As the earliest narrative source for the origins of Christianity, Acts is of unrivalled importance for understanding early Christianity and the mission that originally brought it from Judea and Galilee to gentiles, and even the heart of the Roman Empire. This volume is an abridged version of Keener's monumental, four-volume commentary on Acts, the longest and one of the most thorough engagements with Acts in its ancient setting. Sensitive to the work's narrative unity, Keener's commentary is especially known for its direct engagement with the wide range of ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman sources. The original commentary cited some 45,000 references from ancient extrabiblical sources to shed light on the Book of Acts. This accessible edition, aimed at students, scholars, and pastors, makes more widely available the decades of research that Keener has devoted to one of the key texts of Early Christianity.

'Craig S. Keener, already the author of the longest and one of the most carefully researched commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles (4 volumes consisting of 4,459 pages!) has now managed to produce a much shorter version (635 pages) without sacrificing the virtues of the earlier commentary. This one-volume commentary reflects the author’s remarkable familiarity with a vast number of primary sources (drawn from both Judaism and the Greco-Roman world), as well as an astonishing number of secondary sources in the major European languages. This 'summary' will make Keener’s significant contribution to the study of Acts available to a broader audience.'

David E. Aune - Walter Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, emeritus, University of Notre Dame

'Keener’s four-volume commentary on Acts has become a standard work. All readers will welcome this one-volume abridgement of the longer commentary which still contains all the key discussions, as well as the wealth of information from ancient sources, contained in the longer work. Keener’s work is essential reading for all seeking to read Luke’s work in its original historical context.'

Christopher Tuckett - Emeritus Professor, University of Oxford

‘… serious students of Acts will want to keep this abridgement, not to mention Keener’s encyclopedic four-volume commentary, within reach.’

Stanley N. Helton Source: Restoration Quarterly