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

In the book of Acts, the so-called Western text departs from the alternative text in numerous points of detail. These divergences in the textual tradition of Acts have been the subject of renewed interest in recent years, with a notable concentration on Lucan traits in the Western text. The author of this study takes into account recent theories which have been proposed on the textual tradition of Acts, and puts forward an ingenious thesis (not considered hitherto) to explain the existence of two streams of textual tradition for the book. Analysis of a number of Western textual variants in Acts suggests that they may have arisen from the incorporation of marginal annotations into the text of Acts, but Lucan thought and language is indeed characteristic of these readings. Investigation of the non-Western textual tradition uncovers occasional signs of editing according to the interests of the second-century church. From this evidence Dr Strange proposes that Acts shared the fate of numerous other works of antiquity by being published posthumously; the work of two second-century editors is responsible for the remarkable divergence in the textual tradition of Acts.

In the book of Acts, the so-called Western text departs from the alternative text in numerous points of detail. These divergences in the textual tradition of Acts have been the subject of renewed interest in recent years, with a notable concentration on Lucan traits in the Western text. The author of this study takes into account recent theories which have been proposed on the textual tradition of Acts, and puts forward an ingenious thesis (not considered hitherto) to explain the existence of two streams of textual tradition for the book. Analysis of a number of Western textual variants in Acts suggests that they may have arisen from the incorporation of marginal annotations into the text of Acts, but Lucan thought and language is indeed characteristic of these readings. Investigation of the non-Western textual tradition uncovers occasional signs of editing according to the interests of the second-century church. From this evidence Dr Strange proposes that Acts shared the fate of numerous other works of antiquity by being published posthumously; the work of two second-century editors is responsible for the remarkable divergence in the textual tradition of Acts.

This collection of essays and reviews offers an evaluation of the early music movement, in an attempt to transform the debate about "early music" and "authenticity."