The Book of Acts in Its Palestinian SettingRichard Bauckham Working to place the Book of Acts within its first-century setting, well-known historians and biblical scholars from Australia, the United States, Canada, Russia, Germany, France, Israel, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom have collaborated here to provide a stimulating new study that replaces older studies on Acts, including aspects of The Beginnings of Christianity. The composition of Acts is discussed beside the writing of ancient literary monographs and intellectual biographies. Recent epigraphic and papyrological discoveries also help illumine the text of Acts. Archaeological fieldwork, especially in Greece and Asia Minor, has yielded valuable information about the local setting of Acts and the religious life of urban communities in the Roman Empire. These volumes draw on the best of this research to elucidate the Book of Acts against the background of activity in which early Christianity was born. The Book of Acts in Its Palestinian Setting is devoted to a series of studies of those parts of the narrative of Acts that are specifically set in Palestine. The geographical, political, cultural, social, and religious aspects of first-century Jewish Palestine are all explored in order to throw light on Luke's account of the Palestinian origins of early Christianity. There are fresh assessments of the historical significance of key features, persons, and events in Luke's narrative. |
Contents
THE LOCATION OF CULTURES IN SECOND TEMPLE PALESTINE THE EVIDENCE OF JOSEPHUS | 1 |
I Jew versus Greek | 3 |
II The Cultures of Palestine | 5 |
III Constructed Identities | 7 |
IV Ethnic Identities in Josephus | 9 |
V Jews in Josephus | 10 |
VII Greeks in Josephus | 11 |
VIII Greeks and Syrians in Josephus | 12 |
I Questioning the Figures Reliability | 238 |
II The Size of the Population of Jerusalem in the Time of the Earliest Church | 240 |
III The Number of Pilgrims in Jerusalem at the Great Feasts Especially Pentecost | 259 |
IV Conclusion | 263 |
JEWISH PRAYER LITERATURE AND THE JERUSALEM CHURCH IN ACTS | 267 |
I Introduction | 268 |
II Lukan Evidence for Jewish and Christian Worship | 269 |
III Pre70 Jewish Worship from Other Sources | 277 |
ACTS AND ROMAN POLICY IN JUDAEA | 15 |
I The Incorporation of Judaea | 16 |
II Judaea Under Agrippa | 19 |
IV Felix | 21 |
V Porcius Festus | 25 |
Prefects of Judaea AD 641 | 26 |
THE GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE IN ACTS | 27 |
I The Problem | 28 |
II The Temple in Jerusalem | 35 |
III Jerusalem and the Hill Country of Judah | 45 |
IV The Cities of the Coastal Plain | 51 |
321118 Lydda Joppa and Caesarea | 59 |
VI Antipatris and the Road from Jerusalem to Caesarea | 64 |
VII Samaria in the Acts of the Apostles | 67 |
PALESTINIAN JEWISH PERSONAL NAMES IN ACTS | 79 |
I Palestinian Jews in Acts in English Alphabetical Order | 81 |
II First Names | 84 |
III Second Names | 101 |
IV General Character of the Palestinian Jewish Onomastikon | 106 |
Palestinian Jews in Actsthe Doubtful Cases | 110 |
Abbreviations | 113 |
CHIEF PRIESTS SADDUCEES PHARISEES AND SANHEDRIN IN ACTS | 115 |
I The State of the Question | 119 |
An Interpretation of the Story | 127 |
III Chief Priests Sadducees Pharisees and Sanhedrin in LukeActs | 133 |
IV In Josephus | 158 |
V General Conclusions | 174 |
SYNAGOGUES IN JERUSALEM | 179 |
I The Pre70 Synagogue | 180 |
Literary Sources | 187 |
Archaeological Evidence | 192 |
IV Palestinian Synagogues in LukeActs | 202 |
V Conclusion | 209 |
THE COMPOSITION OF THE JERUSALEM CHURCH | 213 |
I The Social Groups in Jerusalem | 215 |
II The SocioEconomic Composition of the Jerusalem Church | 226 |
III The Cultural Groups Among Jerusalems Jews | 230 |
IV Cultural Diversity in the Jerusalem Church | 234 |
THE POPULATION SIZE OF JERUSALEM AND THE NUMERICAL GROWTH OF THE JERUSALEM CHURCH | 237 |
IV Acts and the Jewish Heritage of Pre70 Christian Worship | 298 |
THE CENACLETOPOGRAPHICAL SETTING FOR ACTS 24445 | 303 |
I A 2ndCentury Church on Mount Zion | 305 |
II The Christian Community of Aelia Capitolina | 310 |
IIIThe Camp of the Tenth Legion | 313 |
IV Flight from Jerusalem? | 316 |
V The Quality of Life in IstCentury Mount Zion | 318 |
THE PALESTINIAN CULTURAL CONTEXT OF EARLIEST CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY OF GOODS | 323 |
I Introduction | 324 |
II Community of Goods as a Feature of Palestinian Culture | 327 |
4445 and 432 34 | 335 |
Acts 436511 | 337 |
V Influence from an Essene Quarter on Mount Zion? | 341 |
16 | 350 |
VII Conclusions | 355 |
JEWISH ACTIVITY AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN PALESTINE ACCORDING TO ACTS | 357 |
PAULS PRECHRISTIAN CAREER ACCORDING TO ACTS | 365 |
I Born in Tarsus Citizen of Tarsus and Rome | 366 |
II Paul in Jerusalem | 373 |
III The Persecutor | 379 |
IV Conclusion | 390 |
PETER AND BEN STADA IN LYDDA | 391 |
I Peter in Lydda | 392 |
II Ben Stada in Lod | 394 |
III Identifying Ben Stada | 397 |
IV The Mesit of the Rabbis | 400 |
V Peter as Mesit and Mesit as Healer | 403 |
VI Peter and Ben Stada | 412 |
JAMES AND THE JERUSALEM CHURCH | 415 |
I Introduction | 416 |
II Jerusalem at the Centre | 417 |
III The Leadership of the Jerusalem Church | 427 |
IV The Jerusalem Church and the Gentiles | 450 |
481 | |
491 | |
505 | |
517 | |
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Common terms and phrases
1st-century 3rd century according Agrippa Ananias Ancient Antioch Apostelgeschichte apostles apostolic decree Aramaic archaeological attested Barnabas Beth She'arim building Caesarea chief priests Christian community context culture Damascus density Diaspora dunam early Christian elders eschatological Essene Eusebius evidence exegetical F.F. Bruce Galatians Galilee Gamaliel gate Gentile Christians geographical Gospel Greek Haenchen Hasmonaean Hebrew hellenistic Hengel Herod High Priest History Holy Ibid inscription Israel James Jeremias Jeru Jerusalem church Jesus Jewish Christians Jews Josephus Judaea Judaism later leaders leadership London Luke Luke-Acts Luke's Lydda mentioned mesit mission narrative ossuaries Palestine Palestinian Paul Paul's period persecution Peter Pharisees Philo pilgrims pillars population prayer probably Qumran Rabbinic reference Riesner Roman Rome Sadducees salem Samaria Samaritans Sanh Sanhedrin scholars Schürer Second Temple sources Stada suggests syna synagogue Talmud Temple Mount Testament Theodotus tion tradition Twelve Zion καὶ