Setting the Story of the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26–40) to the Soundtrack of Song of Songs: An Intertextual and Intersectional Performance

Abstract

Abstract This article undertakes an intertextual reading of Acts’s story of the Ethiopian eunuch with Song of Songs, focusing on similar and distinctive aspects of multifaceted characterizations related to sexual identity, social-political status, environmental setting, and religious orientation. This reading highlights two parts of the biblical canon that create limited space for borderline, unconventional persons and practices, particularly pushing normative boundaries pertaining to gender, sexuality, and hierarchy.