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An Ephesian interlude (9): a reflection for Day 17 of Lent

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  “About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way. A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis…said, “Men …not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods . And there is danger…that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.”   When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (Acts 19.23-28, NRSVUE )      What, on the surface, merely looks like a cynical attempt to protect the economic interests of the Ephesian “religious trinket” manufacturers is actually only the tip of a socio-religious iceberg that had been floating in the “seas” of Asia for centuries…before Paul arrived in town with his message of Jewish-style creational mono...
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An Ephesian interlude (8): a reflection for Day 16 of Lent

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  “Paul entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.” (Acts 19.8-9, NRSVUE )        As we have seen, Luke presents Paul as a philosopher, “arguing” ( dialegomai ) with Jews, Stoics, Epicureans…indeed, with all comers (cf. Ac. 17.17-18; 18.4; 19.8-9; 24.25).   The verb dialegomai is a commonplace in classical and Hellenistic Greek literature, where it is mostly used for “converse” or “discussion”.   In Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, there is developed the art of persuasion and demonstration either in the form of question and answer (Socrates), the establishment of the idea by pure thought (Plato), or the investigation of the ultimate foundations of demonstration and knowledge (Aristotle). ...
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An Ephesian interlude (7): a reflection for Day 15 of Lent

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  “Paul entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.” (Acts 19.8-9)      We have seen that Luke takes pains to record declarations by imperial power-players of the blamelessness of his protagonists ( Jesus : Lk. 23.4, 14, 22; Paul : Ac. 26.30-32).   According to one scholarly theory, the book of Acts consists of Luke’s “evidence” of Paul’s innocence of any capital charges – evidence that Luke intended to submit during Paul’s trial before the imperial tribunal in Rome (cf. Ac. 25.10-12; 28.30-31).   If this is true, then Luke, with his two-volume work, is doing for Jesus and Paul what Plato had done for Socrates following Socrates’ condemnation by the “council of 500” of Athens to die by drinking ...
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An Ephesian interlude (6): a reflection for Day 14 of Lent

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  “While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.” (Acts 17.16-17)      One of the ways the emperor of Rome expected his subjects to demonstrate their allegiance to him was to worship his “genius” or his “spirit” (represented by his image, i.e., statue). [1]   Two years after his death in 44 B.C., the Roman senate had voted in favour of granting Julius Caesar “apotheosis”, i.e., he was proclaimed to have ascended to join the Roman pantheon as a god.   As a result, shrines were constructed for the worship of “the divine Julius Caesar”; this also meant that his adopted son and heir, Octavian [2] was hailed as “the son of a god” (this was inscribed on the coins bearing his image, along with his other titles of “lord” and “saviour”).   Eve...
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An Ephesian interlude (5): a reflection for Day 13 of Lent

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  “Paul lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” (Acts 28.30-31)      The book of The Acts of the Apostles comes to an “end” with Paul under house arrest, proclaiming that Yahweh’s kingdom has been established by kurios Iesous Christos … in Rome , under the very nose of kurios Nero kaisar (Lord Nero Caesar). [1]   It is completely understandable if readers of the book of Acts – or the New Testament as a whole – don’t realize that this entire book was written, and describes events which occurred, under the pervasive shadow of the Roman empire.   Most readers of the NT will notice that Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers, after having been condemned by a Roman provincial governor (Pilate).   However, beyond the explicit references to the imperial apparatus that we find in the Gosp...
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An Ephesian interlude (4): a reflection for Day 12 of Lent

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  “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also… They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor [1] , saying that there is another king named Jesus .” (Acts 17.6-7)      Rome: the best the world had to offer. Nero (reign: AD 54—68) inherited the empire which had been forged by Julius Caesar and his heir, Nero’s great-great-grandfather, Augustus.   Beginning a century before Nero’s accession to the imperial throne, Caesar and Augustus had “pacified” the world – each victory of Rome’s legions was heralded as “good news” (a gospel) – and thus established (so the imperial propagandists said) an empire of peace and justice.   All the peoples of the world had to do was submit, worship the emperor…and, of course, pay their taxes for the privilege of living in the world of Rome.   Rome basically steamrolled its way around the Mediterranean, slaughtering all those who opposed it, bribing local elites to ensure...
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