[Part 3. Introduction]

Abstract

This introduction chapter of the book deals with a study of selected linguistic devices for speech reporting in Acts. The author mentions the issues: genre; the unity of Acts and the Third Gospel; language/style; text; author; date. The book of Acts is perhaps the only work surviving from antiquity to have been ascribed to history, biography, and novel. The nature and extent of the unity of Luke-Acts continues to be debated in NT scholarship. The discussion of the unity of Luke-Acts has introduced the author's language and style. The author interacts with modern text linguistic approaches later and mines the more traditional scholarship on language/style of Acts. This textual state of affairs may be related to the relative neglect of Acts for much of the second century. A reasonable case can still be made for identifying author of Acts with the traditional Luke, travel companion of Paul.Keywords: language; linguistic devices; Luke-Acts; modern text linguistic approaches; Third Gospel