presence at Thes-
salonica in or soon after the 1st century.’, ibid., p. 2459.
1140 ‘In the continuation of the episode at Thessalonica, vv. 5-9, Paul's opponents
mean to drag him and Silas before the dhmoV and in fact they bring Jason and others
before the politarcai. Several inscriptions from Thessalonica have the word dhmoV
for the assembly of the citizens. It would be reasonable to give it the same sense in Acts
17,5 and not simply to take it as the equivalent of ocloV (“crowd”) in v.8. This was the
official title of the assembly, as can be seen from the frequent formula introducing civil
legislation: h boulh kai o dhmoV… (The Council and the Asembly…). The title politarcai
is very well attested for certain magistrates at Thessalonica.’, ibid., p. 2460.
1141 ‘For the presence of Jews at Beroea we have two epitaphs dating from the period of the Later Roman Empire.’, ibid., p. 2463.
1142 ‘A suggestion can even be made regarding a particular part of the city where
such a description would have been especially apt: the north-west corner of the Agora,
where visitors in ancient times found themselves in a veritable forest of Herms, those
plinths surmounted by the head of Hermes which were characteristic of Athens.’, ibid., p.
2465.
1143 ‘Curiosity was indeed a well known characteristic of the Athenians.’, ibid., p. 2465.
1144 ‘It seems then that there is no difficulty in supposing that Paul was brought before
the council of the Areopagus to answer for the doctrines which he was teaching.’, ibid., p.
2465.
1145 ‘Others point out that the account in Acts is not perfectly coherent.173 It is true
that certain details of the scene might better suit a discussion than a judicial process:’,
ibid., p. 2470.
1146 ‘On the other hand, one need not think that Paul underwent a formal trial before
the Areopagus; it could have been merely an informal preliminary enquiry.’, ibid., p.
2470.
1147 ‘It is altogether likely that Athens too had an altar dedicated θeoiV agnωstoiV,
and indeed, as we shall see,literary evidence supports this supposition.’, ibid., p. 2470.
1148 ‘It is clear that in the 1st century of our era there were several altars in and near
Athens which could be described as altars of “unknown gods,”whether they were
inscribed agnoωstoiV θeoiV or θeωn or were without inscription.’, ibid., p. 2470.
1149 ‘We have seen that it is possible to locate with surprising precision the events
narrated in Acts 17,16-33 in the course of Paul’s stay in Athens,.’, ibid., p. 2491.
1150 ‘We appear to have here a point of contact between the Book of Acts and the
known chronology of the ancient world. In fact three ancient historians, two pagan
and one Christian, mention a punitive action taken by the emperor Claudius against the
Jews at Rome; the difficulties begin when one tries to reconcile the three texts among
themselves and with that of Acts.’, ibid., p. 2478.
1151 ‘An inscription found at Delphi mentions Gallio as proconsul. It records a letter
from the emperor Claudius which indicates a date for the proconsulate of Gallio and
hence of St. Paul’s visit to Corinth at that time according to Acts.’, ibid., p. 2484.
1152 ‘It is evident that the magistrate enjoyed a very large discretion for determining
whether the affair interested the law or not.This is precisely what Acts describes as
taking place before the tribunal of Gallio.’, ibid., p. 2486.
1153 ‘Later, at Ephesus (Acts 19,28-41) the leading role in civic life apparently played by
the grammateuV and his association with the Asiarchs correspond exactly with what is
known of the political life of the city.’, ibid., p. 2491.
1154 ‘The 3rd century jurist Paulus explains that the former right of the citizen to
appeal to the people had become a right of appeal to the emperor.’, ibid., p. 2456
