The Genre of Acts and Collected Biography

Uses genre theory to explore the composition and purpose of Acts, concluding that it is a work of collected biography.

Sean A. Adams (Author)

9781108733960, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 September 2018

333 pages, 1 table
21.5 x 14 x 2 cm, 0.4 kg

It is widely accepted by New Testament scholars that the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles probably originated as two parts of one work by a single author. In spite of this, the books have been assigned to very different genres: Luke is traditionally viewed as a biography of Jesus, and Acts as a history of the early church. Comparing in detail the structure and content of Acts with the formal features of history, novel, epic and biography, Sean A. Adams challenges this division. Applying both ancient and modern genre theory, he argues that the best genre parallel for the Acts of the Apostles is in fact collected biography. Offering a nuanced and sophisticated understanding of genre theory, along with an insightful argument regarding the composition and purpose of Acts, this book will be of interest to those studying the New Testament, Acts, genre theory and ancient literature.

1. Introduction
2. Modern and ancient genre theory
3. Ancient individual and collected biographies
4. Acts as collected biography
5. Characterisation in Acts
6. Peter, Paul and the ending of Acts
7. Conclusion
Appendix 1. Literary topoi in ancient Greek biographies
Appendix 2. References to biographical works in Diogenes Laertius' Lives of the Philosophers
Appendix 3. Divisions in collected biographies.

Subject Areas: New Testaments [HRCF2], Religion: general [HRA], Literary theory [DSA]