Acts in its Ancient Literary Context

by Loveday Alexander

Here, gathered for the first time, is a collection of Loveday Alexander's critically acclaimed essays on the Acts of the Apostles. In this collection of essays, Alexander addresses the central question 'What kind of book is Acts?' She approaches the text of Acts with a finely-tuned sense of the complexities of the conventional codes that governed reading and writing in the classical world, and argues that the differences between New Testament texts and contemporary writings in the Graeco-Roman world can be as revealing as the similarities. The collection begins with Alexander's classic analysis of the literary codes governing the preface to Luke's two-volume work, in which she challenges the dominant consensus that the language and structure of the preface evoke the generic conventions of Greek historiography. That insight opens up the possibility of reading Acts alongside other ancient literary genres: the lives of the Greek philosophers, the Greek novels of Chariton and Xenophon of Ephesus, Roman itineraries, Greek and Jewish apologetic, and Latin epic. The process, like the narrative of Acts itself, becomes a rich and evocative voyage of exploration, shedding light both on the varied social worlds of the author and his first readers, and on the complex communication problems underlying the creation of early Christian discourse. This is volume 289 in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement series and is also part of the Early Christianity in Context series.

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Acts in its Ancient Literary Context is one of the more enjoyable works that I have engaged with recently and a worthy resource for studying Acts with an eye towards its character as a work of literature developed within the ancient Mediterranean milieu. As a busy student, husband, and father, I often find myself unable to put down books due to looming research deadlines, regardless of whether a given book is particularly intriguing. But with this work, I found myself not wanting to put it down as the very experience of reading it was a delight.

Alexander’s writing style is quite approachable, given the technical nature of some of the arguments which she presents. Over the course of my reading I found her arguments to be clearly presented, something which is unfortunately often rare in scholarly works. While this is undoubtedly helped by the fact that each chapter presents a distinct argument unrelated to the others, there is still much to be commended in her ability to communicate these ideas in a straightforward fashion.

Her argumentation, across multiple essays, is reflective of very deep study of both Luke-Acts and the classical sources which serve as dialogue partners for an approach to the biblical text. Especially appreciated is her caution when developing conclusions based on Luke-Acts’s perceived parallels with other literature. Too often in secondary literature do intriguing parallels become the basis of arguments that remove texts and concepts from their wider contexts. Alexander’s more cautious approach eschews this by refusing to locate shared meaning at surface-level similarities in theme or composition. It is how said themes are employed that matters most.

The work’s status as a collection of shorter essays rather than single argument should reward the curious reader with ample topics for further study as well as the payoff of interesting arguments made available even in shorter reading sessions.

I anticipate returning to this work many times in the future to mine its bibliography and to re-engage with Alexander’s arguments, especially those in the middle chapters of the book. Several of the arguments raised were intriguing from the perspective of assessing the literary style of Luke’s work, and area which certainly merits further study.