The Book of Acts in History

Book excerpt: With this book a foremost New Testament scholar makes a signal contribution to the literature about the times of the first apostles.This period, when the memory of Jesus was fresh yet no written literature about him existed, lends itself well to the descriptive treatment Dr. Cadbury employs. The purpose of these pages, he writes, is to establish not so much the accuracy of the book of Acts as the reality of the scenes and customs and mentality which it reflects.... We can walk where the Apostle Paul walked, see what he saw, and become increasingly at home in his world.Five chapters deal with each of the five cultural strands then existing: Roman, Greek, Jewish, Christian, and cosmopolitan. The sixth attempts to reconstruct the earliest history of the book of Acts.