Here’s the provocative concluding statement for Shelly Matthews’ paper, “Clemency as Cruelty: Forgiveness and Force in the Dying Prayers of Jesus and Stephen“:
But I would suggest that in the telling of Luke-Acts, the ethical teachings of early Christians share considerable space with the values of the Pax Romana – inscribing violence as peace, conquest as beneficence, and cruelty as clemency.
Earlier she says of the “Lord, forgive them” prayers of Jesus and Stephen:
As an expression of self-mastery and the ability to refrain from retaliating in the face of undeserved violence, it is an assertion of the ethical superiority of Christianity over Judaism. As an expression of undeserved mercy substituting for deserved retaliation, it may be considered a “marcionite” assertion, and may well have taken shape within the context of the developing second-century marcionite controversy.
She presumes an early second-century date for Luke-Acts. I appreciate her paper, as it makes me consider new things, but I’m not on board.
Do you think there’s anything to it?
