Multilingual Peter and Paul in the Book of Acts

Abstract

Christianity originated with Jesus’ followers, primarily Galileans, and evolved to include both Jews and Gentiles, many of whom were bilingual, speaking both Aramaic and Greek. Since the mid-twentieth century, biblical scholars have shown a keen interest in exploring the prestigious religious language associated with Christianity. They have proposed various hypotheses concerning the language used by the earliest Christians, especially regarding the gospel transmission. The scholarly debate has centered around the language predominantly spoken by Peter, Paul, and other church leaders during official religious practices, such as teachings. This study adopts sociolinguistic approaches to investigate the language choices of Peter, Paul, and other church leaders, as depicted in the Acts of the Apostles. It encompasses macro and meso level analyses to reconstruct the sociolinguistic landscape of the Greco-Roman world, along with a micro analysis that examines the linguistic processes underlying individuals’ selection of a particular language in the official and public contexts of the churches. The study aims to shed light on the prevailing linguistic ideologies within the churches of Palestine and the diaspora, including an understanding of the norms, rules, and attitudes governing language choice in the official and public spheres of the churches.