Acts, Second Edition: A New Vision of the People of God

This second edition of Stevens’s presentation of Acts adds an extensive study of church traditions on Paul’s death and burial. Uncovering of the sarcophagus in the Church of Saint Paul Outside the Walls yielded carbon 14 dated first- or second-century bones. In his characteristically creative way, Stevens offers an insightful proposal on why church traditions on Paul post Acts are so ambiguous and probably always will be, even with this new find. Stevens’s close study of the Acts narrative analyzes Luke’s post-ascension story of Jesus and challenges orthodoxies in the interpretation of Acts and Paul. Luke was the first to envision the future of the Jesus story in the Hellenist movement as this movement realizes the promise of Pentecost in Israel, preeminently epitomized in the mission of Paul, who is Luke’s premier example of the God active, God resisted theme of the speech of Stephen that drives the plot of Acts and illuminates exegesis of Paul’s insistence on going to Jerusalem with its dramatic conclusion in the shipwreck of Paul. Luke ends Acts in Rome as intended—an impressive, compelling, and thoroughly fresh reading of Acts.

Gerald L. Stevens is Professor of Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Greek at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and has received several research grants and teaching awards. Stevens has authored highly regarded textbooks on the Greek language with Cascade Books, including New Testament Greek Intermediate (2008) and New Testament Greek Primer (2010). He also edited the well-received Pickwick volume Essays on Revelation (2010), followed by the acclaimed commentary Revelation: The Past and Future of John's Apocalypse (2014).