The Acts of the Apostles

A Socio-Rethorical Commentary.
Like WitheringtonÉs previous commentary Conflict and Community in Corinth, this commentary breaks
fresh ground in providing a detailed social and rhetorical analysis of the book
of Acts. Written in a readable style, with more detailed interaction with
scholarly discussion found in the various excursuses, this commentary draws on
the best new insights from a number of disciplines (narratological studies of
Luke-Acts, archaeological and social scientific study of the NT, rhetorical
analysis of Acts, comparative studies in ancient historiography) to provide the
reader with the benefits of recent innovative ways of analyzing the text of
Acts. In addition there is detailed attention to major theological and
historical issues, including the question of the relationship of Acts to the
Pauline letters, the question of early Christian history and how the church
grew and developed, the relationship between early Judaism and early
Christianity, and the relationship between Christianity and the officials of
the Roman Empire. Acts is seen as a historical monograph with affinities with
the approaches of serious Greek historians such as Thucydides and Polybius in
terms of methodology, and affinities with some forms of Jewish historiography
(including OT history) in terms of content or subject
matter.
'Witherington [...] is very good indeed: his 'socio-rhetorical' approach (which in this volume tends to mean no more than
that the author is sensitive to both the world of the first century and to the
structure of the text) is particularly suited to this sort of biblical
book.' - D.A. Carson