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In this short book, Alicia Myers takes readers on a journey through the Gospels and Acts, introducing them to the world of Jesus of Nazareth and of the believers who composed and shared stories inspired by him. Myers provides overviews of context and major passages in each canonical work, and also introduces readers to the Apocryphal Gospels and Acts to demonstrate the larger phenomenon of early Christian writing. Using six themes to explore canonical and apocryphal works, Myers takes readers into the Roman world to encounter these ancient writings from new perspectives to discover their enduring relevance.
List of contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Series Introduction
- Chapter 1. Introduction
- Chapter 2. Mark's Story: The Gospel in Roman Palestine
- Chapter 3. Matthew's Story: The Gospel in Jewish Contexts
- Chapter 4. Luke's Story, part 1: The Gospel as a Message of Inclusion
- Chapter 5. Luke's Story, part 2: God's Spirit-Driven Mission in the Book of Acts
- Chapter 6. John's Story: Recognizing the Incarnate Word
- Chapter 7. Apocryphal Gospels and Acts: Stories beyond the New Testament
- Chapter 8. Conclusion: Reading the Gospels and Acts Today
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
About the author
Alicia D. Myers is Associate Professor of New Testament and Greek at Campbell University And Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. Her work focuses on how Greco-Roman contexts aid our understanding of the NT. Previous publications include Blessed Among Women?: Mothers and Motherhood in the New Testament (Oxford, 2017) and Reading John and 1, 2, 3 John.
Summary
Introducing the Gospels and Acts is not just about reading the first five books of the New Testament. It requires entering the first century Mediterranean world where the events in these writings happened. In this short book, Alicia D. Myers takes readers on a journey through the Gospels and Acts, introducing them to the world of Jesus of Nazareth and of the believers who composed and shared stories inspired by him. Myers provides overviews of context and major passages in each canonical work, and also introduces readers to the Apocryphal Gospels and Acts to demonstrate the larger phenomenon of early Christian writing. After situating readers in the literary context of the Gospels and Acts, Myers focuses on the writings themselves, giving basic historical background before digging more deeply into a chosen contextual theme for each work. These six themes include the politics and history of Roman Palestine, expressions of Second Temple Judaism, understandings of identity and human worth in the Roman world, hospitality, Hellenistic philosophies, and the process of canonizing the New Testament. Rather than shying away from difficult and often confusing elements of the Gospels and Acts, Myers invites readers to engage more deeply and situate themselves more fully in the strangeness and surprising familiarity of the Roman world. In this way, readers will see the continuing relevance of the Gospels and Acts for today and learn to be responsible readers of these works for years to come.
Additional text
Although the book is compact and therefore necessarily selective in what it takes up, Myers has provided nonspecialist readers a helpful and informative roadmap for engaging the Gospels and Acts.
