This collection of essays provides an array of complementary studies on Acts that illustrate the move away from traditional modes of interpretation toward more innovative historical, cultural, and literary analyses. It focuses particularly on the intersection of early Christian literature and its Greco-Roman cultural and discursive contexts. The essays include examinations and reevaluations of the use of ancient rhetoric, the relation of Acts to ancient historiography, influence by and imitation of epics and novels, the status of classic designations such as "apologetic," the role of orality in narrative formation, and the profile and direction of contemporary Acts scholarship. The collection also explores the implications of these new approaches for understanding early Christian identity formation and their serviceability for reconstructing the social location of early Christian history and ideology.
Paperback edition is available from the Society of Biblical Literature (www.sbl-site.org)