Book of Acts

Instructor

Eric C. Smith, Ph.D.

Course Description:

This course offers a survey of the Book of Acts , including its relationship to the Gospel of Luke. We will survey major interpretive issues and strategies for reading Acts , including postcolonial and empire perspectives, geographical and spatial frames, and historiographical and literary analyses. The course will begin with a brief study of Luke's gospel before moving on to Acts , and will attend to questions of whether and how these two books are connected to each other.

Required Books and Readings:

Fredriksen, Paula. When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation . New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2018.

González, Justo L. The Story Luke Tells: Luke's Unique Witness to the Gospel. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015.

Jennings, Willie James. Acts (Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible). Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2017.

Shillington, V. George. An Introduction to the Study of Luke-Acts (second edition). London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015.

All other readings are available through the Taylor Library collection in electronic form or available via PDF (and linked in the week's assignment page).

Course Overview

This course offers a survey of the Book of Acts, including its relationship to the Gospel of Luke. We will survey major interpretive issues and strategies for reading Acts, including postcolonial and empire perspectives, geographical and spatial frames, and historiographical and literary analyses. The course will begin with a brief study of Luke's gospel before moving on to Acts, and will attend to questions of whether and how these two books are connected to each other.

The course is organized thematically rather than moving through the book in order. Themes include gender, empire, identity, community, history, space and geography, history of interpretation, and textual history. 

Course Objectives

• To gain an understanding of the book of Acts as a literary work, and its relationship to other literary works;
• To gain an understanding of Acts' place within the New Testament and in the history of formative Christianity;
• To understand major themes of Acts;
• To make connections between Acts and contemporary society, including its interpretation and use by contemporary communities of faith

Final grades will be determined by this formula:

10% -- robust and active participation in class, showing evidence of having done the readings ahead of class

12% -- the posting of questions before the start of class in weeks 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9. 

16% -- responses to posts in weeks 5 and 8, when the class will meet online. There are four posts in each of those weeks, worth 2 points each. 

15% -- paper proposal, due in week 6

40% -- final paper, due after week 10

7% -- presentation of research from the final paper, during class in week 10

Requests for incompletes must be made by the student prior to the end of week 10. Any request for an incomplete should be discussed in advance with the student's advisor, and should be the result of circumstances the student could not have foreseen. All requests are subject to approval by the Dean and are governed by the policies in the Masters Student Handbook. Incompletes are usually graded pass/fail, at the discretion of the instructor. 

Requests to take the course pass/fail should be made in writing to the instructor by the end of class in week 2.