The Ethnic-Religious Identity of the Ethiopian in Acts 8

This work examines the background of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26-40. For a comprehensive study it utilizes echoic allusion cultural background and narrative criticism. It explores the textual tradition of Deut 23:1-8 in Jewish literature with a particular focus on Isaiah's inclusive presentation of eunuchs and foreigners in contrast to the Deuteronomy stipulation for the assembly of the Lord. This work also explores the ancient practice of castration the Jewish exiles in Elephantine and Jewish pilgrimage to reconstruct the cultural background of the Ethiopian eunuch. Additionally it focuses on Luke's authorial role in presenting the gospel's geographic ethnic and religious expansion to identify the Ethiopian's ethnic and religious identity in the narrative development of the three trajectories. The conclusion drawn is that the Ethiopian eunuch cannot be identified as an uncircumcised gentile. Instead he is more like an African man of Jewish descent included in the Abrahamic covenant but excluded from the cultic setting of worship in the temple.