A Socio-Rhetorical Analysis of Paul’s Speech in Acts 17:16–34: Implications for a Missions Strategy Beyond the Ewes in the Global Evangelical Church in Ghana.

Abstract

The command Jesus gave the Church to make disciples of all nations in Matthew 28:16–20 calls for a missions strategy that takes into consideration the socio-cultural, religious, and linguistic backgrounds of those the Church reaches out to. The writer of the Acts of the Apostles narrates how in carrying out the mandate of the Great Commission, the Holy Spirit through the apostles, adopted various mission strategies to fulfil that mandate. The Apostle Paul’s speech in Acts 17:16–34 is one of the classic examples of how the early missionaries adopted the socio-cultural, religious, and linguistic background of their audiences to carry the gospel message across. This thesis adopts a socio-rhetorical analysis methodology to analyse Paul’s speech in Acts 17:16–34 with the aim of distilling implications of the speech for missions strategy which will take care of the socio-cultural, religious, and linguistic settings of the people the Church evangelises. Many scholars, having researched the Areopagus speech, have proposed that the gospel message must be contextualised into the cultural context of those evangelised. One major gap in those studies however is how the Church must articulate the gospel in a multicultural and linguistic context to distil theological and missiological truth(s) for the African (and, in this case, Ghanaian) context, where language planning and the accommodation of tribal distinctions are frequently undermined in the Church’s missions strategy. The research considered the context of the book of Acts, examined the socio-rhetorical context of Paul’s speech in Acts 17:16–34, undertook a socio-rhetorical analysis of the speech, and explored its significance for missions strategy. The practical significance of the socio-rhetorical interpretation of Paul’s speech in Acts 17:16–34 is the acquisition of handles for the Global Evangelical Church in Ghana and abroad to expand its missions plan beyond service to the Ewe people. The research revealed that though the early Church struggled to integrate Jews and Gentiles as worldviews, language practices, history, and other factors were anything but monolithic, the apostle Paul adopted a missions strategy that demonstrates a worthwhile attempt to bridge tribal and language barriers in his mission work.

The command Jesus gave the Church to make disciples of all nations in Matthew 28:16–20 calls for a missions strategy that takes into consideration the socio-cultural, religious, and linguistic backgrounds of those the Church reaches out to. The writer of the Acts of the Apostles narrates how in carrying out the mandate of the Great Commission, the Holy Spirit through the apostles, adopted various mission strategies to fulfil that mandate. The Apostle Paul’s speech in Acts 17:16–34 is one of the classic examples of how the early missionaries adopted the socio-cultural, religious, and linguistic background of their audiences to carry the gospel message across. This thesis adopts a socio-rhetorical analysis methodology to analyse Paul’s speech in Acts 17:16–34 with the aim of distilling implications of the speech for missions strategy which will take care of the socio-cultural, religious, and linguistic settings of the people the Church evangelises. Many scholars, having researched the Areopagus speech, have proposed that the gospel message must be contextualised into the cultural context of those evangelised. One major gap in those studies however is how the Church must articulate the gospel in a multicultural and linguistic context to distil theological and missiological truth(s) for the African (and, in this case, Ghanaian) context, where language planning and the accommodation of tribal distinctions are frequently undermined in the Church’s missions strategy. The research considered the context of the book of Acts, examined the socio-rhetorical context of Paul’s speech in Acts 17:16–34, undertook a socio-rhetorical analysis of the speech, and explored its significance for missions strategy. The practical significance of the socio-rhetorical interpretation of Paul’s speech in Acts 17:16–34 is the acquisition of handles for the Global Evangelical Church in Ghana and abroad to expand its missions plan beyond service to the Ewe people. The research revealed that though the early Church struggled to integrate Jews and Gentiles as worldviews, language practices, history, and other factors were anything but monolithic, the apostle Paul adopted a missions strategy that demonstrates a worthwhile attempt to bridge tribal and language barriers in his mission work.