Acts
Acts is the only narrative we have of Christianity's first thirty years.
Read this if you…
- want the origin story of how a fringe Jewish sect became a Mediterranean-wide religion in one generation
- like Paul as a character — the shipwrecks, the riots, the Damascus Road conversion, the trials before Roman governors
- care about the Pentecost scene: tongues of fire, speaking in every language, the founding mythology of the Church
Skip this if you…
- don't want to read explicitly religious/Christian texts
Why It Matters
Acts is the only narrative we have of Christianity's first thirty years. It set the pattern for Christian mission and church governance, and its handling of how Jewish and Gentile believers fit together shaped the direction the whole faith took.
Where to go next
- The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare. Acts shaped it. - Shakespeare moved his Roman farce to Ephesus specifically because of *Acts* 19, which paints the city as a hotbed of sorcery and exorcism - The play's whole atmosphere of witchcraft — "There's none but witches to inhabit here" — and the exorcist Doctor Pinch grow straight out of Luke's account - A book of scripture quietly supplied the supernatural dread that turns a mistaken-identity comedy into something stranger
Depicted in Art
Saul lies sprawled on his back beneath a massive horse, arms raised toward an unseen light; an aged groom steadies the horse while the apostle is overwhelmed by his vision.
Caravaggio, 1601
Paul stands on a stone platform in a Greek square, arms raised, preaching to a half-circle of Athenians — the canonical Renaissance image of Paul's Greek mission.
Raphael, 1515
Paul stands on a stone platform in Ephesus, arm raised, as listeners burn their books of magic at his feet — the dramatic moment of his Ephesian mission.
Eustache Le Sueur, 1649
Christ swoops down from heaven trailing angels as Saul falls blinded from his rearing horse; soldiers and travelers scatter across a vast desolate landscape.
Michelangelo, 1545
Paul tears his garments in dismay while Barnabas restrains the Lystrians from sacrificing an ox to them as Hermes and Zeus; the priest raises the axe at center.
Raphael, 1515
The apostles and Mary cluster in a tall vaulted hall, flames flickering above each head as the dove of the Spirit descends in a beam of light through the architecture.
Titian, 1545
Recommended Editions
King James Version
Cambridge University Press · 1611
The most influential and commonly quoted translation in English. The prose rhythm everyone else is responding to, even modern translations.
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Deep Dive
What It's About
This summary gives away plot details.
Notable Quotes
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
“And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”