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The Art of Rhetoric in the Acts of the Apostles

This Rock Volume 18, Number 8   October 2007     Reasons for Hope By Cherie Peacock   Letters   What Apologists Need to Know about Rhetoric: Lessons from Aristotle By Gregory R. Beabout   Saintly Rhetoric?   The Art of Rhetoric in the Acts of the Apostles   Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation: The Simpsons, the Boomers, and Religion By Robert P. Lockwood   Why Baby Boomers Left the Church . . .   Poster Boys for Perpetual Adolescence   Read All About It: Why Catholics Should Care About the News Media Crisis By Russell Shaw   Tips for the Informed News Consumer   Resources for the Media-Savvy   Let the Children Come to Me: The International Theological Commission Clarifies Limbo By Matthew A. C. Newsome   Hope for Our Simon   An Excerpt from "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die without Being Baptized"   Damascus Road Why I Came Back to the Body of Christ By Chris A. DeVolld   By the Book Hell? Yes! (Part I) By Jim Blackburn   Eyes to See Time and Eternity in the Balance By Michael Schrauzer   Truth be Told Twenty-Six Crosses on a Hill By Matthew E. Bunson   Quick Questions   Last Writes By Karl Keating    Subscribe    Permissions

The Acts of the Apostles contains two dozen speeches. Most were delivered either by Peter (eight of the first twelve) or by Paul (the majority of the rest). There also is a long speech from Stephen in chapter 7, and speeches by James and Philip. Several have co-presenters: John (along with Peter), and Barnabas (along with Paul, twice). Peter co-presents one of the speeches with the other apostles.

The audience included three different kinds of groups. 1) Many, like the first one, are addressed to a group who believes in Jesus. 2) Most of Peter’s speeches are addressed to a gathering of Jewish people or leaders in the Jewish community; Paul’s final speech also addressed a group of Jewish leaders. 3) The majority of Paul’s speeches are addressed to Gentiles and their leaders. They do not believe in God or in the personal God of the Hebrew tradition, and they typically have not heard the story of Jesus. In the speech that Peter delivers on the day of Pentecost (which is the first long speech in the text, and is perhaps the most famous of all the speeches in Acts), Peter addresses each of these groups. His audience is "all of you" (Acts 2:14).

Each speech shares a common aim: to persuade the various audiences to undertake a deeper participation in the life of faith.

Here is a list of the speeches in Acts:

• 1:16-22 Peter addresses 120 believers about replacing Judas.
• 2:14-41 Peter preaches in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
• 3:12-26 Peter addresses a gathering in the Temple Court in Jerusalem after a miracle.
• 4:8-12 Peter and John speak about Jesus when questioned by the Sanhedrin.
• 5:29-32 Peter and the apostles give witness about Jesus before the Sanhedrin.
• 7:2-53 Stephen delivers a long defense to the Sanhedrin after he is accused of blasphemy.
• 8:26-38 Philip preaches to the Ethiopian eunuch traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza.
• 10:34-49 Peter preaches in Caesarea to the household of Cornelius, a Roman centurion.
• 11:5-17 Peter addresses the circumcised believers in Jerusalem.
• 13:16-41 Barnabas and Paul preach to the congregation assembled in the synagogue at Antioch.
• 14:15-17 Barnabas and Paul preach to a crowd of Gentiles about nature and God.
• 15:7-11 Peter addresses the Council of Jerusalem.
• 15:13-21 James delivers an address at the Council of Jerusalem.
• 16:30-34 Paul and Silas preach to their jailer and his family in Philippi.
• 17:22-34 Paul speaks rather philosophically to the people of Athens at the Areopagus.
• 19:1-7 Paul preaches about the Holy Spirit to some believers at Ephesus.
• 20:17-35 Paul gives a farewell speech at Miletus to the elders visiting from the Church of Ephesus.
• 21:20-25 James addresses Paul and the elders in Jerusalem.
• 22:1-21 Paul defends himself and his mission to a crowd in Jerusalem.
• 23:1-6 Paul defends himself before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.
• 24:10-21 Paul defends himself before the governor Felix in Caesarea.
• 26:1-23 Paul defends himself before King Agrippa in Caesarea.
• 27:21-26 Paul speaks on a ship encouraging the passengers to remain courageous.
• 28:23-28 Paul addresses the Jewish leaders in Rome.