New Testament Readings Series

Reading the New Testament is the lead volume to the successful New Testament Readings Series. It analyzes the many ways in which the New Testament can be read and interpreted.
Rather than prescribing one 'correct' way of reading, this study offers an overview of and introduction to the most influential theories of recent scholarship, discussing the background against which such theories are developed. It shows the advantages of combining methods of reading, thus stimulating an interaction between various approaches, illustrated by the individual volumes in the series.
This is an important addition to New Testament literature, offering the student of religion a comprehensive overview of the methods and approaches used by scholars in the field.

The Acts of the Apostles

by John Court

Published 31 January 1998

The question of literary genre of Luke's second volume has been the focus of much debate. In this volume, Loveday Alexander examines afresh the Acts texts, by focusing on the ancient readers of the text. The Acts of the Apostles argues that the diversity of the contemporary readers of the text provide rich and varied readings, as the divergent cultural and educational backgrounds of the readers reveal different perceptions of the text. The Acts of the Apostles explores how Acts would have come across to the reader whose intellectual world was shaped by the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides, by the Greek Bible, by Hellenistic biography, or the Greek novel, or politcal apologetic. It shows how these various readings offer new insights into the text itself and also broadens our understanding of the pitfalls of communication in the ancient world and the strategies adopted by the first Christians writers to negotiate them.