The Reformation
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 60, No. 1 – Fall 2017
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
Memory, Mission, and Identity: Orality and the Apostolic Miracle Tradition. By Brandon Walker. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, 2015. 346 pages. Paperback, $98.00.
Memory, Mission, and Identity examines the central motif of miracle traditions in the second and third centuries. Working from the premise that imitation of Christ was the emphasis for the early church, the community intended to remember Christ and imitate the suffering of Christ. Two key figures served as the models of imitating Christ: Peter and Paul. Walker traces these two figures in Acts of the Apostles, Acts of Paul, and Acts of Peter to see how the early church modeled their faith in light of the miracle traditions. It is worth mentioning that Walker is not attempting to validate the second-century works of Acts of Paul and Acts of Peter to canonical status, but rather, he tries to determine how the miracle accounts of Paul and Peter circulated during that time for the specific purpose of discipleship. Walker’s project is in two major parts. The first establishes the relationship between memory, orality, and identity, and the second presents a critical assessment of the memories and traditions of Paul and Peter in the second century.
The first part which offers a survey of various studies in memory and remembering begins with social theories of community formation and memory as it relates to the human experience. In addition, the ancient sources Walker cites include: Plato’s Phaedrus, Progymnasmata (an ancient Greek textbook of rhetoric), and Quintilian. Walker then concludes regarding the Jesus miracle traditions: “The miracles of Jesus as well as those performed by the disciples provided encouragement for early followers of Jesus. They recounted shared memories of his words and deeds within their communities which cultivated their individual and collective identities” (106). The miracles of Jesus produced faith and the eschatological framework for understanding their times and the events which will unfold for the church in the coming days.
The second part assesses the miracle traditions in all three Acts. The miracles pervade throughout Acts of the Apostles and they begin to emerge as part of the summary statement of Acts 2:42–43 depicting the early church’s activities: the presence of teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer, and “many wonders and signs.” For the church, they remembered Jesus and his teachings, but that also meant remembering the apostles’ faith and deeds as they become exemplars of faith. As a result, Luke presents these apostles as heroes in the church in a more polished style, but this portrayal, Walker argues, is consistent with the community’s remembrance of other Jewish prophets like Elijah, Elisha, and Jesus.
With Acts of Paul, Walker argues, much of the church’s memory of Paul shows great admiration for him. Incorporated within Acts of Paul is the story of Thecla, which Walker reports to be an early attestation of a woman martyred for her faith. The cultic movement surrounding this Thecla continued into the fourth century in various parts of the Mediterranean world. The dating of this work is set in AD 200, using Tertullian’s account of the presbyter who took creative license to create this fictional account of both Paul and Thecla preaching a form of asceticism. A miracle arises when Paul and Thecla face a lion as capital punishment, but the lion (1) recognizes Thecla to be a holy person and (2) asks Paul to baptize him.
Regarding Acts of Peter, Walker purports that Peter is the miracle worker, who is remembered and imagined by the church in the second century to preserve the church’s faith in Christ as the real miracle worker. Acts of Peter narrows its focus on the power of Christ; it is in Christ that Peter can work these miracles of exorcism, healing, and resuscitation. Walker identifies Peter as a mediator of Christ, representing him as the one holding divine power.
Both Peter and Paul are portrayed to have a tremendous ability for miracles in these second-century works as they did in the canonical Acts of the Apostles. Walker allows for both continuity and discontinuity from the canonical Acts to the apocryphal works. The continuity is in the working of miracles, but the kinds of miracles (such as talking animals) is a clear discontinuity. In addition, there are other concerns for the study of these second-century works. First, one has to question church community’s admiration for Paul in Acts of Paul when historically Tertullian points to the culprit, namely a presbyter, who fabricated the accounts in Acts of Paul out of a personal love for him (see De baptismo 17). That presbyter was deposed, removed from office for his work of fiction however well-intended—proving that the community was not in agreement with this presbyter. Regarding Acts of Peter, there is a similar problem. According to Eusebius, the community holding to the Catholic tradition was “not very knowledgeable of the Gospel, Preaching, and Revelation attributed to Peter” (Hist. eccl. 3.3.2). Still, Walker overlooks the community’s lack of use and acceptance of Acts of Paul and Acts of Peter. Perhaps Walker’s conclusion could have been more nuanced to suggest that a particular admiration for Paul and Peter was historically present in these later works, but even this admiration is merely a speculation from the standpoint of the church at-large.
With the closing of the canon, apocryphal works have persisted in minority splinter groups in the ancient world. Many of these groups were not in line with the regula fidei, the canon of faith. Walker’s work ultimately shows how apocryphal works have clear differences from the canonical writings of the New Testament, while still preserving some semblance to their canonical counterparts.
