Reading Acts: A Literary and Theological Commentary

An unusually original and rewarding commentary that asks how Acts might have been heard by an ancient Mediterranean audience. Talbert reads Luke-Acts against succession narratives, philosophical schools and other Greco-Roman and Jewish patterns, developing stimulating proposals about Jesus as founder, the apostles as authorized successors, the Christian movement in relation to ancient philosophical schools, and the literary correspondences linking Petrine and Pauline Christianity. Not every proposed parallel is equally persuasive, but the ancient comparisons repeatedly illuminate the text rather than merely decorate it. Talbert is particularly valuable as a complement to conventional exegetical commentaries because he regularly draws attention to dimensions they scarcely notice.