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Istvn Czachesz
1. INTRODUCTION
The following study attempts to apply Vernon Robbins' socio-rhetorical
exegesis to Acts 9:130. That the story of Saul's conversion is of
crucial importance in the Book of Acts is shown by the fact it is told
three times in the book (ch. 9, 22, 26). A multi-dimensional analysis
may help to give new insights about the central position and
paradigmatic role of the story. To our knowledge there has been so far
no exegesis of the passage applying multiple approaches as we are
going to do.
We are going to examine four dimensions of the text. The inner
textual section explores basically the semiotic dimension, attempting
some synthesis of the overall narrational and rhetorical patterns. The
intertextual study examines historical, social and cultural phenomena
which make up the world of the text, while the social and cultural
sections basically display the response of the text to these
circumstances, that is the social and cultural milieu created by and
within the passage. The ideological section attempts to deconstruct
the ideology of the text as well as its interpretation.
2. INNER TEXTURE
A close reading of the text of Acts 9:130 reveals the incredible
dynamics of the story. There are several narrative voices, scenes, agents,
and actions in the passage. In this section we will try to explore the
nature of these dynamics through displaying the inner texture of the
passage. We will analyze the repetitive, progressive, and narrational
patterns, then we are going to attempt to establish the overall narrational
and argumentative texture. References to the aesthetic texture of the
passage are also included in this section.
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SOCIO-RHETORICAL EXEGESIS OF ACTS 9 1 1 - 3 0
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discourse in the story. We also have "hear" four times, "speak" three
times, and "sound" in two cases, mostly expressing communication
with the Lord. We can conclude that the language of divine revelation,
through visual as well as verbal media, dominates the discourse,
particularly in the middle part of the story.
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SOCIO-RHETORICAL EXEGESIS OF ACTS 9 1130
Looking at the chart of narrative voices we can see that the narrator
has absolute priorityno surprise in narrative discourse. Of all the
characters in the story, Jesus (the Lord) speaks more than the others.
This underscores the importance of divine revelation in the passage.
However, Jesus reveals much more to Ananias than to Saul. Ananias
has the role of a mediator, communicating with God, and communi
cating God's message to Saul.
Saul, the Jews and Barnabas speak only in one verse each. Actually
Saul himself speaks least, only three words in verse 5. We have seen
already how passive a role he plays in the narrative.
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SOCIO-RHETORICAL EXEGESIS OF ACTS 9 1 1 - 3 0
(the disciples), and the ones who help him to solve his problem
(disciples of Damascus). Just as the solution of the problem is not
a real solution, the helpers are not real helpers, either. The solution is
that Saul, once an enemy of the Church, leaves Damascus as a friend
with the help of the disciples.
The second level enters with a quite unexpected accident. Saul
receives a divine revelation which changes his orientation, and makes
unimportant his original commission. This story speaks about the
divine election, calling and sending. Ananias fulfills the function of
a mediator, and has an important role in the narrative: he knows God's
plan and performs a sacramental act, installing Saul into his new office.
Charismatic powers prevail in the story. Saul receives the Spirit
through laying on of hands and baptism, and immediately proves his
charisma in the group of charismatic believers (disciples of Damascus).
He still has to be accepted by the congregation, which happens with
the help of a new patron, Barnabas.
We can see that a great number of persons, objects and places belong
to the second level. It is interesting to discern that in the configuration
of the second level the commissioned person in structuralist terms is
not Saul. On this level he becomes the object of the commission, while
the one performing the divine task is the mediator. We have two persons
for this function, Ananias and Barnabas. There are "guides" (travelers
leading Saul to Damascus) and charismatic persons (believers in
Damascus), who help the mediator, while the enemies of Saul ("Jews",
"Hellenists") work against his purpose. The congregation is the
secondary object of the mediator's commission.
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SOCIO-RHETORICAL EXEGESIS OF ACTS 9:11-30
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SOCIO-RHETORICAL EXEGESIS OF ACTS 9 1 1 3 0
2.3.3. Conclusion
In the first section of our study we have explored the inner texture of
Acts 9:130 by mapping out the repetitive, progressive, narrational,
and rhetorical patterns in the passage. We have displayed also the
overarching narrational, and rhetorical texture with the help of narrative
exegetical, structuralist, and rhetorical tools. The narrational texture
shows a two level story, the first level of which contains Saul's primary
commission of harassing the Damascus church, and on the second
level the divine revelation and plan intervenes with the help of the
mediator Ananias. The argumentative texture reveals an epideictic
rhetoric, in which again the Ananias episode is of crucial importance.
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3. INTERTEXTURE
In the intertextual section we are going to focus on the historical, social
and cultural intertexture of Acts 9:130. Since the comparison with
the Greco-Roman and OldTestament parallels does not show recitation
of those texts, these parallels are to be discussed under cultural
intertexture. The passage seems to be independent from the New
Testament references to Paul's conversion, quoted as historical
intertexture, that is why these references appear as the historical
intertexture, and are discussed under oral-scribal intertexture.
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5) 1 Cor 9:1. "...Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our
Lord?..."
6) 1 Cor 15:8. "Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared
also to me."
7) 2 Cor 11:3233. "In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas
guarded the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down
in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands."
8) Phil 3:6,12. "...as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; ...Christ
Jesus has made me his own"
9) 1 Tim 1:13. "...even though I was formerly a blasphemer,
a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because
I had acted ignorantly in unbelief..."
We can summarize the most important agreements, supposing at
least two independent sources (13 and 47): a) Paul persecuted
the Church violently, b) His encounter with the Lord took place in the
Damascus area, c) He pursued extended ministry after his conversion,
d) His life was threatened in Damascus and he was let down through
the city wall in a basket, e) He visited the Jerusalem church in the
early period of his ministry, f) He was accompanied by Barnabas, and
met the apostles, g) After visiting Jerusalem he worked in Cilicia. (Cf.
Johnson: 173).
We can draw two conclusions from the overview of the New
Testament evidence. 1. The skeleton of the Lukan narrative in Acts 9
corresponds to the sequence of the events found in the Pauline passages.
2. Two important Lukan motifs are missing from the Pauline account:
Saul's spectacular and complete defeat on the Damascus road, and
the subsequent mediation of Ananias.
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SOCIO-RHETORICAL EXEGESIS OF ACTS 9:11-30
to Pentheus: "Better slay victims unto him than kick/Against the pricks,
man () raging against God". The former passage is clearly
echoed by the Lukan " " (Acts 9:5), and the latter text by
Acts 26:14. In these parallels a god is persecuted by or is in controversy
with a mortal.
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SOCIO-RHETORICAL EXEGESIS OF ACTS 9:11-30
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We can see that both stories contain a two level plot (as discussed in
the inner texture), and a double commissioning. On the first level of
the plot Saul receives a primary commission from a person of authority
(high priest/father), which he will not be able to carry out. The second
level contains Saul's divine commissioning, but in both cases there is
a mediator, whose commissioning for this task also belongs to the
second level.
On the one hand the two stories are connected by the broader cultural
tradition of commissioning narrative, on the other hand there are
a number of parallels which reveal that 1 Sam 910 forms the specific
biblical intertexture of Acts 9.
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SOCIO-RHETORICAL EXEGESIS OF ACTS 9:1130
he had scruples about doing so, prayed for him lest King Seleucus
suppose that Apollonius had been overcome by human treachery and
not by divine justice. 4:14 So Apollonius, having been preserved
beyond all expectations, went away to report to the king what had
happened to him.
We have seen above that the spectacular defeat of Saul and the
mediation of Ananias are missing from the Pauline accounts. These
patterns are at hand in the story of Apollonius. We should not miss,
however, a considerable difference: Saul is commissioned to proclaim
the Lord, while Apollonius is simply overcome.
3.3.6. Conclusion
The analysis of the intertexture revealed a large array of historical,
social and cultural phenomena, which are in contact with the text. The
passage is embedded in the historical and social reality of early
(Pauline) Christianity as well as in Greco-Roman, Near-Eastern,
biblical, and Hellenistic Jewish culture.
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Ananias, saying that he has done "much evil" () to the saints. The
divine revelation on the Damascus road and the three days of fasting
and prayers completely transform his self. However, the rest of the
Jews continue the persecution of the Church. Aggression against the
Church does not finish. In the first half of the story the expressions of
aggression (displayed in the inner texture) describe Saul's attitude
against the Church, while in the second half Saul himself is threatened
by the same aggression. Changes in the society can be reached only
by winning the individuals one by one, which is sought by the disciples'
"bold" public ministry (,() in Damascus and Jerusalem.
In Acts 9:130 a thaumaturgie response also prevails. Although
we know Luke's social sensitivity from a number of other passages,
this unit concentrates very much on the personal religious experience.
There are three (!) visions mentioned, two to Saul (cf. 12), and one to
Ananias. The exclusive and individualistic character of the earlier is
obvious from v. 7: the men traveling with Saul "heard the voice but
saw no one". There are several forms of assuring the individual's
Salvation: 1. the promise of future guidance (6); 2. vision of the
"physician" (12); 3. healing by laying on of hands (1718); 4. filling
with the Holy Spirit (1718); 5. baptism (19).
The life and behavior of the disciples in Damascus and Jerusalem,
as presented in the passage, also formulates a Utopian response. The
community proves its solidarity when rescuing Paul two times from
his persecutors (25, 30), the believers have an alternative social
structure with the apostles on the top (27), and they are communicating
their values openly (22, 28) in order to convince others about their
truth.
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SOCIO-RHETORICAL EXEGESIS OF ACTS 9:11-30
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SOCIO-RHETORICAL EXEGESIS OF ACTS 9:1130
4.4. Conclusion
We have examined the social and cultural texture of Acts 9:130
separately from the rest of the Lukan corpus. In the first part we found
that the basic religious response of the text is basically conversionist
and thaumaturgie, and slightly Utopian. The moral transformation and
spiritual experience of the individual stands in the foreground. In the
second part we followed the U-shape story of Saul in terms of common
social and cultural topics. In this story Saul unexpectedly loses and
then gains back his honor, but at the same time the whole honor-scale
is inverted. In the final part we described the cultural location of the
text. The story represents a contracultural Christianity against a
dominant Jewish culture.
5. IDEOLOGICAL TEXTURE
We are going to sum up in two main points what we have to say about
the ideological texture of Acts 9:130. First we will analyze the
ideology in the text, then we will examine some ideological structures
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think of the eminent role of the Pauline tradition in the churches of the
Reformation. For the Protestant exegesis the authenticity of the Pauline
tradition, as affirmed by the passage, justifies the dominance of the
Pauline theology in the churches of the reformation, especially in the
Lutheran tradition. This is why the historicity of the conversion story
is a primary issue even in literarily oriented commentaries (cf. Johnson:
173). Here we are differentiating between historicity (Faktizitt) and
historicality (Geschichtlichkeit). The latter concerns the historio-
graphical or biographical character of Luke-Acts, the former has to
do with the question whether the event narrated in this unit has taken
place in the given place and time in the way it is told by Luke. In the
historical intertexture we have discussed the historicity of the text,
and attempted to reconstruct the events reported in the passage.
We are left with the task of "deconstructing" the present discourse,
i.e., localizing the ideological position of our exegetical study. Although
this task has to be performedfirstof all by the reader, some observations
can be made here. This section also may allow some autobiographical
considerations.
First, I am eager to learn and apply new approaches in biblical
interpretation. Therefore some pieces of this study may go beyond
my actual exegetical knowledge and powers. Some rhetorical, cultural
and anthropological statements are certainly in need of basic
refinement.
But I am also indebted to a couple of exegetical methods and notions.
That is why historical-critical, literary and formalist approaches may
have pushed into parts of the inner textual and intertextual study, and
maybe also into other sections. But I am also convinced that applying
new methods means the merging of the method with the exegete's
earlier approaches.
Thirdly, in certain issues 1 have experienced and also maintained
a certain distance from the methodological position of socio-rhetorical
criticism. This reluctance is the most palpable in the present section.
The reasons for this distance certainly result from the fact that biblical
exegesis is (as the need for an ideological criticism proves) never free
from the political agenda of a society. Consequently an Eastern-
European exegete necessarily applies a method differently from
American colleagues. Another ideological question concerns the
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5.3. Conclusion
We set out with the thesis that the ideology in the text, in the tradition
of its interpretations, and in the present exegesis, is created and
maintained by the ideological discourse itself. We have seen that the
passage represents the authenticity of the Pauline tradition; and that
this ideology is explicated and at the same time nurtured by the
Protestant exegesis. Finally we pointed out some ideological
preoccupations of our project, although we are sure that others also
can be found easily.
6. FINAL REMARKS
It is difficult to summarize the results of such a multifaceted project.
The most important result is perhaps that the method worked, and
helped to give new insights about the text. The main results of the
individual sections have been summarized in the relevant conclusions.
The main merit of applying multiple hermeneutical concepts seems
to be that the methods become "demythologized". Merging with each
other their constituting philosophies are neutralized or at least balanced.
The main danger lies in the same process: the exegete may not be able
to control the methods.
Another promising result is the model of the U-shape narrative as
discussed in the social and cultural study. Although the expression
comes from the literary exegete Northrop Frye, its presentation here
is rather connected with anthropological notions. Recently we have
attempted to use this idea as an overarching model for the entire Luke-
Acts. However, much exegetical work is still needed to refine this
concept.
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Works quoted
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