Engaging early Christian history

Rubén R. Dupertuis, Todd C. Penner

This book presents a significant departure for Christian origins studies. The book of Acts has traditionally been situated within a first-century setting, offering an apparently straightforward account of the origins and spread of Christianity. This new study extends scholarly debate beyond the analysis of purely historical debates and concerns to examine the Acts of the Apostles within the context of second-century history and culture. It focuses on the associations between Acts and the diverse contemporaneous texts, writers, and broader cultural phenomena in the second-century world of Christians, Romans, Greeks, and Jews. Analysing the reception of Acts - and of Christian myth-making more generally - the volume explores the second century as a formative epoch for Christian storytelling, historical re-imaginings, and the reconfiguration of religious and social identities.