Freethought & Rationalism Archive

mountainman · 10-23-2008, 11:03 AM

As I have not been able to find a copy of the text of the Acts of Titus anywhere on the net I am creating a thead so that, if you know how to get a copy, then I'd be happy if you let me know where or how. The best I have been able to do for the moment is to read the material available of which one of the better treatments I have found, the PDF from i.czachesz, where the author makes the following summary:

Quote:

ACTS of TITUS

CONCLUSION

We can call the commission of Titus institutional in more than one way.
It integrates its hero into the institutional framework of the apostolic
church, the life of the higher classes, and Roman politics. And in this way
it also established the official status of christianity. The commission of Titus
is a cult-narrative which tells the initiation of a cultic hero and thus
explains the introductionn of a new cult. The pattern is found in Hellenistic
Egypt in the so-called Zoilus letter, where the hero writes that Sarapis had
more than once ordered him in a dream to sail over to Apollonius (the minister
of Ptolemy II) and tell him that the temple of Sarapis must be built and a
priest established in the Greek quarter of the city. [53]

Among the other apostolic Acts, the Acts of Thomas relates that the apostle converted kings to Christianity. [54] Sometimes it is the rulers themselves who are commanded by the divinity to introduce the new religion. A good example from dynastic Egypt is the cultic reform of Pharoah Ikhnaton, who introduced the worship of Aton the new solar god and built the new capital Akhetaton (Tell el-Amarna). [55]

Among Christian biographies we can quote Eusebius' account of how the visions of Constantine the Great prepared his reforms introducing Christianity as an imperial cult, [56] including the transfer of the capital to Constantinople, which marked his "own transformation from a Western to an Eastern ruler", [57] In this context we have to understand the "renewal of the islands" in the Acts of Titus as a political program. This agenda is fulfilled when the apostle Titus, member of the local higher class, establishes Christianity on Crete in cooperation with proconsuls and relying on the permission and support of emperors.

To sum it up, the commission of Titus in his Acts follows established literary patterns better than does any of the previously discussed texts. We can observe here:

(1) the structure of the Greco-Roman biography,
(2) the influence of Christian biographies,
(3) an established tradition of conversion in hagiography, making use of bibliomancy (perfectly embodied by the "Confessions of Augustine" [58]), and
(4) the pattern of introducing new cults, especially as formulated in eastern traditions.

The institutional form of commission is brought to perfection in this text, which projects the positive reception of Christianity by the Greco-Roman higher class back to the lifetime of Jesus, and presents the introduction of a new cult as the concern of the political establishment of that age. Commission becomes political fiction when the Roman proconsul sends an envoy to Palestine to learn from Jesus, or a christian sanctuary is built from imperial money under Trajan.

Best wishes,

Pete

Ben C Smith · 10-23-2008, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainman

As I have not been able to find a copy of the text of the Acts of Titus anywhere on the net I am creating a thead so that, if you know how to get a copy, then I'd be happy if you let me know where or how.

It may not be online. Halkin edited the text, and Pervo offered a translation into English.

Ben.

mountainman · 10-23-2008, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben C Smith

It may not be online. Halkin edited the text, and Pervo offered a translation into English.

Dear Ben,

Thanks for having a look. I for one would be interested to see what the author writes, and the style of writing. It's bound to turn up sooner or later.

Best wishes,

Pete

mountainman · 10-23-2008, 05:25 PM

Can anyone advise whether or not this JSTOR Article entitled THE ACTS OF TITUS AND THE ACTS OF PAUL - Montague Rhodes James , J Theol Studies.1905; os-VI: 549-556 contains many citations of an english translation of the text in question?

Thanks for any assistance,
best wishes,

Pete

andrewcriddle · 10-25-2008, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainman

Can anyone advise whether or not this JSTOR Article entitled THE ACTS OF TITUS AND THE ACTS OF PAUL - Montague Rhodes James , J Theol Studies.1905; os-VI: 549-556 contains many citations of an english translation of the text in question?

Thanks for any assistance,
best wishes,

Pete

The article is available on google books (at least from some internet locations)
It doesn't contain much direct quotation in English translation although it does have contain a large piece of the Greek text.

Andrew Criddle

mountainman · 10-25-2008, 04:39 AM

($10) REWARD OFFERED - TEN DOLLARS AUSTRALIAN (Au$10)
:eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn:

I am willing to fork out ten australian bucks (or the international equivalent) in addition to any other costs which may be incurred, such as postage, photocopying, time and effort, etc, in order to obtain a physical copy of the text of an english translation of The Acts of Titus.

Please apply on this thread if you are able to assist.

Thanks, and best wishes,

Pete

Roger Pearse · 10-25-2008, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben C Smith

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainman

As I have not been able to find a copy of the text of the Acts of Titus anywhere on the net I am creating a thead so that, if you know how to get a copy, then I'd be happy if you let me know where or how.

It may not be online. Halkin edited the text, and Pervo offered a translation into English.

Ben.

Pervo, R., The Acts of Titus: a PreliminaryTranslation with an Introduction, Notes and Appendices, Society of Biblical Literature: Seminar Papers, Number 35 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996) 455-482.

Richard Pervo himself is now retired after being convicted in 2001 at the age of 58 for downloading child porn and forced to resign, apparently. But he is still around. He's listed as a fellow of the Westar Institute and member of the Jesus Seminar. Burton Mack is quoted here as "This is Pervo's amazing, clear, and unsullied conclusion to his long and magnificent scholarship on Acts."

It must be possible to contact him, therefore.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Jeffrey Gibson · 10-25-2008, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Pearse

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben C Smith

It may not be online. Halkin edited the text, and Pervo offered a translation into English.

Ben.

Pervo, R., The Acts of Titus: a PreliminaryTranslation with an Introduction, Notes and Appendices, Society of Biblical Literature: Seminar Papers, Number 35 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996) 455-482.

Burton Mack is quoted here as "This is Pervo's amazing, clear, and unsullied conclusion to his long and magnificent scholarship on Acts."

It must be possible to contact him, therefore.

It is. But not via the internet. I will see Richard at the upcoming SBL. So I can pass messages to him there.

But the SBL Seminar Papers are available in good libraries.

Jeffrey

Jeffrey Gibson · 10-25-2008, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainman

Can anyone advise whether or not this JSTOR Article entitled THE ACTS OF TITUS AND THE ACTS OF PAUL - Montague Rhodes James , J Theol Studies.1905; os-VI: 549-556 contains many citations of an english translation of the text in question?

If we needed any more proof that Pete does not read his "sources" carefully and sees in them only what he wants to see (let alone proof that he rarely if ever looks anywhere but on the web for the material he (mis) uses), here it is.

The article by James is not a JSTOR article. JSTOR does not index JTS (see here), and since the page that comes up when one clicks on the link above is self evidently not a JSTOR page, one can only view it as such by seeing in it what one wants to see.

Jeffrey

mountainman · 10-25-2008, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Pearse

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben C Smith

It may not be online. Halkin edited the text, and Pervo offered a translation into English.

Ben.

Pervo, R., The Acts of Titus: a PreliminaryTranslation with an Introduction, Notes and Appendices, Society of Biblical Literature: Seminar Papers, Number 35 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996) 455-482.

Richard Pervo himself is now retired after being convicted in 2001 at the age of 58 for downloading child porn and forced to resign, apparently. But he is still around. He's listed as a fellow of the Westar Institute and member of the Jesus Seminar. Burton Mack is quoted here as "This is Pervo's amazing, clear, and unsullied conclusion to his long and magnificent scholarship on Acts."

It must be possible to contact him, therefore.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Dear Roger and Ben,

I thank you both for your bevy of references on this thread. From the Burton Mack quote we learn that Richard Pervo's book is forthcoming December 9, 2008. I wonder what he has to say in that book which brought about Burton's review?

Best wishes,

Pete

10-23-2008, 05:25 PM	#4
mountainman Contributor Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Falls Creek, Oz. Posts: 11,192	Anything of "Acts of Titus" in the J Theol Studies.1905; os-VI: 549-556? Can anyone advise whether or not this JSTOR Article entitled THE ACTS OF TITUS AND THE ACTS OF PAUL - Montague Rhodes James , J Theol Studies.1905; os-VI: 549-556 contains many citations of an english translation of the text in question? Thanks for any assistance, best wishes, Pete

10-25-2008, 04:39 AM	#6
mountainman Contributor Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Falls Creek, Oz. Posts: 11,192	Reward offered for an english translation of "The Acts of Titus" ($10) REWARD OFFERED - TEN DOLLARS AUSTRALIAN (Au$10) :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: :eating_popcorn: I am willing to fork out ten australian bucks (or the international equivalent) in addition to any other costs which may be incurred, such as postage, photocopying, time and effort, etc, in order to obtain a physical copy of the text of an english translation of The Acts of Titus. Please apply on this thread if you are able to assist. Thanks, and best wishes, Pete

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