Genre, Addressees, And Purpose
GENRE, ADDRESSEES, AND PURPOSE
Genre
The earliest identification of the genre of Acts may be reflected in the second-century authors who began calling Luke’s second volume the Acts. As noted abbove, several ancient historians used the word "acts” to describe the narratives in which they recounted the heroic deeds of individuals or cities (e.g., Polybius, 1.1.1; Diodorus Siculus, 1.1.1), and the early church may then have thought that this was the category into which Luke’s narrative fit. But "acts” was not the name of a technical genre as such, 35 so the title does not help much in establishing a well-defined literary classification for the book of Acts. Most scholars agree that Acts should be put into the category "history.” 36 This identification has recently been challenged by some who find the differences between Acts and other ancient works of history too great to admit of their common categorization. C. H. Talbert has styled Acts a "succession narrative,” 37 while Richard Pervo suggests that Acts be read as a historical novel. 38 Both these scholars remind us of important features in Acts—Talbert the relationship of Acts to Luke’s gospel, Pervo the element of storytelling in Acts—but neither of their proposed genre identifications has much to be said for it. 39 Others, noting these same differences, argue that Acts is unique and cannot be fit into any known genre. 40 However, while the features unique to Acts (e.g., its theological perspective and its relationship to the gospel of Luke) should not be minimized, we doubt that they are sufficient to take Acts out of the category of ancient history. Ancient historical works differ a great deal among themselves, with most—perhaps all of them—possessing some features unique to themselves. 41