Patterns of Deification in the Acts of the Apostles

by Daniel B. Glover

Book cover: Patterns of Deification in the Acts of the Apostles

Extent: 334 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Biblical Studies, Classical Studies, Jewish Studies

Series: Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2.Reihe

Series volume number: 576

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(October 2022)

ISBN: 9783161618888

9.09 x 6.06 inches

Price: $125.00

In stock

In this study, Daniel B. Glover evaluates the deification scenes in the Book of Acts by locating them within the broader ancient Mediterranean context of deification. He offers a fresh reading of Acts that situates each of the five scenes within a distinct literary pattern recognizable to its earliest readers.


Five times throughout the course of Luke’s narrative in Acts, an individual character is identified as (a) god. Rarely have scholars read these deification scenes within their narrative and historical settings with sufficient care. With regard to the narrative setting, scholars working on the deification scenes tend to take one or another as normative and read the remaining acclamations in light of a particular interpretation of that one pericope. However, such reading strategies run aground when they arrive at the final acclamation (28:1-10), which breaks the exegetical bow of the interpretive ship. In this study, Daniel B. Glover evaluates the deification scenes in the Book of Acts by locating them within the broader ancient Mediterranean context of deification. He offers a fresh reading of Acts that situates each of the five scenes within a distinct literary pattern recognizable to its earliest readers.

  • By (author) Daniel B Glover