It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that, in part, Luke has modeled the life and death of Stephen on the Gospel story. Elements include Stephen’s ministry of miracle and the spoken word, the inability of his adversaries to match him in debate, the trial before the Sanhedrin, the false witnesses, the high priest’s question, the reference to the Son of Man, Stephen’s dying prayer, and the petition for the forgiveness of his murderers. To some extent this may have been a purely literary device—Luke’s desire for consistency of style. There may also have been a theological motive, namely, to show how Christ continued to suffer in his body, the church (see disc. on 1:1 and the introduction to 5:17–42). But the differences between the two narratives are as important as the similarities (see, …