The Prestige Language of Christianity in the Book of Acts

Historical Sociolinguistic Approaches to Multilingualism
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-90-04-72708-3
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 29, 386 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Reihe: Linguistic Biblical Studies

Researching ancient languages is notoriously difficult in sociolinguistics, due to the scarcity of data. This challenge is addressed by utilizing recent sociolinguistic theories and models to investigate the prestige languages used by early Christians in Acts. Drawing on historical documents, archaeology, and inscriptions, this study reconstructs the complex multilingual settings of the time. It reveals how Greek, despite the diverse linguistic landscape, became the dominant language in nearly all official contexts of early Christianity. This work breaks new ground in understanding early Christian communities and their linguistic practices, offering historical sociolinguistic approaches to the study of ancient languages and societies.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Park, Sung Min

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Soziolinguistik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

Acknowledgements

List of Figures and Tables

Abbreviations

Introduction: The Prestige Language of First-Century Christianity

1 Defining the Issue and Problem

2 Outline and Contribution of the Study

1 The Multilingualism of First-Century Christianity

1 Introduction

2 The Multilingual Environment of the New Testament World

3 The Prestige Language of First-Century Christianity

4 Conclusion

2 Historical Sociolinguistic Approaches to the Prestige Language of First-Century Christianity

1 Introduction

2 Historical Sociolinguistic Approaches to the Multilingualism of First-Century Christianity

3 The New Proposal of the Historical Sociolinguistic Approach to the Inquiry of the Codes of Peter and Paul

4 Conclusion

3 Macro Sociolinguistics: Linguistic Ideologies of the Roman Empire

1 Introduction

2 The Macro Context of the Roman State

3 The Linguistic Ideologies of the Institutional Communities

4 Conclusion

4 Meso Sociolinguistics: Linguistic Ideologies of the Communities of Practice in the Greco-Roman World

1 Introduction

2 The Meso Contexts of the Greco-Roman World

3 The Sociolinguistic Landscape of the Regional Communities

4 Conclusion

5 Micro Sociolinguistics: Peter and Paul’s Code Choices and the Prestige Religious Language of First-Century Christianity in the Book of Acts

1 Introduction

2 The Plurilingualism of Peter, Paul and Other Church Leaders

3 The Prestige Language of First-Century Christianity

4 Conclusion

6 Conclusion

Appendix1: The Geographical and Functional Distributions of Languages

Appendix2: Historical Figures’ Social Networks and Plurilingualism

Appendix3: The Density of Peter’s Social Networks with Other Historical Figures

Appendix4: The Density of Paul’s Social Networks with Other Historical Figures

Appendix5: The Code Choices of the Historical Figures in the Book of Acts

Bibliography

Index of Modern Authors

Index of Ancient Sources

Über Autor(innen)

Sung Min Park serves as a Research Fellow at McMaster Divinity College, specializing in the interdisciplinary intersection of biblical studies and historical sociolinguistics. His research explores ancient languages and societies, regularly contributing through publications and presentations across both fields.