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The Description of Paul in the Acts of Paul and Thecla

The Description of Paul in the Acts of Paul and Thecla THE DESCRIPTION OF PAUL IN THE ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA BY ROBERT M. GRANT In the Acts of Paul and Thecla (3, p. 237, 6-9 Lipsius) there is a description of Paul that seems to have no parallel in early Christian literature. Literally translated, it runs thus: "a man small in size, with a bald head and crooked legs; in good health; with eyebrows that met and a rather prominent nose; full of grace, for sometimes he looked like a man and sometimes he had the face of an angel." The words from 'full" to "angel" need not concern us. They are borrowed from the book of Acts, where they describe the martyr Stephen (Acts 6:8, 15). As for the rest, scholars used to suppose that vestiges of oral tradition per- sisted and gave reliable pictures, at least in part, of what Paul really looked like. W. Michaelis, cited in Hennecke-Schneemelcher-Wilson, offers a variant: "the typical portrait of a Jew, admittedly adapted to the eminence of the Apostle."' We shall show that it has nothing to do with either the apostle or a Jew, much with poetical and rhetorical ideas of the way leaders ought to look. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Vigiliae Christianae Brill

The Description of Paul in the Acts of Paul and Thecla

Grant, Robert M.
Vigiliae Christianae , Volume 36 (1): 1 – Jan 1, 1982
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1982 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0042-6032
eISSN
1570-0720
DOI
10.1163/157007282X00251
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

THE DESCRIPTION OF PAUL IN THE ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA BY ROBERT M. GRANT In the Acts of Paul and Thecla (3, p. 237, 6-9 Lipsius) there is a description of Paul that seems to have no parallel in early Christian literature. Literally translated, it runs thus: "a man small in size, with a bald head and crooked legs; in good health; with eyebrows that met and a rather prominent nose; full of grace, for sometimes he looked like a man and sometimes he had the face of an angel." The words from 'full" to "angel" need not concern us. They are borrowed from the book of Acts, where they describe the martyr Stephen (Acts 6:8, 15). As for the rest, scholars used to suppose that vestiges of oral tradition per- sisted and gave reliable pictures, at least in part, of what Paul really looked like. W. Michaelis, cited in Hennecke-Schneemelcher-Wilson, offers a variant: "the typical portrait of a Jew, admittedly adapted to the eminence of the Apostle."' We shall show that it has nothing to do with either the apostle or a Jew, much with poetical and rhetorical ideas of the way leaders ought to look.

Journal

Vigiliae Christianae – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 1982

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