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
This concise commentary on the Gospels and Acts, excerpted from the Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The New Testament, engages readers in the work of biblical interpretation. Contributors from a rich diversity of perspectives connect historical-critical analysis with sensitivity to current theological, cultural, and interpretive issues. Introductory articles describe the challenges of reading the New Testament in ancient and contemporary contexts, as well as exploring other themes ranging from the Jewish heritage of early Christianity to the legacy of the Apocalyptic. These are followed by the survey “Jesus and the Christian Gospels.” Each chapter (Matthew through Acts) includes an introduction and commentary on the text through the lenses of three critical questions: The Text in Its Ancient Context. What did the text probably mean in its original historical and cultural context? The Text in the Interpretive Tradition. How have centuries of reading and interpreting shaped our understanding of the text? The Text in Contemporary Discussion. What are the unique challenges and interpretive questions that arise for readers and hearers of the text today? The Gospels and Acts introduces fresh perspectives and draws students, as well as preachers and interested readers, into the challenging work of interpretation.
Introduces literary, historical, and theological issues of Luke and Acts. Biblical texts create worlds of meaning, and invite readers to enter them. When readers enter such textual worlds, which are often strange and complex, they are confronted with theological claims. With this in mind, the purpose of the Interpreting Biblical Texts series is to help serious readers in their experience of reading and interpreting by providing guides for their journeys into textual worlds. The controlling perspective is expressed in the operative word of the title--interpreting. The primary focus of the series is not so much on the world behind the texts or out of which the texts have arisen as on the worlds created by the texts in their engagement with readers. In keeping with the goals of the series, this volume provides an introductory guide to readers of the New Testament books of Luke and Acts. It focuses on both the synchronic and diachronic dimensions of the literature in an effort to acquaint readers with literary, historical, and theological issues that will facilitate interpretation of these important books. F. Scott Spencer is Professor of New Testament at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.
Concise and accessible, this one-volume edition of the New Collegeville Bible Commentary: New Testament allows readers to explore any or all of the books with just one resource alongside their Bibles. The individual commentaries collected here are written by respected scholars, and they break open the biblical texts in a lively fashion. Readers will be able to engage Scripture more deeply and reflect on its meanings, nuances, and imperatives for living a Christian life in the twenty-first century. Continuing Liturgical Press's long tradition of publishing biblical scholarship and interpretation, this commentary also answers the Second Vatican Council's call to make access to Scripture "open wide to the Christian faithful." Daniel Durken, OSB, is a Benedictine monk and priest of Saint John's Abbey. He taught Scripture and speech classes at Saint John's University for almost five decades and served as director of Liturgical Press from 1978-88. He still writes homily hints and daily reflections for the Loose-Leaf Lectionary and is the founding editor of Abbey Banner, the magazine for the relatives, friends, and oblates of the monastic community.
A leading biblical scholar offers grounding in the interpretation of Acts that draws heavily on ancient backgrounds and attends to the theological nature of the texts.
The Fortress Commentary on the New Testament presents a balanced synthesis of current scholarship. The contributors bring a rich diversity of perspectives to the task of connecting solid historical critical analysis of Scripture with sensitivity to theological, cultural, and interpretive issues arising in our encounter with the text. The volume includes introductory articles, section introductions, and individual book articles that explore key sense units through three lenses: • The Text in Its Ancient Context • The Text in the Interpretive Tradition • The Text in Contemporary Discussion Comprehensive and useful for preaching, teaching, and research.
This guide to the state of biblical studies features 20 chapters written by scholars from North America and Britain, and represents both traditional and contemporary points of view.
For anyone interested in the origins of Christianity, Joseph A. Fitzmyer's The Acts of the Apostles is indispensable. Beginning with the Ascension of Christ into heaven, and ending with Paul proclaiming the kingdom of God from a prison in Rome, this New Testament narrative picks up where the Gospel of Luke left off. The Acts of the Apostles is indeed a journey of nearly epic proportions--and one that requires a guide as adept as Fitzmyer. Since Acts was most likely written by the same person who composed the Gospel of Luke, it is only fitting that the Anchor Bible Commentaries on these New Testament books should be written by the same author. With The Acts of the Apostles, Fitzmyer gives readers the long-awaited companion to his two-volume commentary on the Gospel of Luke. The Four Gospels recount the life and teachings of Jesus, but only the book of the Acts of the Apostles tells the story of what happened after Jesus' departure. In this second of St. Luke's two-volume work, he picks up with Jesus saying farewell to his followers; then Luke tells the fast-paced story of the birth and growth of the early church. This narrative reads like a major breaking news story, with the apostles Peter and Paul as the main characters. The interpretation of Acts requires a scholar of the highest quality. As he demonstrates in The Acts of the Apostles, Joseph Fitzmyer not only is up to the task but establishes once again why he is ranked among the world's top biblical scholars. Far from being a rehash of old ideas and well-rehearsed theories, Fitzmyer's commentary distinguishes itself as the capstone of his career, with a new synthesis of all the relevant data from the Roman world to the present. He provides a thorough introduction to the background, text, and context of the book, as well as chapter-by-chapter notes and comments in which are offered insights and answers to questions that have long plagued preachers and parishioners, teachers and students. This commentary is destined to join Fitzmyer's Anchor Bible commentaries on the Gospel According to Luke and the Epistle to the Romans as the most authoritative commentary available on Acts.