Michael Kochenash (2019) 'Better Call Paul “Saul”: Literary Models and a Lukan Innovation' JBL 138, no. 2: 433–449
This article argues that Luke’s characterization of Saul as a god-fighter can be read as modelled on the biblical King Saul and on Pentheus from Euripides’s Bacchae,and that the characterization of 'Paul' in Acts 13:4–17:15 can be read as modelled on the Bacchae’s Dionysus ... appealing to the Bacchae as a literary model avoids a weakness of similar interpretations of the name Saul, which date to the early church, that it is a reference to King Saul. Saul remains “Saul” after the Damascus Road experience in order to demonstrate the appropriate response of one found to be a god-fighter, emulating Pentheus’s model.
V. Conclusion
Luke initially characterizes 'Paul'—calling him “Saul”—as a god-fighter who persecutes the early church and even Jesus himself1 (whom Luke identifies as both the Son of God and the son of David). This characterization appears to be modelled on both King Saul—Israel’s first king who persecuted David—and Pentheus from Euripides’s Bacchae, the archetypal god-fighter who persecuted Dionysus, the son of Zeus. Saul/Paul’s characterization—and name—changes in Acts 13, where he becomes instead a herald of Jesus. This transitional episode can itself be read as a reconfigured reception of the Bacchae: 'Paul' becomes a Dionysus figure, but Sergius Paulus—whom readers might expect, being a civic ruler, to play the role of Pentheus—is receptive to Paul’s message, and the prophet [Elymas]2—whom readers might expect to be receptive like Tiresias—opposes Paul.....[ 1 Acts 9:4–5; 22:7–8; 26:14–15 ]
Luke thus exemplifies opposition to 'Paul’s' gentile mission with a Jewish false prophet [Βαριησού | Bar-Jesus; Acts 13:6], indicating to readers with the appropriate cultural competence that opposition to gentile inclusion is akin to Pentheus’s opposition to Dionysus—and will incur comparable consequences. Luke continues to characterize 'Paul' as a Dionysian herald until the middle of Acts 17, when the characterization shifts from Dionysian to Socratic.
While my interpretation echoes those of Jerome and Augustine by correlating Luke’s identification of Saul of Tarsus with King Saul, portraying them as persecutors, it avoids a major critique of the patristic theories by also reading Luke’s characterizations of Saul/Paul as imitating the plot of Euripides’s Bacchae. The pre-Cyprus characterization of 'Paul', wherein he is named Saul, continues beyond his Damascus Road encounter with Jesus. The brief narratives following Saul’s blinding provide him with the opportunity to rival—and best—the most famous god-fighter, Pentheus. Whereas Pentheus persisted in his persecution of Dionysus, resulting in his own tragic death, Saul models the proper response of one whose activity is revealed as god-fighting. Beginning in Acts 13, Luke inaugurates a new characterization [as] 'Paul'—not as a reformed Pentheus or King Saul figure, but as a Dionysian herald who is himself opposed. This opposition—taking the form of [the] Jewish false prophet [Βαριησού]2 in Acts 13:4–12—necessitates a new name to match a new identity, a name and identity already known to Luke’s readers: Paul the apostle to the gentiles.
.2 [previously in the article] In Paphos, they encounter “a certain man, a magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus” (13:6). Luke locates Bar-Jesus with the Cypriot proconsul, Sergius Paulus, “an intelligent man” who summons Saul and Barnabas because he “sought to hear the word of God” (13:7). A confrontation ensues as “Elymas the magician (for thus his name is translated) opposed them, seeking to turn the pro-consul from the faith” (13:8). Luke then introduces a second name for Saul, “who was also called Paul” (13:9), and reports his response, a caustic rebuke of Bar-Jesus/Elymas that plays both with the etymology of his name and with his prophetic status, culminating with Paul pronouncing that Bar-Jesus/Elymas will be blinded for a certain amount of time (13:9–11).42 Bar-Jesus/Elymas is promptly blinded, and Sergius Paulus is not turned from the faith (13:12).
https://www.academia.edu/37517701/Bette ... Innovation
