From Pharisee to Ascetic: The Shift of the Image of the Apostle Paul in the Literature of the Genre of Acts
Abstract
The chapter discusses shifts in the image of the Apostle Paul in the genre of Acts from the perspective of social memory theory. The introductory passages present the author's perception of social memory and show how the image of the apostle changes depending on the period and contemporary images in relation to the genres used.
The image of the apostle is constructed through his use of rhetoric, which is presented in 1 Corinthians. Paul's letters show his education and provide the basis for the image built by the author of the Acts of the Apostles written by Luke, where Paul is depicted as a Roman citizen and orator.
From the conservative Paul of the first century A.D. 50s, the picture shifts to the radical and ascetic Paul of the second century. The transformation is influenced by ideals given time, typology, and a change in genre.
In the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla, Paul is already close to the heroes of the novel, and in the age of orality, collective memory and the adaptation of the hero to contemporary ideals, different from the time when Luke's Acts of the Apostles was written, are at play.