Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles is volume 31 in the Anchor Bible series of new book-by-book translations of the Old and New Testaments and Apocrypha, each by a preeminent scholar. The late Johannes Munck was Professor of New Testament Exegesis at Aarhus University, Denmark.Dr. Munck, who was in the United States in 1964-1965 as Visiting Professor in New Testament Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, died shortly after his retum to Denmark. The Danish text had been put into English before he died, The manuscript was carefully revised by W E Albright, the co-General Editor of the Anchor Bible series before his death, and Dr. C. S. Mann, the author of the Anchor Bible commentary on Mark. Professor Abram Spiro of Wayne State University and Dr. Leona Running of Andrews University have also been of great assistance.Dr. Spiro's discovery that Acts VII is a tract written by a Samaritan convert has been of crucial importance for our understanding of the beginnings of Christianity. We now know that the roots of the primitive Church struck deep into the subsoil of Jewish sectarian life, including especially the Pharisees, Essenes, followers of John the Baptist and Samaritans.This volume presents rich new evidence for the historical continuity of Judaism and Christianity as well as for the early date and reliability of Acts, which has been systematically down-graded by twentieth-century historians and theologians.