The Acts of the Apostles is the second part of St Luke=s work and thus needs to be read with the same expectations that are already raised in the prologue, Luke 1.1&4: this is an educated member of a contemporary movement who is writing for an equally educated audience with an interest in the topic. It is about the story of God with Israel, which has entered a critical phase through Jesus of Nazareth, and about the resulting Jesus movement and its spread. The material is intended to make an appeal to readers that is just as existentially significant as it was to the first listeners to the missionary speeches reported in it. It is not a comprehensive historical narrative either temporally or geographically, but the Biblical author wants to go beyond mere hearsay and provide reliable information. Haacker comments on St Luke=s text with philological tact and with informative insights into the way in which the Biblical texts are embedded in history.

Dr. Klaus Haacker, Prof. i. R. für Neues Testament und seine Umwelt an der Kirchlichen Hochschule Wuppertal/Bethel.