A senior New Testament scholar and teacher helps students understand the historical, literary, and theological issues of the book of Acts and introduces key concepts in the field of narrative criticism. This volume captures the message of the book of Acts by taking seriously the book's essential character as a powerful story through which Luke communicates profound theological truth. While giving attention to historical background, its purpose is to lead readers through a close reading that yields fresh insights into passages throughout Acts.

Acts is the sequel to Luke's gospel and tells the story of Jesus's followers during the 30 years after his death. It describes how the 12 apostles, formerly Jesus's disciples, spread the message of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean against a background of persecution. With an introduction by P.D. James

A new commentary for today's world, The Story of God Bible Commentary explains and illuminates each passage of Scripture in light of the Bible's grand story. The first commentary series to do so, SGBC offers a clear and compelling exposition of biblical texts, guiding readers in how to creatively and faithfully live out the Bible in their own contexts. Its story-centric approach is idea for pastors, students, Sunday school teachers, and all who want to understand the Bible in today's world. SGBC is organized into three easy-to-use sections, designed to help readers live out God's story: Listen to the Story; Explain the Story; and Live the Story. Praise for SGBC: "The easy-to-use format and practical guidance brings God's grand story to modern-day life so anyone can understand how it applies today." -- Andy Stanley "Opens up the biblical story in ways that move us to act." -- Darrell L. Bock "It makes the text sing and helps us hear the story afresh." -- John Ortberg "This commentary breaks new ground." -- Craig L. Blomberg

Filled with adventure, the New Testament book of Acts tells of thrilling escapes, people in peril, conflict and intrigue, travel through the ancient world, storms and shipwrecks, and steadfast faith amidst overwhelming obstacles. Join Pastor Ray Stedman in what he calls God's unfinished book, as he brings the history, adventure, and profound but practical meaning of this book to life in readable, everyday language.

Are the four canonical Gospels actual historical accounts or are they imaginative literature produced by influential literary artists to serve a theological vision? In this study of the Gospels based upon a demonstrable literary theory, Randel Helms presents the work of the four evangelists as the "supreme fictions" of our culture, self-conscious works of art deliberately composed as the culmination of a long literary and oral tradition.Helms analyzes the best-known and the most powerful of these fictions: the stories of Christ's birth, his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, his betrayal by Judas, his crucifixion, death and resurrection. In Helms' exegesis of the Gospel miracle stories, he traces the greatest of these - the resurrection of Lazarus four days after his death - to the Egyptian myth of the resurrection of Osiris by the god Horus.Helms maintains that the Gospels are self-reflexive; they are not about Jesus so much as they are about the writers' attitudes concerning Jesus. Helms examines each of the narratives - the language, the sources, the similarities and differences - and shows that their purpose was not so much to describe the past as to affect the present.This scholarly yet readable work demonstrates how the Gospels surpassed the expectations of their authors, influencing countless generations by creating a life-enhancing understanding of the nature of Jesus of Nazareth.