From: Edward Hobbs (EHOBBS@wellesley.edu)
Date: Wed Dec 17 1997 - 13:05:52 EST
Colleagues:
Clay Bartholomew is succeeding in prodding some of us to keep looking at
the text of Acts, whether or not we have our noses buried in other parts of
the NT. Perhaps he succeeds because some of us find Luke such an
accomplished writer of Hellenistic Greek that it is always a pleasure to
open to the pages of Acts.
He raises the question:
"On the subject of Stephen's speech. Has anyone seen a study comparing the
syntax of Stephen's speech to the rest of Luke/Acts? This idea intrigues me.
It may be that such a study would not produce any results, but I am wondering
if some of Stephen's style of speaking has been preserved in Luke's account so
that we could compare it to the syntax of Luke/Acts and find distinctions."
I do not know of such a study; but let me suggest what it might and might
not reveal, were it done (already or in the future). As an analogy, let me
point to the dissertation (later published in part) by Fred Veltman, on the
Defense Speeches in Acts, written under my supervision. He proved, I
believe, that these speeches closely follow the format of genuine
protocols of trials in the Empire. His conclusion, of course, was that
they may well be based on the actual protocols of Paul's trials. But the
problem is, that they may well not; Luke, an obviously well-educated
person, could readily have known or learned the form of actual defense
speeches by looking at protocols of the trials of strangers.
One of the obvious talents of Luke was his remarkable ability to write in
many styles. E.g., his ability to write a LXX-looking-style in Luke 1-2
has led occasional (Scandinavian) scholars to posit a Hebrew original for
the narrative, then translated by Luke. (Problem: If Luke did the
translation, why didn't he bother to use standard Greek?)
So if Stephen's speech shows a different style, it could mean that Luke
used an older written source; but it could also mean that he did his usual,
and wrote in a special style for that speech. (But of course, I don't know
that he did--I'm only saying that IF the style were to prove different, it
might mean either of these two things.)
Even so, I'll be happy to read that dissertation, if and when it is done.
Edward Hobbs
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