The Acts of the Apostles


Book Description

Acts is the sequel to Luke's gospel and tells the story of Jesus's followers during the 30 years after his death. It describes how the 12 apostles, formerly Jesus's disciples, spread the message of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean against a background of persecution. With an introduction by P.D. James




Come and See: Acts and Letters


Book Description

How do the Letters of Saint Paul connect to the history of the Acts of the Apostles? What was the structure and governance of the Apostolic Church? How should the Catholic interpret the difficult passages in Paul's writing? Find the answers to these and many other questions in the pages of Acts and Letters in the popular Come and See Bible study series. This study uses modern study tools inductive and deductive learning, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the writings of popes and saints to unlock an ancient treasure and show its current application.




The First Paul


Book Description

“Borg and Crossan reveal a figure who, besides being neither anti-Semitic, anti-sex, nor misogynist, stresses social and political equality among Christians and between them and others. A refreshing and heartening exculpation of a still routinely maligned figure of the first importance to culture and civilization.” — Booklist (starred review) John Dominic Crossan and Marcus J. Borg—two of the world’s top-selling Christian scholars and the bestselling authors of The Last Week and The First Christmas—once again shake up the status quo by arguing that the message of the apostle Paul, considered by many to be the second most important figure in Christianity, has been domesticated by the church. Borg and Crossan turn the common perception of Paul on its head, revealing him as a radical follower of Jesus whose core message is still relevant today.




Paul in Acts and Paul in His Letters


Book Description

The reception of Paul in the first century is a highly debated issue. Daniel Marguerat defends the position of a threefold reception of Paul in parallel ways: documentary, biographical and doctoral. Marguerat advocates that the value of the phenomena of reception be appreciated, in particular the figure of Paul in Acts. It should not systematically be compared to the apostle's writings, even though this image evolves from a Lukan reinterpretation. The essays concern the literary and theological construction of the book of Acts, focusing on the figure of Paul: his rapport with the Torah, the Socratic model, the Lukan character construction, the resurrection as central theme in Acts, the significance of meals. They also treat themes of Pauline theology: Paul the mystic, the justification by faith, imitating Paul as father and mother of the community, and the woman's veil in Corinth.




Acts and Letters of the Apostles


Book Description

"The Acts of the Apostles, which Richmond Lattimore calls "the earliest consecutive story of early Christianity that we have," and the three groups of Letters of the Apostles - those of Saint Paul, the letters to the Hebrews, and the General Letters - are now made available to complete the New Testament in his translation. His aim has been to provide a simple, literal rendering in which the syntax and order of the Greek dictate the character of the English style."--Jacket.




Faith's Checkbook


Book Description

"Ask anything in my name, I will do it." (John 14:14) Charles H. Spurgeon supplies daily deposits of God's promises into the reader's personal bank of faith. He urges the reader to view each Bible promise as a check written by God, which can be cashed by personally endorsing it and receiving the gift it represents!




The Later New Testament Writings and Scripture


Book Description

This is the third and final book in an informal set on the New Testament's use of the Old Testament, written by a recognized authority on the topic. The work covers several New Testament books that embody key developments in early Christian understanding of Jesus in light of the Old Testament. This quick and reliable resource orients students to the landscape before they read more advanced literature on the use of the Old Testament in later writings of the New Testament. The book can be used as a supplemental text in undergraduate or seminary New Testament introductory classes.




Acts: Courageous Witness in a Hostile World


Book Description

Most commentaries on Acts are written by Western scholars for a Western audience. This book comes out of more than forty years of teaching in the Majority World. It is aimed at the new breed of emerging missionaries from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The apostles in Acts faced a hostile world. Yet in that context, the Holy Spirit gave them incredible courage. The scenes of Peter, Stephen, and Paul facing angry mobs and the fury of the Jewish Sanhedrin are being played out in India, China, and Eritrea today. Acts teaches us how to have a "courageous witness in a hostile world." Further, this work addresses the powerful forces that assault the worldwide church--particularly the racism that splits the church all over the world. Acts: Courageous Witness in a Hostile World will thrill you as you see how God's Spirit overcomes every obstacle and keeps the church on track, even when we think all is lost. Read this book for yourself and become courageous.




Handbook on Acts and Paul's Letters (Handbooks on the New Testament)


Book Description

Leading biblical scholar Thomas Schreiner provides an easy-to-navigate resource for studying and understanding the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline Letters. This accessibly written volume summarizes the content of each major section of the biblical text to help readers quickly grasp the sense of particular passages. This is the first volume in the Handbooks on the New Testament series, which is modeled after Baker Academic's successful Old Testament handbook series. Series volumes are neither introductions nor commentaries, as they focus primarily on the content of the biblical books without getting bogged down in historical-critical questions or detailed verse-by-verse exegesis. The series will contain three volumes that span the entirety of the New Testament, with future volumes covering the Gospels and Hebrews through Revelation. Written with classroom utility and pastoral application in mind, these books will appeal to students, pastors, and laypeople alike.




The Book of Acts


Book Description

The Book of Acts gives us a basic understanding of the story of the first-century Church from 30 AD (Pentecost) up until Paul's first imprisonment in Rome, which lasted from 61 AD to 63 AD. Luke's account in Acts ends when Paul is still under house arrest. But it only gives us a skeletal understanding of the story, not the full picture.By combining what we find Acts with details found in the rest of the New Testament letters, we can gain a wealth of information and revelation about what Jesus continued to do and teach through his apostles and prophets. But all these details are a challenge to sort out, and without a timeline to put the people and events in context, it is still difficult to discern the full picture. Where in our Bibles are we given a summary about what specifically transpired during that period from 63 AD, when the Book of Acts ends, through 70 AD, during which time the rest of the New Testament epistles were written? When precisely was each written? From where were they written? What circumstances and events were taking place within secular history and circumstantially within the churches that motivated them to be written? Where do we find that history, or that story, clearly laid out for us as we study our New Testaments? The answer is, we don't!Piecing together the story of the early Church is much like putting together a puzzle. Understanding the timeline is critical. It's like finding the corner and edge pieces of a puzzle around which the rest of the puzzle all falls into place. Having a timeline will guide you into a fuller understanding of the real story of the New Testament Church.