Abstract
The article deals with the gradual change of polemical style of Stephen's speech in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 7:2-53). It asks if there is another explanation of escalation of the controversy in its closing verses than author's wish of describing Stephen's character.
It suggests that the change of emotion is due to the author's narrative strategy. The author pursued opposing intents: Stephen was supposed to deliver a conciliatory speech in order to prove continuity between Christianity and Judaism, but the speech had to escalate the conflict of primitive Church with Judaism at the same time and to provoke persecution.
Author's management of the fictional emotion in the narrative serves to the strategy of verisimilitude to make the episode plausible for its readers.