The Book Of Acts In Its Palestinian Setting

Volume 4 of this intriguing series examines the Palestinian social and political settings which serve as background to the Book of Acts. Topics covered include Paul's pre-Christian career, the relationship of the early church to the Essenes, speeches of Peter and Stephen, Palestinian politics, and more.

The Book of Acts in Its Palestinian Setting is devoted to a series of studies of those parts of the narrative of Acts that are specifically set in Palestine. The geographical, political, cultural, social, and religious aspects of first-century Jewish Palestine are all explored in order to throw light on Luke's account of the Palestinian origins of early Christianity . There are fresh assessments of the historical significance of key features, persons, and events in Luke's narrative.

In Christianity in the making, James D.G. Dunn examines in depth the major factors that shaped first-generation Christianity and beyond, exploring the parting of the ways between Christianity and Judaism, the Hellenization of Christianity, and responses to Gnosticism. He mines all the first- and second-century sources, including the New Testament Gospels, New Testament apocrypha, and such church fathers as Ignatius, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus, showing how the Jesus tradition and the figures of James, Paul, Peter, and John were still esteemed influences but were also the subject of intense controversy as the early church wrestled with its evolving identity.

New to this expanded & updated edition are revisions of Ferguson's original material, updated bibliographies, & a fresh dicussion of first century social life, the Dead Sea Scrolls & much else.

This volume provides a unique opportunity not only to learn about the custodial system of the Graeco-Roman world, but to better view Paul's persona and Christian mission as well. Brian Rapske's outstanding study shows Luke himself to be an ardent helper of Paul the missionary prisoner. "The author has produced an invaluable resource for both Acts and Pauline scholars, having placed the prison narratives of Paul in both their cultural and literary settings. The footnotes alone demonstrate the wealth of socio-cultural knowledge that Rapske brings to his reading of the Acts account as well as his understanding of the Pauline missions via- -vis his suffering in prison." - Journal for the Study of the New Testament

The lack of serious and sustained investigation of the historical figure of James "the Just," brother of Jesus, is one of the curious oversights in modern critical study of Christian origins. "James the Just and Christian Origins" addresses this problem. The questions that surround this exceedingly important, yet largely ignored figure are several and complicated. Was he really the brother of Jesus? How influential was he in the early church? What was the nature of his relationship to the other apostles, especially to Paul? How did James understand Christianity's relationship to Judaism and to the people of Israel? Out of this grows a very important question: In its generative moment, was Christianity in fact as well as in its self-awareness, a species of Judaism? Contributors from several countries are currently engaged in collaborative study in James and early Jewish Christianity. "James the Just and Christian Origins" is the first of several planned volumes to be published.

Noted New Testament scholar Bauckham challenges the prevailing assumption the accounts of Jesus circulated as "anonymous community traditions," instead asserting that they were transmitted in the name of the original eyewitness.