Hidden Criticism of the Angry Tyrant in Early Judaism and the Acts of the Apostles

This book examines the world of discursive resistance among subalterns in early Jewish and Greco-Roman antiquity, then sets Luke’s hidden criticism of imperial Rome in the Acts of the Apostles and Paul’s speech on the Areopagus in Acts 17 in that context.

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Hidden Criticism of the Angry Tyrant in Early Judaism and the Acts of the Apostles adds to the current literature of imperial-critical New Testament readings with an examination of Luke’s hidden criticism of imperial Rome in the Acts of the Apostles and in Paul’s speech on the Areopagus in Acts 17. Focusing on discursive resistance in the Hellenistic world, Strait examines the relationship between hidden criticism and persuasion and between subordinates and the powerful, and he explores the challenge to the dissident voice to communicate criticism while under surveillance. Strait argues that Luke confronts the idolatrous power and iconic spectacle of gods and kings with the Gospel of the Lord of all—a worldview that is incompatible with the religions of Rome, including emperor worship.