Watch out for this new book by Gregory E. Sterling, to be published by Eerdmans:
Greg E. Sterling, Shaping the Past to Define the Present. Luke-Acts and Apologetic Historiography. Eerdmans, 2023. 301 pages. Price $ 44. Scheduled for publication this spring.
Description: “Shaping the Past to Define the Present comprises both new and revised essays by esteemed New Testament scholar Gregory E. Sterling on Jewish and early Christian historiography. A sequel to his seminal work, Historiography and Self-Definition, this volume expands on Sterling’s reading of Luke-Acts in the context of contemporary Jewish and Greek historiography. These systematically arranged essays comprise his new and revised contributions to the field of biblical studies, exploring:
- the genre of apologetic historiography exemplified by Josephus and Eusebius
- the context of Josephus’s work within a larger tradition of Eastern historiography
- the initial composition and circulation of Luke and Acts
- the relationship of Luke-Acts to the Septuagint
- the interpretation of the Diaspora in Luke-Acts
- the structure of salvation history as it is manifested in Luke-Acts
- Socratic influences on Luke’s portrayal of Jesus’s death
- the early Jerusalem Christian community as depicted in Acts compared with other Hellenized Eastern traditions such as Egyptian priests and Indian sages
- the establishment of Christianity’s “socially respectability” as a guiding purpose in Luke-Acts
Engaging with current critical frameworks, Sterling offers readers a comprehensive analysis of early Christian self-definition through Judeo-Christian historiography.”
The Table of Contents can be found here.
Philonica et Neotestamentica 