"Why Were the Heathen So Arrogant?" the Socio-Rhetorical Strategy of Acts 3-4

Abstract

Acts 3-4 is analyzed with reference to a culturally specific model of social and rhetorical competition. The functions of positive and negative labelling in agonistic cultures are described in terms of the applicable conflict theory, and the rhetorical strategies of the Christian and Sadducean combatants in Acts 3-4 are traced. Both groups conducted the confrontation in accordance with widely accepted rules of challenge and response, though the Christian speaker occasionally approached an excessively aggressive strategy. The success of the Christian protagonists in this verbal skirmish precipitated continued rhetorical combat and some episodes of violence between the Christians and the Sadducees in the Jerusalem described in Acts.