Identity, memory, and prototypicality in early Christianity: Peter, Paul, and recategorization in the Acts of the Apostles

Abstract

The central thesis of this study is that the narrative of Acts attempts the recategorization of Judean and non-Judean Christ followers, as well as those on either side of the debate over non-Judean inclusion in the Christ movement, into a common ingroup with a superordinate identity. This is accomplished by presenting Peter and Paul as prototypical of a common superordinate Christian identity in the midst of diversity and conflict within the Christ movement near the end of the first or the beginning of the second century C.E. After reviewing relevant literature on Peter and Paul in Acts and early Christian identity formation, Baker develops a narrative-identity model for biblical interpretation, which is used to read the characterization of Peter and Paul in Acts through the remainder of the study.