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The Role and Function of Lydia as a Rhetorical Construct in Acts: A
Sociorhetorical and Theological Interpretation
Alexandra Gruca-Macaulay
Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Theology, Saint Paul University, in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the Ph.D. (Th.)
Ottawa, Canada
March 5, 2013
© Alexandra Gruca-Macaulay, Ottawa, Canada, 2013
Abstract
The Role and Function of Lydia as a Rhetorical Construct in Acts: A Sociorhetorical and
Theological Interpretation
This thesis investigates whether Lydia of Thyatira functions as a figure that has a parti-
cular rhetorical and theological function and force in Acts 16:9-40. There are a number of
factors that would suggest that Lydia was of interest to the author of Acts. These include
Lydia’s placement at both the opening and closing to the Philippi visit, and the fact that the
sole case of explicit divine initiative in the rhetorical unit is directed at Lydia. Given that
Acts is a product of the rhetorical communicative culture of antiquity, it is highly probable
that the author intended Lydia to contribute to the overall rhetorical movement and unity of
the passage. Yet, discussions about Lydia in the history of interpretation have drawn upon an
image of “Lydia the hostess,” a high-status woman of propriety who supports the Christian
mission by sharing her material, and other resources. In presenting Lydia the hostess as an
exemplar of resource-sharing, biblical commentary has not been able to suggest how she
might contribute to the rhetorical development of the text. Ultimately, too many questions re-
garding Lydia’s prominent profile in the text have remained unanswered.
The uninvestigated questions raised by Lydia called for an interpretive approach that
was equipped to explore rhetorical figures. In response, this project employed socio-
rhetorical interpretation (SRI), an exegetical approach that understands the cultural and
social embeddedness of a rhetorical text. By means of a systematic SRI analysis that compre-
hensively examined the text’s inner lexical, narrative, and argumentative patterns and struc-
tures, and the relevant social, cultural, historical, sacred, and oral-scribal elements located in
the text’s first-century Mediterranean environment, it was possible to identify the salient
topoi of Acts 16:9-40, and to suggest how the author had used these ideologically in devel-
oping the rhetorical movement of the text.
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This project’s SRI analysis of Acts 16:9-40 shows that Lydia functions as a highly rhe-
torical figure in the text. In stark contrast to “Lydia the hostess,” a culturally-contextualized
profile of Lydia, based on SRI analysis, presents the image of an immoral, degenerate,
Lydian purple-selling “huckster.” Historical evidence demonstrates that Lydia’s social and
economic status is indeterminate, social modelling displays how Lydia’s pressing offer of
“hospitality” to a group of men would have been perceived as socially shameless, and an in-
vestigation of ancient physiognomy reveals that Lydian cultural ethnography evoked topoi of
impropriety and huckstering. Strikingly, however, Lydia’s inner heart is warranted by God,
and her fidelity to God is argumentatively affirmed by the Pauline group’s final visit to her
home. Moreover, materiality of any kind is particularly absent in Lydia’s depiction, while
inner faculties of discernment and judgment are raised to prominence by the author.
In presenting Lydia as a divinely, and humanly endorsed member of the emerging
Christ-movement, yet introducing her through a cultural profile that would suggest a poten-
tial contaminant to a salvific “place of prayer,” the author sought to invert cultural
stereotype-centered socio-religious logic. This project reveals that Lydia functions as a fig-
ure of judgement in the rhetorical unit that contributes to the argumentative structure of a se-
ries of comparative cases, from within which the author illustrates the nature and quality of
authentic faith in God. For ultimately, the author presents those who can perceive Paul’s
God, and accordingly, respond in faith and fidelity, as displaying the only true criteria of be-
longing to a salvifically-mediative “place of prayer.” Most significantly, the author sought to
invert precisely the type of cultural codes of material triumphalism that are embodied in the
history of interpretation’s construct of high-status “Lydia the hostess,” by portraying the dis-
ciples’ encounter with Lydia within a socio-cultural framework of shame and dishonour.

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CONTENTS

Abbreviations vii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: History of Interpretation 8
1.1 History of Interpretation of the Lydia Passages 8
1.1.1 Patristic 9
1.1.2 Reformation 12
1.1.3 Modern Historical-Critical 16
1.1.4 Feminist Approaches 19
1.1.5 Most Recent Interpretations 23
1.2 Conclusion to History of Interpretation of the Figure of Lydia 27
Chapter 2: Method 30
2.1 Choice of Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation to Address the Role of Lydia in
Acts 16 30
2.1.1 Rhetoric and the Rhetorical Communicative Culture of the First-Century
Mediterranean Environment 31
2.1.2 Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation as a Means of Identifying Rhetorical
Topoi and Their Rhetorical Role in the Text 34
2.1.3 The World of the Text: Innertextural Analysis 37
2.1.3.1 Argumentative Texture and Pattern 43
2.1.3.1.1 Modes of rhetorical argumentation: deductive and inductive 44
2.1.3.1.2 Narrative plot-line logical progression 46
2.1.3.1.3 Means of rhetorical argumentation: rhetology and rhetography 47
2.1.4 The World Alongside the Text: Intertextural Analysis 50
2.1.4.1 The Role of Physiognomy in Intertextural Analysis 51
2.1.5 The World Before the Text: Ideological Textural Analysis 57
2.2 Conclusion: Method 62
Chapter 3: Innertextural Analysis 63
3.1 Repetitive Texture and Pattern 65
3.1.1 Conclusion: Repetitive Texture and Pattern 69
3.2 Progressive Texture and Pattern 70
3.2.1 Conclusion: Progressive Texture and Pattern 75
3.3 Rhetorical Boundaries Texture and Pattern: Refined Delimitation 75
3.3.1 Conclusion: Rhetorical Boundaries Texture and Pattern 79
3.4 Narrational and Sensory-Aesthetic Texture and Pattern 80
3.4.1 Conclusion: Narrational and Sensory-Aesthetic Texture and Pattern 90
3.5 Argumentative Texture 93
3.5.1 Conclusion: Argumentative Texture 113
3.6 Conclusion: Innertextural Analysis 114
Chapter 4: Intertextural Analysis 116
4.1 Introduction to Intertextural Analysis 116
4.2 Paul’s Vision of the Macedonian Man: Military Topoi 118
4.2.1 Topos of Troas: Military Launching Point 121
4.2.2 The Macedonian Topos 122
4.2.3 Topos of Sanctioning Dream-Visions 123
4.2.4 Topos of Military Call for Aid 130
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4.2.5 Topos of Strengthening Courage by Expectation of Victory
(εὐαγγέλιον) 133
4.2.6 Conclusion to the Intertextural Analysis of Paul’s Vision 135
4.3 Lydia: Topoi of Lydian Physiognomy 136
4.3.1 Lydia’s Indeterminate Social Status 136
4.3.2 Topos of Ethnography of Lydian Women 141
4.3.3 Topos of “Lydian Disease” 146
4.3.4 Topos of Purple: Deepening the Topos of Luxuria 150
4.3.5 Topos of Seller: “Hucksterism” 154
4.3.6 Lydia’s “Reverence”: Topoi of προσευχή and “σεβομένη τὸν θεόν” 162
4.3.7 Lydia and the Topos of Hospitality 171
4.3.8 Conclusion to the Intertextural Analysis of Lydia 180
4.4 Social Power in Roman Philippi 181
4.4.1 Topos of Roman Physiognomy 182
4.4.2 The Structure of Power in the Polis of Philippi: Topoi of Mantics,
Punishment, and Honour 184
4.4.3 Conclusion to Social Power in Roman Philippi 189
4.5 Topoi of Prison 190
4.5.1 Physiognomy of Jailers: Brutalization and Torture 191
4.5.2 Space of Prison: Suffering and Death 193
4.5.3 Conclusion to the Intertextural Analysis of the Topos of Prison 198
4.6 Conclusion to Intertextural Analysis 198
Chapter 5: Ideological Texture 202
5.1 Introduction to Ideological Texture 202
5.2 The παρακαλέω of the Macedonian Man: Blending Military Frames 204
5.2.1 Blending for Rhetorical Effect: A Call from God to Announce “Good
News comes as a Call for Military Aid from a Macedonian 205
5.2.2 Conclusion to the παρακαλέω of the Macedonian Man 210
5.3 The παρακαλέω of Lydia: Discerning a “Worshiper of God” 211
5.3.1 Clash of Frames: προσευχή, Lydia, and Fortifying Resource of εὐαγγέλιον 212
5.3.2 Divine Sanction of Lydia’s Heart 217
5.3.3 The Rhetographical Argumentative Structure of Lydia’s Offer:
Worshiper of God is as Loyalty to the Lord 223
5.3.4 Lydia’s παραβιάζομαι: Urging Judgement 228
5.3.5 Delineation Between Friend and Enemy: Physiognomy and Character
Assessment 229
5.3.6 Conclusion to the παρακαλέω of Lydia 235
5.4 The Implicit παρακαλέω of the Slave-Woman: Lydian Touchstone Synkrisis 237
5.4.1 The Slave-Woman’s Owners: Unveiling an Enemy 239
5.4.2 Conclusion to the Implicit παρακαλέω of the Slave-Woman 245
5.5 Paul’s Implicit παρακαλέω in Prison: Bringing to Right-Sightedness by
Staying in Faith 246
5.5.1 Prison as Touchstone 247
5.5.2 Conclusion to Paul’s Implicit παρακαλέω in Prison 251
5.6 The Inverted παρακαλέω of the Magistrates: Separating Apart 253
5.6.1 Fear: An Enemy’s Self-Defeat 253
5.6.2 Conclusion to the παρακαλέω of the Magistrates 259
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5.7 Paul’s παρακαλέω to the Assembly at Lydia’s: Mutual Recognition 260
5.7.1 Culmination of the παρακαλέω Progression: “Seeing” and “Encouraging
The Assembly at Lydia’s 260
5.7.2 Conclusion to Paul’s παρακαλέω at Lydia’s 266
5.8 Conclusion to Ideological Texture 267
Chapter 6: Conclusion and Theological Implications 271
Appendix 1: Lydian Touchstone Synkrisis 283
Appendix 2: Repetition: Acts 16:9-40 290
Appendix 3: Compound Verbs 300
Bibliography 301

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Abbreviations
BDAG Danker, F.W., W. Bauer, W.F. Arndt, and F. W. Gingrich. Greek-English Lexicon
of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3d ed. Chicago,
2000.
BNP Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity Volumes.
Edited by H. Cancik and H. Schneider. Managing Editor C. F. Salazar, assistant
editor D. E. Orton. Leiden, 2002–
LSJ Liddell, H. G., R. Scott, H.S. Jones. A Greek-English Lexicon. 9th ed. with re-
vised supplement. Oxford, 1996.
MM Moulton, J.H., and G. Milligan. The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament. London,
1930. Reprint, London,1952.
NewDocs New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity. Edited by G.H.R. Horsley and S.
Llewelyn. North Ryde, N.S.W., 1981–
ODCW Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World. Edited by J. Roberts. Oxford Reference
Online. 2007
http://www.oxfordreference.com.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/views/BOOK_SEARCH
.html?book=t180.
TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by G. Kittel and G. Friedrich.
Translated by G. W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids, 1964–1976.
TLG Thesaurus linguae graecae: Canon of Greek Authors and Works. Edited by L.
Berkowitz and K. A. Squitier. 3d ed. Oxford, 1990.
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Introduction
The hostess, the purple-selling “well-to-do textile merchant,” “the ‘most illustrious
convert of Philippi,” and “representative of feminine propriety” has become the prevailing
image of Lydia of Thyatira of Acts 16:14-15, 40 in contemporary biblical scholarship.1 So
understood, Lydia’s role in the narrative of the Pauline group’s visit to Philippi, almost uni-
versally has been reduced to that of a supplier of material resources, a role that is either
praised as a model of generous hospitality, or critiqued as another example of “Luke’s”
having exclusively restricted the role of women to that of resource suppliers.2 More re-
cently, it has been suggested that Lydia’s “high status” was deployed as a rhetorical tool by
the author in order to promote an agenda of Christian propaganda.3 Although there is noth-
ing inherently problematic with advocating for generous giving, nor with critiques of
ecclesial ideologies that restrict women from developing the fullness of their competency,
nor again with colonizing agendas, anchoring these interpretations in scholarship’s image
of Lydia takes up a profile formed by the history of interpretation rather than reflecting the
implications of an image that would have been seen in the minds of first-century Mediterra-
nean audiences.
———————————
1 Wayne A. Meeks, “The Image of the Androgyne: Some Uses of a Symbol in Earliest Christianity,”
Religions 13, no. 3 (1974): 198; David Lertis Matson, Household Conversion Narratives in Acts: Pattern and
Interpretation (ed. Stanley E. Porter; Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 123;
Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), 136; quoting Robert T. O’Toole, The Unity of Luke’s Theology: An
Luke-Acts (Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, 1984), 124; Jeffrey L. Staley, “Changing Woman: Toward a
Postcolonial Postfeminist Interpretation of Acts 16:6–40,” in A Feminist Companion to the Acts of the
Amy-Jill Levine and Marianne Blickenstaff; Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 2004), 186.
2 Halvor Moxnes, “Patron-Client Relations and the New Community in Luke-Acts,” in The Social World of
Acts: Models for Interpretation (ed. Jerome H. Neyrey; Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1991), 241–68; Gail
O’Day, “Acts,” in Women’s Bible Commentary, Expanded Edition (ed. Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H.
1992; repr., Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), 394–402.
3 Shelly Matthews, First Converts: Rich Pagan Women and the Rhetoric of Mission in Early Judaism and
Christianity (Contraversions: Jews and Other Differences; Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2001).
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Just as significantly, the contemporary image of Lydia seems to leave scholarship at a
loss as to why the author would have introduced this figure into the narrative of Philippi in
the first place. The following quote aptly sums up the current state of scholarship on Lydia:
The story of the conversion of Lydia and her household is a brief story (primarily
vv. 13-15) that has not attracted much scholarly attention. It is hard to find any re-
marks in the literature of scholarship concerning the function of this story in Luke-
Acts. Even Haenchen fails to comment on what Luke was trying to do with this
story.4
The presentation of Lydia in Acts 16 does not seem to contribute much to the overall devel-
opment of the Philippi episode. For example, R. Hillier observed the curiosity that Arator,
an early commentator on Acts, omitted any mention of Lydia’s baptism, this despite his in-
terest in baptisms in Acts. Offering a rationale as to why that may have been the case, Hill-
ier suggests:
His reasons for doing so can only be surmised. Lydia occurs only briefly in the
narrative of Acts and is of little interest for Arator: she is not of the significance
of, say, Cornelius, nor does her name provide him with an excuse for a digression
in which to exercise his ingenuity.5
In turn, a narrative-critical approach, which is especially attuned to the flow of narra-
tive unity, hits an obstacle when it attempts to ascribe purpose to Lydia’s role in the overall
structure of the narrative. Literary critic Luke Timothy Johnson writes: “the entire episode
with Lydia and the women can be seen as a narrative interlude.”6 Yet while biblical narra-
tive might contain rhetorical digressions that contribute to a text’s rhetorical impact, it is
difficult to find occasions of narrative “pauses” as intended by Johnson.7 Rather, biblical
———————————
4 Robert Allen Black, “The Conversion Stories in the Acts of the Apostles: A Study of Their Forms and
Functions” (Ph.D. diss., Emory University, Atlanta, 1985), 166–67; Matson, Household Conversion, 136,
149. Black’s suggestions regarding the function of Lydia are twofold: “the story of Lydia’s conversion
functions primarily as the story of the first convert in Macedonia. It marks the beginning of an important new
geographical step in the Christian mission”; and, “another function of Lydia’s story is to give an example of
the conversion of a woman of some standing.” Black, “The Conversion Stories,” 169. For Matson’s
suggestions see page 28 below. More recently, a monograph dedicated to Lydia has been published by
Richard Ascough, see pages 25 to 27 below.
5 Richard Hillier, Arator on the Acts of the Apostles: A Baptismal Commentary (Oxford Early Christian
Studies; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), 23; for more on Arator and Lydia see page 214.
6 Luke Timothy Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles (ed. Daniel J. Harrington; Sacra Pagina 5; Collegeville,
Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1992), 293.
7 For the rhetorical role of digressions, cf. Peter S. Perry, The Rhetoric of Digressions Revelation 7:1–17
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prose is marked by its economy of narration to such an extent that literary theories have
been constructed around it.8 If indeed the Lydia episode is a narrative interlude, then it
would be a rare example of one in biblical discourse, and moreover, it would be superflu-
ous to the logic of the narrative. In turn, Robert Tannehill observes that Lydia somehow
“bridges” with the ensuing episode of the slave-woman with a Python spirit since Paul en-
counters each woman on the way to a “place of prayer”; but, Tannehill is also hindered by
narrative criticism’s dependence upon a “causal link” as an intelligible basis for unity. For,
he writes, “Although there is no causal connection with the conversion of Lydia, v.16a
forms a bridge to the preceding scene.”9 Absent a causal connection, narrative criticism is
unable to suggest how two bridged episodes might contribute to the narrative’s logic. Such
unanswered questions call for an approach that can bring new questions to the role played
by the figure of Lydia in the narrative.
A fragmented, episodic approach to the text has not yielded much insight into what the
author of Acts may have intended to bring to the narrative by introducing Lydia and por-
traying her as a Lydian purple-seller. Yet, even the surface-level structure of the text sig-
nals that the author did have something in mind. In texts written in a rhetorical communica-
tive milieu, as was Acts, structure was an important component in meaning-making. When,
in his now legendary presidential address, James Muilenburg called the academy to rhetori-
cal criticism, he stressed that,
a major concern of the rhetorical critic is to recognize the structure of a composi-
tion and to discern the configuration of its component parts, to delineate the warp
and woof out of which the literary fabric is woven.10
————————————————————————————————————————
and 10:1–11:13 and Ancient Communication (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009).
8 E.g., Erich Auerbach, Willard R. Trask, trans., Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western
Literature (1968; repr., Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974).
9 Robert C. Tannehill, The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts: A Literary Interpretation: Volume 2: The Acts of
the Apostles (1990; repr., Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994), 197.
10 James Muilenburg, “Form Criticism and Beyond,” Journal of Biblical Literature 88 (1969): 10 The
Presidential Address delivered at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature on December 18,
1968, at the University of California, Berkeley, California.
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