Dr. Cavan Concannon, Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California
For more on Dr. Concannon, go to his personal website: www.cavanconcannon.com
Apostle PaulChristian OriginsEarly ChristianityHistorical PaulNew Testament
The Historical Paul: The Paul of History or Faith?
I have often hear it said that Acts is not historical, but I rarely hear any attempt to provide evidence. Paul’s itinerary in the undisputed letters is in good agreement with what we find in Acts, and in a way that cannot be explained by dependency. Also, Galatians supports the historicity of Acts on several points. See my 2018 Biblica article. It is very hard to argue against the plain meaning of the “we passages”.
There is very little evidence for conjectural emendation of the letters. I don’t rule it out in principle, but it cannot have been widespread. The question of selection bias in the preservation of the letters is more interesting. The undisputed letters contain strong but subtle evidence that women played prominent roles in the churches, so we should consider the possibility that letters that contained direct evidence of the same have not survived.