Proclaiming the Judge of the Living and the Dead

Kai Akagi considers the christological significance of Jesus' role in judgement in the speeches in Acts 10:34-43 and 17:22-31. Reading these speeches as part of the narrative of Luke-Acts with attention to scriptural use and influence, along with extended analysis of judgment figures in Jewish pseudepigraphal and Qumran literature, reveals that the scope of Jesus' judgment and the use of scriptural patterns in the speeches suggest his divine authority by associating him with God's final judgment at the resurrection. At the same time, his judgment identifies him as the appointed human messiah whom the speeches proclaim. While further tracing the contours and characteristics of messianism and mediatorial figures in Judaism contemporary with the beginnings of Christianity and the New Testament texts, this volume integrates study of the speeches in Acts, Lukan theology, early christology, and scriptural use and influence, whether direct and through the shaping of collective cultural knowledge.