The Early Christian Community
A Narrative Analysis of Acts 2:41-47 and 4:32-35
by Douglas A. Hume
Douglas A. Hume offers a narrative ethical reading of the passages depicting the early Christian community in Acts (2:41-47 and 4:32-35). He begins with a methodological exploration of how contemporary scholars may examine the impact of biblical narratives upon reader’s moral imaginations. Given the presence of friendship language in Acts, the work subsequently launches into an examination of this idiom in Greco-Roman philosophical and literary works by Aristotle, Plutarch, Diogenes Laertius, and Iamblichus. The author then proceeds to an exegetical examination of how friendship language is employed by Luke in the narrative summaries of Acts. This ethical reading of the Acts 2:41-47 and 4:32-35 incorporates multiple features of narrative criticism and asks such wide ranging questions as the use of emotion, point of view, and characterization to shape the reading audience’s perception of God, the early Christian community, and other characters within the story of Luke-Acts. This study has implications for biblical studies, practical theology, and contemporary understandings of ecclesiology.
- By (author) Douglas A Hume
Other Titles in this Series
Abraham’s Faith in Romans 4
Paul's Concept of Faith in Light of the History of Reception of Genesis 15:6
Makrothymia im Neuen Testament
Semantik und Ethik einer vergessenen ethischen Norm. Kontexte und Normen neutestamentlicher Ethik / Contexts and Norms of New Testament Ethics. Band XV
Peacemaking through Blood in Colossians
An Analysis of the Imagery in Its Graeco-Roman and Jewish Context
Volume 615
Lukan Joy and the Life of Discipleship
A Narrative Analysis of the Conditions That Lead to Joy According to Luke
Volume 583
Peter’s Halakhic Nightmare
The 'animal' vision of Acts 10:9-16 in Jewish and Graeco-Roman Perspective
Volume 432
Narratologie und biblische Exegese
Eine integrative Methode der Erzählanalyse und ihr Ertrag am Beispiel von Matthäus 28
Volume 285
Paul’s Koinonia with the Philippians
A Socio-Historical Investigation of a Pauline Economic Partnership
Volume 377
God and the Faithfulness of Paul
A Critical Examination of the Pauline Theology of N.T. Wright
Volume 413
Moral Language in the New Testament
The Interrelatedness of Language and Ethics in Early Christian Writings. Kontexte und Normen neutestamentlicher Ethik / Contexts and Norms of New Testament Ethics. Volume II
Volume 296
Christ the Ideal King
Cultural Context, Rhetorical Strategy, and the Power of Divine Monarchy in Ephesians
Volume 313
The Death of the Soul in Romans 7
Sin, Death, and the Law in Light of Hellenistic Moral Psychology
Volume 256
Das Romische Imperium im Lukanischen Doppelwerk
Darstellung und Ertragspotenzial fur christliche Leser des spaten ersten Jahrhunderts
Volume 547
Early Christian Teachers
The 'Didaskaloi' from Their Origins to the Middle of the Second Century
Volume 516
Similar Books
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Punning in Odd or Elegant Constructions in Jeremiah
The Convergence of Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Textuality in the Hebrew Text of Jeremiah
Shame in the Worlds of the Hebrew Bible and Akkadian Texts
A Linguistic Study and Its Implications
Volume 33
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
Die Jüngerinnen und Jünger im Thomasevangelium
Ein narratologisch inspirierter Zugang zum Text als Einheit
Parola di Dio, di uomo e di Re
L'assoluta verità della Bibbia nella dottrina cattolica di Bacchisio Raimondo Motzo
Übergemeindliche Verbindungen in den Briefen der paulinischen Mission
Vorkommen, Bedeutung, Funktion und Plausibilität
Wie JHWH spricht
Die temporelle Steuerung von Verbalaussagen in den Reden nach den Gottesspruchformeln
Breaking New Ground in John
Imagery, Parables, Characters, Christology, and Ethics in the Fourth Gospel
Volume 531
But the Wise Shall Understand
Reuse of Prophecies, Chronotope, and Merging of Eschatological Horizons in Daniel 10-12
Creation Concepts and Creation Care
Perspectives from Early Judaism, Early Christianity, and Beyond. Kontexte und Normen neutestamentlicher Ethik / Contexts and Norms of New Testament Ethics XVII
De-colonising the Biblical Narrative. Volume 4
The Colonial Worldview of the Book of Joshua
Volume 4
Paul and Sacrifice in Corinth
Rethinking Paul's Views on Gentile Cults in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10
Volume 623
