Madness in the Method? the Acts of the Apostles in Current Study

Abstract

Scholarship on the book of Acts frequently proceeds under the 'no final con flict' slogan when it comes to employing a diversity of methods. In this essay, however, some of the fundamental assumptions and approaches to Acts in recent scholarship are examined and challenged, raising questions related to the proliferation of method in New Testament and early Christian studies, the underlying methodological assumptions of particular interpre tive approaches, and the sublimation of theology and ideology in scholar ship. The past 15 years of Acts scholarship provides the context for this broad survey and interaction. The essential contours of the discussion are focused around matters related to genre, the nature of Acts as 'text', the book's connections to its broader socio-cultural and historical worlds, and, finally, to matters related to post-critical interactions with Acts. No easy solutions are offered in this essay; rather, the broad discussion of method in current Acts scholarship pushes for a return to greater methodological awareness and reflection in the discipline.