The Role and Function of Lydia as a Rhetorical Construct in Acts: A Sociorhetorical and Theological Interpretation

Abstract

The Role and Function of Lydia as a Rhetorical Construct in Acts: A Sociorhetorical and Theological Interpretation This thesis investigates whether Lydia of Thyatira functions as a figure that has a particular rhetorical and theological function and force in Acts 16:9-40. There are a number of factors that would suggest that Lydia was of interest to the author of Acts. These include Lydia’s placement at both the opening and closing to the Philippi visit, and the fact that the sole case of explicit divine initiative in the rhetorical unit is directed at Lydia. Given that Acts is a product of the rhetorical communicative culture of antiquity, it is highly probable that the author intended Lydia to contribute to the overall rhetorical movement and unity of the passage. Yet, discussions about Lydia in the history of interpretation have drawn upon an image of “Lydia the hostess,” a high-status woman of propriety who supports the Christian mission by sharing her material, and other resources. In presenting Lydia the hostess as an exemplar of resource-sharing, biblical commentary has not been able to suggest how she might contribute to the rhetorical development of the text. Ultimately, too many questions regarding Lydia’s prominent profile in the text have remained unanswered. The uninvestigated questions raised by Lydia called for an interpretive approach that was equipped to explore rhetorical figures. In response, this project employed sociorhetorical interpretation (SRI), an exegetical approach that understands the cultural and social embeddedness of a rhetorical text. By means of a systematic SRI analysis that comprehensively examined the text’s inner lexical, narrative, and argumentative patterns and structures, and the relevant social, cultural, historical, sacred, and oral-scribal elements located in the text’s first-century Mediterranean environment, it was possible to identify the salient topoi of Acts 16:9-40, and to suggest how the author had used these ideologically in developing the rhetorical movement of the text.