The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles

Harvard divinity school studies.

This collection provides a rich, multilayered analysis of a long-neglected branch of early Christian apocryphal literature that examines the relationship between tradition and redaction, uses of language, and the fluid border between literary criticism and motif analysis, the uses of language, and the fluid border between literary criticism and motif analysis.

The framework for the collection is provided by an introduction to the deliberate task of editing, translating, and interpreting apocryphal and hagiographic narratives on the apostles and the first Christians. Three essays are devoted to issues of transmission, tracing the lines between oral and written texts and examining the reworking of texts as, over time, they served different functions in the religious lives of the communities. Two of the contributions examine the language and stylistic characteristics of the texts. Six of the chapters review the literary, philosophical, and religious motifs contained within the literature. The volume concludes with critical editions of two previously unpublished Greek texts: a version of the Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Ananias and the Memorial of Saint John the Theologian.

The scope of this collection, as it examines the transformation of the ancient world into Byzantine Christianity, demonstrates that the early Christian apocryphal literature is a vital source for historians of Christianity, for scholars of patristics and of the New Testament, and for those inquiring into such timeless issues as the structure of political authority, the role of women, religious experience, and the organization of social responsibility.