Inscriptions and chronology
However much Actsmight seem, at first reading, to be a ‘straight’
history, it lacks one of the crucial elements upon which historians
depend: dates. This is not to say that there are no chronological
indicators in the text at all. For example, the account of Paul’s
last trial in Jerusalem before he was sent to Rome opens with the
statement ‘three days after Festus had arrived in the province [of
Judaea], he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem’ (Acts25.1).
Similarly, there are indications of the length of time Paul spent
in various places in the course of his travels, such as the ‘three
months’ and ‘two years’ he resided at Ephesus (Acts19.8, 10),
or the three months spent wintering on Malta during the journey
to Rome (Acts28.11). The chronological markers in Actsare
therefore all relative; absolute dates are entirely lacking. There
are no references to Roman consular years, the regnal years of
Roman emperors, or even to local calendars – all of which were
used in various parts of the Roman world. In their absence,
scholars have tried to fix certain dates, notably those of the terms
of office held by Roman governors of Judaea. Such endeavours
are deemed important, since upon them will depend any attempt
to reconstruct a precise picture of Paul’s career in terms of how
long his missionary journeys lasted, and the length of time he
spent in one city or another. For example, while Actsleaves off
its account of Paul’s journeys with his arrival in Rome, one recent
reconstruction of his journeys dates his arrival there early enough
to allow him time to undertake extra journeys to Spain and Greece
(Murphy-O’Connor 1996: 359–64).
Among the cities visited by Paul was Corinth. This was an
important centre for both trade and Roman provincial adminis-
tration: in short, it boasted precisely the sort of profile that we
have seen made certain places ideal for Paul’s missionary activ-
ities (pp. 117–18). The fledgling Christian community of Corinth
was important enough to be the recipient of two of Paul’s genuine
letters. Moreover, while sojourning in the city Paul wrote his
Letter to the Romansand possibly also his First Letter to theCONTEXTS FOR THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY
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