Stephen: A Singular Saint

Why did Saint Luke, in writing Acts, include the long speech attributed to Stephen? For years we frankly wondered; for it seemed to be a rather pedestrian discourse. Various discussions in commentaries indicated that we were not alone in our puzzlement. A detailed analysis of the printed comment on Stephen soon revealed that the Lucan materials given in Acts 6 and 7 had not been scrutinized in great depth. The need to do so became obvious. The opportunity to undertake a concentrated study of these two chapters in Acts presented itself when we began our graduate work in 1960 in Union Theological Seminary in New York. The first results of that investigation were submitted to the faculty of that distinguished institution in 1964. Since that time several essays and monographs have appeared to throw further light on the problem but also to complicate the basic issues. Such recent discussions have been taken into account in the preparation of the present volume. It contains a radical revision and up-dating of the original dissertation.