Luke, Acts, and Their Generic Conversation Partners

Journal article


Crabbe, K.. (2024). Luke, Acts, and Their Generic Conversation Partners. Early Christianity. 15(1), pp. 27-49. https://doi.org/10.1628/ec-2024-0004
AuthorsCrabbe, K.
Abstract

This article offers a new way of thinking about the contested issue of Lukan genre. It outlines a dynamic conception of how genre functions, including attention to "generic enrichment" and "generic mobility", and argues that identification of appropriate generic conversation partners provides a proxy for contemporary readers of ancient texts to gain insight into that dynamic process among their texts' first readers. Applying these insights to Luke and Acts, the article then discusses two sets of generic conversation partners that illuminate Lukan interpretation. First, it explores the relevance of Hellenistic and early imperial period historiographies and biographies, alongside biblical historiography, with particular attention to Luke's infancy narratives. Second, it considers apocalypses, especially Daniel, as a source of generic enrichment in Luke's text. It concludes that early Christian audiences would find their reading of Luke's historiography enriched by previous familiarity with apocalypses, while noting the further generic mobility that will lead some readers of Acts to push into a new genre informed by Hellenistic novels, when they develop the apocryphal Acts tradition.

KeywordsReligion; Christianity; Luke; Daniel; Acts; Biblical historiography; Hellenistic novel
Year2024
JournalEarly Christianity
Journal citation15 (1), pp. 27-49
PublisherMohr Siebeck
ISSN1868-7032
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1628/ec-2024-0004
Web address (URL)https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/artikel/luke-acts-and-their-generic-conversation-partners-101628ec-2024-0004
Open accessPublished as non-open access
Research or scholarlyResearch
Page range27-49
Publisher's version
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Controlled
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online04 Apr 2024
Publication process dates
Accepted2024
Deposited31 May 2024
Additional information

©2024 Mohr Siebeck

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