Book Description

Sir William Mitchell Ramsay was a British archaeologist and New Testament scholar. Initially, he was one of the biggest Bible critics of his day. However, after decades of research, by his death in 1939, he had become the foremost authority of his day on the history of Asia Minor and a leading scholar in the study of the New Testament, as well as the advocate for the trustworthiness of the New Testament. There were many Bible critics of the early 19th century like there are today, who questioned Luke’s accuracy as a historian. Furthermore, they maintained that the history in Acts was merely invented in the middle of the second century A.D. The author of this book, the British archaeologist and Bible scholar Sir William Mitchell Ramsay was one who believed these things. But after a lengthy investigation of the names and places mentioned by Luke, he declared: “It was gradually borne in upon me that in various details the narrative showed marvelous truth.” This classic defense of the book of Acts was, again, written by a scholar whose initial motivation was to disprove Luke's authorship. After many years of research into the internal evidence of Luke’s books, he became one of the greatest advocates for the authenticity and accuracy of Luke's accounts. We have taken some liberties with Ramsay’s book in that we tweaked the title. We updated his archaic English and changed the UK English to US English. We have added many Bible background chapters and an appendix that we now consider this book a 12th edition. I am most certain that Ramsay would not mind the enhancements that we have made that have made a great book and even better book that can grow the faith of its readers.