Reli 104 1st Edition Lecture 10 Outline of Last Lecture I Review a Reasons for emphasizing similarities and differences b Methods for studying the gospels II A redactional analysis of Luke Luke also wrote the book of acts a The death of Jesus b The return of Jesus Outline of Current Lecture II First affirmative III Negative rebuttal of first affirmative IV First negative V Second affirmative rebuttal Current Lecture I First affirmative used for resolution The book of Acts Is Historically reliable I The Authors Stated Purpose Luke 1 1 4 o Author tells us that he wants to engage in a historical investigation of Jesus s life Evidence he does this in Luke o Evidence from book of acts that this is what he has done o Same author wrote Luke and Acts o Indicates that he is basing his accounts on what eye witnesses have said o His one goal is to write an accurate account of the things that have transpired o Book is mostly about spread of Christianity through apostle Paul This author not only talked to eye witnesses he himself was a traveling companion of Paul He was there to see these things take place II The Author As An Eyewitness o The we Passages Acts 16 10 17 20 5 16 21 1 18 17 128 16 These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute This is how we know the author was an eyewitness Starts walking about what we were doing we went there we did that He is including himself in the narrative At these points in narrative he was with Paul very strong evidence o Presumed Date and Authenticity This tell us that this is written by a contemporary of Paul Not an account written 100 years later This is authentic account first hand eyewitness account on what Paul said and did III The Authors Basic Reliability o His knowledge of Geography Law and Local Customs Lystra chapter 14 Sacrifice on altar outside of the city Paul goes to this town in Asia minor and with Barnabus and he heels a man there The people are amazed at what he has done and come to think that they are Gods who have descended to earth Told that priest of Zeus took an ox and lead ox outside of city to alter to sacrifice it to Paul that was assumed to be one of the Gods For years Liberal scholars mocked this passage This was until archeologists dug up lystra outside of gate there was an alter outside of gate to Zeus archeology can establish truthfulness of this account Athens Chapter 17 the Aeropagus and its Philosopher s Told that Paul founds an author to an unknown god alter set up by religious Pagan that had alters to various gods but wanted to have there bases covered Finds alter and preaches to them about the real god Infront of a group of philosiphors at Mars Hill We know from literary references that philosophers did gather together on Ariopagis verified from literary discoveries Thessalonica the politarchs 17 6 Paul goes into city and he causes disturbance in local synagogue There was an uprising and group of leaders called paulitarchs who persecuted Paul for making this ruckus in synagogue What is a pulitarch When they made archeological discoveries found brikes that were DEDICATED to pollitarchs o His confluence with a Primary source Acts 9 and Gal 1 2 road to Damascus Conversion Acts chapter 9 talk about how Paul started out as Jewish persecutor of the Christians Given authorization to persecute Christians in Syria On the way he had a vision Christ appeared to him and realized Jesus had been raised from the dead and was still alive converted to become a apostle Can read Pauls own account in Gal 1 2 stories are similar Acts 17 1 Thess 3 Sermon that Paul preaches in Athens Refers to same sequence of events in Paul than in Acts 17 both mention Timothy II Negative Rebuttal of First Affirmative The We passages o More commonly though that Travel Itinerary Using a source of some kind of travel log that somebody else had Problem is there there doesn t seem to be any different writing style between we passages and other passages First person narratives to authenticate witness Precisely so you think he was a traveling companion o Being an eyewitness does not guarantee accuracy Most scholars don t think that we indicates they were together The we shows up out of no where and disappears out of know where Whats going on with these we passages Author s Knowledge of geography and customs o This shows that he lived in the Roman world in the first century Doesn t show that the narrative he told was accurate o It does not show that he has accurate knowledge of these specific events Confluence with Sources in fact he is at odds with Paul wherever they can be compared o Even though there might be a broad confluence when looking at details they are always at odds Being historically accurate means giving historically reliable information specifics matter III First Negative The book of Acts is not Historically reliable I What it Means to be Historically Reliable o We mean that a text tells us what actually happened can trust text to know what happened historically Unfortunately cannot use book of acts to know what happened historically because it had to many historically inaccuracies o Its possible to know about local geography law and customs but still can give an INNACURATE story II Internal Inconsistencies o The ascension of Jesus Luke 24 Acts 1 Jesus ascends on the day of the resurrection Luke 24 Jesus ascends 40 days later Acts 1 Jesus acends from Bethany Luke 24 Jesus ascends from the Mount of Olives Acts 1 o The conversion of Paul Acts 9 22 26 Paul s companions heard the voice but saw no one 9 7 Paul s companions saw the light but did not here the voice 22 9 Pauls companions left standing while he was knocked to the ground 9 7 Pauls companions knocked to the ground 26 12 Paul is told to go to Damascus to be instructed by Ananios 9 6 10 Paul is not told to go to Damascus but is instructed directly by Jesus 26 16 18 III External Inconsistencies o Details in Paul s Itinerary Some small issues Was timothy with paul in Athens 1 Thess 3 1 or not Acts 17 15 Some big issues After Paul s conversion did he avoid going to see the apostles in Jerusalem Gal 1 15 17 or is that the first thing he did Acts 9 26 o Other views of Paul s Theology Acts 17 22 31 Rom 1 18 32 Were pagans completely ignorant about gods Acts 17 or fully knowledgeable about him Rom 1 Does god overlook and forgive past idolatry Acts 17 or condemm and punish it Rom 1 How can it be