The Acts of the Apostles
Subtitle: an introduction and study guide : taming the tongues of fire
By: by Shelly Matthews
Series: T & T Clark study guides to the New Testament -- volume 5; T & T Clark study guides to the New Testament -- v. 5.
Publisher: Bloomsbury T & T Clark; T&T Clark
Published: 2017
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 96
ISBN-13: 9780567671233; 9780567671240; 9780567671257
Subjects: Criticism, interpretation; Bible
Other titles: Taming the tongues of fire
Description: The book of Acts opens with the dramatic story of tongues of flame descending upon believers at Pentecost and the prophecy of an egalitarian dispensation of the Spirit being fulfilled. Yet, as the narrative unfolds, we become aware of a tension between the socially egalitarian promise of the Pentecost story and the author's underlying concern to provide reassurance for his elite patron Theophilus that Jesus followers do not disturb the existing social order. In this guide, Acts is read as a struggle to tame the tongues of fire. Acts mutes the egalitarian promise of the Spirit through presenting an 'orderly account' (as its author calls it) of the Jesus movement that appeals to elite sensibilities. And, at the same time, the narrative contains contradictions, gaps and fissures that suggest the outlines of a more complex, and even subversive, religious movement.
Notes: Originally published by Sheffield Phoenix Press in 2013.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Traditional questions in Acts scholarship; title: Narrative overview; title: Acts and empire: security in Roman terms; title: Acts on Jews and Judaism: violence 'turned inward' under empire; title: The Pentecost.