The Acts of the Apostles

CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 19
journey of St. Paul to Jerusalem (xi. 30, xii. 25) is
rightly distinguished from the journey of chap. xv.
But even if in these cases there is more that is
questionable or erroneous than the average critic is
accustomed to assume,^ the author would not therefore
be deserving of severe blame ; for he has not pre-
tended to more knowledge than he possesses, but has
clearly told us where alone in his narrative dates
stood at his disposal. Before, however, we can give
a final verdict on his chronological procedure, it is
also necessary both to examine the instances where he
refers to Festivals^ and to investigate his chronological
statements of an indefinite character.
Ill, References to Festivals.
From the chronological point of view it is the
greatest paradox in the Acts of the Apostles that
in this book, written by a Greek for another Greek
of high position,^ it not infrequently occurs that
Jewish feasts are referred to, and are presupposed as
well known. These references do not come from the
sources of the work, or at least only in part, for they
are just as numerous in the second half as in the first
half of the Acts, and are not absent even from the
" we-sections." We are therefore led to conclude
^ In nay opinion this is not the case.
* That this Greek noble bore the name of Theophilus from his
birth is possible, but not probable. Either St. Luke in the address
has given to him a lofty spiritual title side by side with his high
worldly title " /cpcirtcrToj," or he himself as a Christian had taken
the name '* Theophilus," just as a few decades later the Christian
Ignatius took the name " Theophorus."