Book Review: The Acts of Paul: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary

Abstract

The Acts of Paul: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. By Richard I. Pervo. Eugene, Ore.: Cascade Books, 2014. xvii + 376 pp. $45.00 (paper).With his characteristic erudition, Richard Pervo's fresh translation and commentary on the pseudoepigraphic Acts of Paul offers an engaging and well-examined treatment of this apocryphal text. His project is accessible not only to seasoned students of the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles (ApocActs), but also to those who are novices. Within this collection, the Acts of Paul is one of five surviving narratives that traces the ministry and martyrdom of the apostolic missionaries.The project begins with a complete translation-some surviving segments are quite fragmentary!-of the Acts. The text dates to the latter part of the second century. Paul's Acts, on account of its doctrinal outlook, was more widely accepted in early catholic circles than other texts from the ApocActs.Following the translation, Pervo provides an illuminating survey of the Acts' usage in Christian histoiy. He indexes its secondary attestations and reception in a variety of ancient sources. While some, like Tertullian, condemned the Acts, others, such as Eusebius, maintained a higher estimation of this non-canonical account. A list of reconstructive sources, a discussion of genre, and a survey of editorial theories is also provided. Of particular interest is Pervo s discussion of the book's theology. Here, he highlights both its non-Nicene tenor and its polemical interface with Gnosticism. Further to this, he stresses the text's value as a window into ordinary Christianity in Asia (p. 71) during the closing decades of the second century. Major themes of Christianity surface time and again, but not in a systematic manner.The ensuing commentary amply substantiates all of these broad observations. As Pervo strolls through the text, a series of insights on its history, canonical echoes, and cultural influences are published. Consider two representative examples.Chapters 3 and 4 introduce the Thecla narrative. Drawing on a freestanding account, the author incorporates this vignette into Paul's Acts so as to link this beloved female saint with the apostle. Amid this rendition, Pervo discerns a parallel with the popular Greek romantic novels (p. 94) extant at this moment in history. These stories relished love at first sight. In like manner, from the moment she hears his voice, Thecla is transfixed with Paul. Her devotion is not romantic, but it is rapt. …