Acts of Empire, Second Edition
The Acts of the Apostles and Imperial Ideology
- Biblical Studies & Commentaries
- Publisher: Cascade Books (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2020
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Publisher's Description
This book combines New Testament studies and cultural theory, and analyzes Acts of the Apostles as a product of imperial discourse. In five chapters, Christina Petterson engages Acts with ideology, gender, class, and empire with different emphases. All of these analyses argue that Christianity can never be set outside discourses of exploitation, discrimination, and hierarchies, but must always be set within them.
Endorsements (2)
“While studies of ‘the politics of Luke-Acts’ are now routine features of the landscape, Christina Petterson’s intervention is a breath of fresh air. She teases out how regularly assumptions of ‘Christian exceptionalism’ subtly distance Luke-Acts from the culture and ideology of Roman imperialism and instead understands the writing straightforwardly as an artifact of that culture and ideology. Her perspective deserves the attention of scholars of Luke-Acts and early Christianity generally.”
“Petterson adroitly uses her ‘theoretical musings’ to unmask the layers of systemic and symbolic workings of empire in the Acts of the Apostles. Far more than setting the narrative in the context of the Roman Empire, this critically informed analysis unflinchingly demonstrates how Acts itself is deeply implicated in the perpetuation of imperial ideology.”
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