The summaries in Acts 2, 4 and 5 and Greek utopian literary tradition

This dissertation is an examination of the descriptions of the early Christian community in the major summaries of Acts 2--5 in light of Greek traditions of ideal places, times and people. I argue that in the context of the widespread imitation of classical models in Greco-Roman education and rhetorical practice, the similarities owe less to Luke's reliance on the constraints of a particular genre or a common literary topos, as has been suggested, than to his deliberate and intentional portrayal of the early Christian community in Jerusalem in images and language that recall not just utopian traditions and ideals generally, but the guardians of the ideal state as described in Plato's Republic and related dialogues.;In Chapter One I provide a summary and analysis of previous discussions of the three major summaries in Acts 2--5, focusing on the ways in which interpreters have accounted for the similarities between Acts and Greek utopian literary traditions.;In chapter Two I discuss the role of mimesis in Greco-Roman literate education and in more advanced rhetorical and literary practice; I suggest that the mimetic compositional ethos of the period needs to be taken into account in the study of early Christian narratives in general, and Luke-Acts in particular. In the final section of this chapter I examine some of the evidence for Plato's role as a literary model.;In Chapter Three I trace the development of Greek and Roman utopian traditions from the descriptions of an ideal primeval existence in Homer and Hesiod, through Greek philosophical proposals of the ideal state and into the adaptation and appropriation of these ideals in the first century C. E. Special attention is given to the place of Plato within this tradition.;Finally, Chapter Four is a comparison and analysis of the similarities between the descriptions of the early Christian community in Jerusalem and Plato's descriptions of the guardians in the Republic. I show that there are numerous thematic and lexical similarities, including some distinctive traits that are best understood in light of the author's mimetic relationship to Plato's descriptions of the ideal state.