| In this study, I first seek to provide an extended description of the custom of hospitality in antiquity. While attempting to describe this social convention, I consult Greco-Roman, Jewish, and early Christian texts as a way of delineating the expectations and actions associated with it. As a result, I demonstrate that hospitality is an extensive set of behavioral conventions that are associated with a host assisting a traveler. Furthermore, I compile extensive lists of the vocabulary utilized by ancient writers who refer to or describe hospitality encounters.; Second, I seek to utilize my extended description of hospitality in antiquity as a backdrop for reading Acts 9:43–11:18 as Luke's authorial audience would have. Hence, I attempt to draw upon the hospitality expectations that were prevalent in Luke's milieu while interpreting Acts 9:43–11:18. In my analysis of Acts 9:43–11:18, I argue that Luke describes three separate manifestations of hospitality within this one narrative unit, thereby drawing attention to this social convention. Moreover, in the third hospitality encounter that begins in 10:24, I note that the typical hospitality elements of exchanging information between a host and a guest and of giving a substantial gift to a hospitality counterpart are present.; From a theological standpoint, I suggest that Luke's audience would have surmised that Luke is characterizing the Christian God as the God of Hospitality who personally extends hospitality to the Gentiles gathered at Cornelius's house, gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to them (10:45, 11:17), and takes a people for himself on that day (15:14 cf. 14:27). Finally, from a didactic standpoint, I go on to suggest that Luke's narration of Acts 10–11 would have likely conveyed at least three important messages about Christian practice to Luke's audience: Christian hospitality can be a useful tool for spreading the gospel to the Gentiles, improving Jewish and Gentile relationships within the Church, and fostering spiritual transformation in groups and individuals. |
