Luke packed Acts with essential stories, lessons, and principles for sorting through multi-ethnic issues–it is one of our greatest resources for promoting ethnic unity in the church. In the winter of 2009 I enjoyed taking a seminary course on Acts by Dr. Eckhard Schnabel, a top expert on the early church and the book of Acts. This is a list of commentaries, studies, atlases, etc. that he recommended to our class. I confess that I didn’t read all of them–but, the parts of the resources I was able to read were excellent.

We plan to post many of the items in this resource on the renewpartnerships.org soon.

Required Texts

Bock, Darrell. Acts. BECNT. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007

Schnabel, Eckhard J. The Book of Acts. ZECNT. Grand Rapids: Zondervan (to be published soon)

Selected chapters in:

Bauckham, Richard, ed. The Book of Acts in its Palestinian Setting. The Book of Acts in Its First-Century Setting, Volume 4. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995

Gill, David W. J. and Conrad Gempf, eds. The Book of Acts in Its Graeco-Roman Setting. The Book of Acts in Its First-Century Setting, Volume 2. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994

Recommended commentaries

Barrett, C. K. Acts. ICC. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1994/1998

Bruce, F. F. The Book of the Acts. NICNT. Revised Edition. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988

Dunn, James D. G. The Acts of the Apostles. EpComm. London: Epworth, 1996

Fitzmyer, Joseph A. The Acts of the Apostles. AB 31. New York: Doubleday, 1998

Johnson, Luke Timothy. The Acts of the Apostles. SP 5. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1992

Marshall, I. Howard. The Acts of the Apostles.. TNTC. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1980

Witherington, Ben. The Acts of the Apostles. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998

Peterson, David G. The Acts of the Apostles. PNTC. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009

Recommended studies

Barnett, Paul W. Jesus and the Rise of Early Christianity: A History of New Testament Times. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999

Dunn, James D. G. Beginning from Jerusalem. Christianity in the Making II. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009

Gill, David W. J. and Conrad Gempf, eds. The Book of Acts in Its Graeco-Roman Literary Setting. The Book of Acts in Its First-Century Setting, Volume 2. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994

Hemer Colin J. The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History. Edited by C.H. Gempf. WUNT 49. Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1989

Levinskaya, Irina. The Book of Acts in its Diaspora Setting. The Book of Acts in Its First-Century Setting Volume 5. Carlisle: Paternoster, 1996

Marshall, I. Howard and David Peterson, eds., Witness to the Gospel: The Theology of Acts. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998

Marshall, I. Howard. Luke: Historian and Theologian. Third Edition. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1988

Rapske, Brian, The Book of Acts and Paul in Roman Custody. The Book of Acts in Its First-Century Setting, Volume 3. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994

Schnabel, Eckhard J. Early Christian Mission. 2 vols. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2004 Schnabel, Eckhard J. Paul the Missionary: Realities, Strategies, and Methods. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008

Soards, Marion L. The Speeches in Acts: Their Content, Context, and Concerns. Louisville: Westminster/Knox, 1994

Tannehill, Robert C. The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts: A Literary Interpretation. Vol. II: The Acts of the Apostles. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1994

Winter, Bruce W. and Andrew D. Clarke, eds. The Book of Acts in Its Ancient Literary Setting. The Book of Acts in Its First-Century Setting, Volume 1. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Brian

Theological dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases

Bromiley, G. W. ed. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [ISBE]. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979–1988

Brown, C., ed. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology [NIDNTT]. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975–1978

Davids, P. H. and Ralph P. M., eds. Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments [DLNTD]. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1997

Douglas, J. D., ed. New Bible Dictionary [NBD]. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993

Freedman, D. N., ed. Anchor Bible Dictionary [ABD]. New York: Doubleday, 1972

Hawthorne, G. F., R. P. Martin and D. G. Reid, eds. Dictionary of Paul and his Letters [DPL]. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993

Sakenfeld, K. D., ed. The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible [NIDB]. 5 vols. Nashville: Abingdon, 2006-9

Cancik, Hubert, Helmuth Schneider and Manfred Landfester, eds. Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopedia of the Ancient World [BNP]. 20 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2002

Hornblower, Simon and Antony Spawforth, eds. Oxford Classical Dictionary [OCD]. Third Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996

Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Third Revised ed. New York: Macmillan, 1993

Beitzel, Barry J. Beitzel, Biblica: The Bible Atlas. A Social and Historical Journey through the Lands of the Bible. Camberwell: Penguin Group, 2006

Beitzel, Barry J. Beitzel, The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands. Chicago: Moody Press, 1985

Lawrence, Paul. The IVP Atlas of Bible History. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006

Rainey, Anson F., and R. Steven Notley. The Sacred Bridge: Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World. Jerusalem: Carta, 2006

Talbert, Richard J. A. ed. Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000

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