Cornelius over and over and over again

Abstract

Commentators usually note that the repetition seen in the story of Cornelius and Peter (Acts 10.1-11.18) indicates either the importance which the story plays in Acts, the sources behind the narrative, or stylistic variation. This article contends that the seemingly minor variations in these repetitions are not for emphasis alone. Rather, they constitute a narrative strategy called 'functional redundancy' in which repetitions with variation function to teach the reader how to interpret properly the events narrated in the story. Employing an understanding of redundancy developed by Meir Sternberg (The Poetics of Biblical Narrative ), the article applies four tools of literary redundancy (truncation, addition, change of order, and substitution) to the story of Cornelius's conversion to analyze how these repetitions function. The structure, literary style, and content of the narrative together reinforce that the movement to the Gentiles, symbolized by the contact between Peter and Cornelius, is part of God's plan of salvation.