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Abstract What role has the 'Old Testament' played in the self-understanding of Christians over the centuries, and what can we learn from the fact that Israel's scriptures are often cited [...]

Abstract While scholars have explored the profound influence of Iphigenia among the Taurians (IT) on Greco-Roman fiction, including Christian apocryphal Acts, the play has yet to be considered seriously as [...]

Abstract Paul's speech to the Areopagus in Acts 17 places the apostle in philosophical dialogue with Stoics and Epicureans. This article identifies important points of contact between Paul's speech and [...]

This article addresses two non sequiturs in Acts 12--the disbelief of Rhoda's announcement of Peter's arrival and the apparent disconnect of the death of 'King Herod' to the rest of the chapter--by interpreting Rhoda as a Cassandra figure. Like Cassandra, Rhoda is unable to convince others regarding her accurate pronouncement and is then maligned as maenadic. In conjunction with reading Peter's prison escape as imitating II. 24, this interpretation allows readers to project the vengeance-related logic of these models onto the Acts narrative's presentation of Herod's death and thereby understand it as divine vengeance for executing James and imprisoning Peter., After an angel rescues him from prison and a likely execution, Peter goes to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark (Acts 12:6-12). With good reason, some scholars [...]

In the narrative of Acts, the sea journey of 27:1-28:15 has long been a puzzle. While it resembles other sea-journey stories from antiquity, its relevance to the narrative is far [...]

This essay treats an instance of literary aemulatio. Paul in Acts 28, like the famous hero Philoctetes, is bitten by a poisonous snake on a secluded island. The responses of [...]

Despite recent attempts to read Luke-Acts as subverting Roman imperial ideology and power, the Areopagus speech in Acts 17:16-34 remains politically elusive. If Luke's attitude toward Rome was negative, one [...]

In this article, I argue that references to the fleshly resurrection of Jesus in Luke and Acts, both those that tell of Jesus eating with his apostles and those that [...]

Although some commentators on Acts observe that a portion of Acts 26:16 borrows from LXX Ezek 2:1, the significance of this has not been grasped. The agreement belongs to a [...]

Treatments on the Lukan Paul have traditionally taken his status as a 'man' for granted, rarely assessing the central character of Luke's second volume in relation to ancient constructions of [...]

I. CRITIQUE AND PROPAGANDA Interpretations of Paul's Areopagus discourse in Acts 17:16-34 are often radically incongruous. They range from seeing it as a placid pantheistic sermon on natural theology all [...]

Acts provides ethical guidance through narrating the actions of persons who are models of good (or bad) behavior. Four topics are discussed from this perspective: ethics of witness, ethics of leadership, the mission and governing authorities, and ethics of possessions. Keywords Acts, Luke, Ethics, Witness, Leadership, Mission, Possessions, Paul, Peter, Introduction The Acts of the Apostles contains remarkably little direct ethical teaching. (1) In contrast, the ethical teaching of Jesus in Luke is extensive. In comparison with Luke's Gospel, Acts [...]

The Ecclesiology of Acts (1) This article examines the ecclesiology of Acts by considering the political shape of Acts vis-a-vis the wider Roman world. The discussion of three scenes in Acts shows that there is a profound and productive tension at the heart of Acts' theological vision. This tension generates the distinctive Christian politics that is Acts' ecclesiology: a public witness to Jesus Christ in a world that did not know him. Keywords Acts, Ecclesiology, Lordship, Kingdom of God, Paul, Greco-Roman, Roman Empire, Political, Introduction In a certain sense, dealing with the ecclesiology of Acts ought to be as easy as any topic in New Testament theology. The entire book of Acts, after all, [...]

Interpreters of Acts face three recurrent questions: 1) What is its genre? 2) Why was it written? and 3) How is Scripture used? In deciding genre, readers must decide if Acts is history, and, if so, in what sense. Determining its literary or theological purpose can be done in terms of asking what Acts accomplishes. Keywords Acts, Luke, Interpretation, pesher, Messianic, Judaism, Mission, Literary Genre, Introduction No New Testament writing has exercised greater influence in shaping the church's understanding of mission than Acts. Even a first-time reader of Acts quickly senses its epic quality: a [...]

Acts 1:15-26 describes the election of Matthias to Judas's place among the twelve apostles, an incident to which there is no allusion elsewhere in the NT. (1) Peter, addressing the [...]

Winning Sermon in the 2008 Baptist Heritage Preaching Contest ********** In 1954, CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow did what few in America were brave enough to do. He took Senator [...]

PETER'S SERMON TO CORNELIUS CHALLENGES their understandings about what it means to follow Christ. The radical gospel of peace challenges our own notions of what it means to belong to [...]

Three speeches made by Paul before his arrest are discussed. The speeches at Acts 13.16b-41, 17.22b-31, and 20.18b-35 point to Paul's development as a preacher. Article text is in French.

Two different interpretations of the Jerusalem decrees given in Acts 15.20, 29 and 21.25 are discussed as corresponding to the attitudes of James and Cephas towards Gentiles at Antioch, described in Galatians 2.11-14. Topics include the Jerusalem decrees as proto-Noachide commandments, or as precepts binding on foreign residents, and the crisis at Antioch in Galatians 2.11-14.

Early critics of Christianity, including 2nd century writer Lucian, portrayed the Apostle Paul and other missionaries as charlatans preying on uneducated rural folk. Paul's visit to gentiles living in the remote area of Lycaonia, described in Acts 14 is examined in light of this accusation.

The historical accuracy of Acts 13.13-14a and 14.24b-26 is discussed. Acts 13.13-14a describe a journey by Paul from Paphos in Cyprus to Perge in Pamphylia and Pisidian Antioch; in 14.24b-26, the missionaries travel from Perge to Attaleia and then by sail to Syrian Antioch.

Paul's stare and loud voice when healing the cripple in Acts 14.8-10 would have signified possession by a divine spirit to the Lystrans who witnessed the event. Paul's coming as a stranger and his command to 'arise' are other indicators that support the interpretation.

Reference to the slave Rhoda in the book of Acts should be seen as a literary device to entertain. Rhoda is taken from the 'running slave' stock character in Greek and Roman comedy, and she is designed to heighten the reader's anticipation, develop irony, and provide comic relief.

Luke's life overlapped that of Jesus and the early years of Christianity, and Acts refers only rarely to Jesus. Therefore, the tradition that early Christians claimed to derive authority from the teachings of Jesus must be questioned.

The historicity of the New Testament book of Acts is discussed, based on articles that have appeared in the Journal of Theological Studies over the past 100 years. Topics include the accuracy of secular history in Acts, the role of the supernatural, early Christian history, and the historical imperfections in Luke's account of the Pauline mission.

Texts in the New Testament books of Acts and Galatians suggest the revolutionary Zealot faction influence St. Paul's early Jewish life and theology. Paul's association with Zealots may have motivated his persecution of Christians.

Experts have varied opinions regarding the location of the first major structural transition in Acts, Luke's two-volume work. Some consider 6.1 as the beginning of the expansion of the Church while others consider 8.4 as the first major transition due to its syntax and the content of the narrative. An analysis of Acts 8.4-12.25, however, shows that the section is a cohesive part of the whole work in that it is where themes such as the turn to the gentiles are prepared and developed.

The presentation of the miraculous and supernatural in the narrative of Acts creates the presumption of a shared religious experience that makes it difficult to frame under the fact or fiction categories of Greek literature. The debate on Acts is compounded by the blurring of the distinctions between fact and fiction in the genre of history during the hellenistic and Roman periods. Acts' characters, setting and stories allude to distant lands which are usually allocated to fiction. However, it has a contemporary and realistic plot and, does not have the romantic closure of fiction novels.

Chapter 16 verse 12 of the Book of Acts in the New Testament should retain the designation of Philippi as a city in the first district of Macedonia to preserve the factual accuracy of the account and to support Greco-Roman antiquity. Aside from this, there was a constant rivalry for civic titles which would justify claims of superiority. The disciple Luke made an error in his narration and should have noted the importance of civic pride in ancient cities.

The history of culture, religion, and institutions in ancient historiography were based on the book of Luke and the Acts in the New Testament. Institutions were personified by referring them as the 'twelve,' the 'saints,' the 'brothers' or the 'crowd.' Different aspects of culture, such as laws, customs, morals, the history of everyday life and religion, were identified from Greek and Roman translations of Luke and the Acts. They also show the origin and history of architecture, mathematics, medicine, literature, music and philosophy.

A literary-critical study of the ascension narratives in Luke 24.50-3, and Acts 1.1-2, 911 endorses the majority consensus favoring the validity of the longer, Alexandrian, non-Western text against the shorter, Western text. The disputed words in the longer text are certified in Papyrus 75, the oldest available copy of the Gospel of Luke. Evidence points to a gradual deviation of the original text to the shorter, Western version by revisers and heretics. This was done to de-mythologize the ascension episode by hinting that Jesus had a spiritual rather than a physical ascension.

The author of Acts employs a Greek juridical trope in the account in Acts 13-14 where the citizens of the Greek town of Lystra warmly welcome Paul and Joseph Barnabas, mistaking them for the Greek deities Hermes and Zeus. The author, by locating the narrative in classical Greek tradition, sought to establish the legitimacy of the ambassadorial mission and inform the Gentile audience that the apostles deserved the kind of reception the Gentiles normally accorded to their gods. The account of the apostles' visit to Lystra also seeks to express the authenticity, uniqueness and sacredness of the Christian mission.

Luke-Acts may be considered an evangelical text that employs both positive and negative images of the Jewish people and Judaism as part of a rhetorical framework to preach the gospel. It is a text intended for Godfearers among the Jews, whom the author wished to convert to Christianity. It makes a comparison of Judaism and Christianity and, in order to point out the superiority of the latter, presents certain negative views about the former. Thus, Luke-Acts cannot be considered an avowedly anti-Jewish text or otherwise, and expresses an ambivalent attitude to Judaism.

FOUNDATIONAL LEGENDS WERE important for the ancients as they are for us today. In the Hellenistic world, legendary stories of how colonies were authorized by oracles supported Greek expansion (see [...]

IN ACTS 4:1-31, RELIGIOUS OFFICIALS arrest and question Peter and John because the two apostles healed and preached in the name of Jesus 'whom God raised from the dead' (v. [...]

ATHENS WAS ARGUABLY SEVERAL CENTURIES past its prime when the apostle Paul arrived, but it still afforded its visitors and tourists quite an impressive array of Hellenistic treasures--art, poetry, drama, [...]

Acts 19:12 refers to the 'soudaria kai simikinthia' worn by Paul. The type of clothing described is accepted dress for an orator, not clothing worn in a workshop, as the traditional view maintains.

WHAT IS THE DECENT LIFE TODAY? Can the people of a local congregation define for their community the meaning of decency, not only in sexual matters but in all dimensions [...]

Sunday, June 3 1 Corinthians 12:4-13; Acts 2:1-11 FROM THE TIME I was a little girl I have loved international airports. In short segments of time you encounter diverse and […]

Acts 2:1-11 IT WAS A GREAT day for multiculturalism. It was the Tower of Babel turned upside-down, and what fell out was a glorious manifestation of the grace of God. […]

Sunday, April 29 Acts 9:1-19 Before my children were able to read they knew several stories by heart. The stories were picture book favorites that we read to them again [...]

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 Psalm 1 1 John 5:9-13 John 17:6-19 The reading from Acts comes in the lull between Jesus' ascension and Pentecost. Verse 12 informs us the eleven disciples [...]

Acts 8:26-40 Psalm 22:24-30 (25-31 NRSV) 1 John 4:7-21 John 15:1-8 In Luke 24 the risen Jesus opens minds so they can understand the Scriptures. He opens the Scriptures to [...]