John Through the Centuries
Mark Edwards

Revelation Through the Centuries
Judith Kovacs & Christopher Rowland

Judges Through the Centuries
David M. Gunn

Exodus Through the Centuries
Scott M. Langston

Ecclesiastes Through the Centuries
Eric S. Christianson

Esther Through the Centuries
Jo Carruthers

Psalms Through the Centuries: Volume I
Susan Gillingham

Galatians Through the Centuries
John Riches

Pastoral Epistles Through the Centuries
Jay Twomey

1 & 2 Thessalonians Through the Centuries
Anthony C. Thiselton

Six Minor Prophets Through the Centuries
By Richard Coggins and Jin H. Han

Lamentations Through the Centuries
Paul M. Joyce and Diana Lipton

James Through the Centuries
David Gowler

The Acts of the Apostles Through the Centuries
Heidi J. Hornik and Mikeal C. Parsons

The Wiley Blackwell Bible Commentaries series, the first to be devoted primarily to the reception history of the Bible, is based on the premise that how people have interpreted, and been influenced by, a sacred text like the Bible is often as interesting and historically important as what it originally meant. The series emphasizes the influence of the Bible on literature, art, music, and film, its role in the evolution of religious beliefs and practices, and its impact on social and political developments. Drawing on work in a variety of disciplines, it is designed to provide a convenient and scholarly means of access to material until now hard to find, and a much needed resource for all those interested in the influence of the Bible on Western culture.

Until quite recently this whole dimension was for the most part neglected by biblical scholars. The goal of a commentary was primarily if not exclusively to get behind the centuries of accumulated Christian and Jewish tradition to one single meaning, normally identified with the author’s original intention.

The most important and distinctive feature of the Wiley Blackwell Commentaries is that they will present readers with many different interpretations of each text, in such a way as to heighten their awareness of what a text, especially a sacred text, can mean and what it can do, what it has meant and what it has done, in the many contexts in which it operates.

The Wiley Blackwell Bible Commentaries will consider patristic, rabbinic (where relevant), and medieval exegesis as well as insights from various types of modern criticism, acquainting readers with a wide variety of interpretative techniques. As part of the history of interpretation, questions of source, date, authorship, and other historical critical and archaeological issues will be discussed, but since these are covered extensively in existing commentaries, such references will be brief, serving to point readers in the direction of readily accessible literature where they can be followed up.

Original to this series is the consideration of the reception history of specific biblical books arranged in commentary format. The chapter by chapter arrangement ensures that the biblical text is always central to the discussion. Given the wide influence of the Bible and the richly varied appropriation of each biblical book, it is a difficult question which interpretations to include. While each volume will have its own distinctive point of view, the guiding principle for the series as a whole is that readers should be given a representative sampling of material from different ages, with emphasis on interpretations that have been especially influential or historically significant. Though commentators will have their preferences among the different interpretations, the material will be presented in such a way that readers can make up their own minds on the value, morality, and validity of particular interpretations.

The series encourages readers to consider how the biblical text has been interpreted down the ages and seeks to open their eyes to different uses of the Bible in contemporary culture. The aim is to write a series of scholarly commentaries that draw on all the insights of modern research to illustrate the rich interpretative potential of each biblical book.

Acts Through the Centuries is the fourth book we have coauthored together. The first three comprised the trilogy Illuminating Luke, which considered Renaissance and Baroque depictions of scenes unique to the Gospel of Luke as examples of “visual exegesis”. In some important ways, those books prepared us for this assignment; in some other ways, however, they did not. As part of the context for the paintings, we researched the reception history of the selected passage in the exegetical tradition. This exercise proved extremely useful since it introduced us to a variety of ancient and early modern authors to whom we return for this project. But the Illuminating Luke trilogy was very focused and limited: one major painting from a circumscribed historical period (Italian Renaissance/Baroque) that portrayed a specific Lukan scene.

With Acts through the Centuries we were charged with covering the entire interpretive history from the composition of the document in the late first/early second century to the twentieth/twenty first century. That was a daunting task that proved, predictably, an impossible undertaking. We have done the best we could to choose verbal and visual interpretations that are either representative of the interpretive traditions or that, in some respect, represent interpretations that depart from the conventional wisdom in distinct and interesting ways. We did not know when we began the project whether we would encounter an embarrassment of exegetical riches or just an embarrassment. We found both!

There are many persons to thank for a project such as this. The University Research Leave Committee at Baylor University granted each of us, at different times, a semester release from our normal duties to undertake this assignment. Our department chairs, Mark Anderson (Art) and Bill Bellinger (Religion) have been unrelenting in their support of our work on this and other projects. Lee Nordt, Dean of the College of Arts and Science and Divisonal Dean for Humanities and Social Sciences Robyn Driskell have supported us in various ways over the course of the project. Allbritton Grants for Faculty Scholarship in the Department of Art provided the resources for research travel as well as for copyright permissions and color illustrations. Mikeal’s research assistants over the years, particularly in the final stages, Greg Barnhill, John Duncan, Michael Barnard, and Ryan Harker have rendered enormous help with good cheer. New Testament Series Editors, Judith Kovacs and Christopher Rowlands, gave remarkably detailed and perceptive feedback on various drafts of the manuscript, expanding its scope and enriching its quality. Remaining flaws, of course, are ours.

Over the decade during which we have worked, off and on, on this book, our sons, Mikeal Joseph and Matthew Quincy, have grown from pre adolescent children to young men, both are now in college. They continue to amaze and humble us with their accomplishments! We have learned so much from this project. We hope you too, dear reader, benefit from this catalogue of what others have thought and understood about the Acts of the Apostles through the centuries.

1. The following materials were used with permission.
   • Heidi J. Hornik and Mikeal C. Parsons. “Philological and Performative Perspectives on Pentecost.” Pp. 137–153 in Reading Acts Today. Steve Walton, Scott Spencer, Tom Phillips, and Barry Matlock, editors. New York: T & T Clark, 2011. By kind permission of Continuum International Publishing Group.
   •  Mikeal C. Parsons and Peter Reynolds. “Early Pentecostals on Pentecost.” Perspectives in Religious Studies 42 (2015): 205–15. Used by Permission of the editors.
2. Citations from the following materials were gathered from online databases and websites.
   •  Early modern interpreters were taken from Early English Books Online (writings are indicated in Bibliography).
   •  Martin Luther, Thomas Aquinas, and G. K. Chesterton were taken from the Past Masters Online.
   •  John Chrysostom’s Homilies on Acts, John Wesley’s Notes on the New Testament, and John Calvin’s Commentary on Acts were taken from the online Christian Classics Ethereal Library, with permission.