© 13 Ap 1997. PREFACE THE Apostolic Age is the most complex period of biblical history. Until the death of Jesus the interest of the biblical student is focused on the Hebrew race, but after that great turning-point in human history it suddenly becomes world-wide. Rome soon takes the place of Jerusalem as the centre of Christianity, and its historical background is the great Græco-Roman world. It is during the Apostolic Age that the relatively narrow current of Jewish thought mingles with those which flow from the ancient East, from cultured Hellas, and from Rome itself. The mingling of these currents explains the resulting complexity of apostolic life and thought. The New Testament writings vividly reflect this mingling of civilizations and ideas. As they stand these books also lack chronological arrangement. To most New Testament readers the latter part of the New Testament is a labyrinth. It is full of immortal truths and richly suggestive of the heroism and hopes of the early Christians; but, aside from the book of Acts, the New Testament writings in their present order fail to make clear the unity of the mighty, onward, first-century movement of which they are practically the only record. Therefore a chronological synthesis of the material in the epistles and Acts is an indispensable prerequisite for the intelligent study of apostolic Christianity. The cumulative testimony of an ever-increasing body of biblical students confirms the conclusion that the most fruitful, in fact, the only satisfactory way to study biblical history and the complex literature contained in the Old and New Testaments, is by means of the source-method. When the more important passages of this ancient literature are singled out and arranged according to the scientific methods of classification, the biblical writers tell their own story and the modern student gains for the first time a clear and comprehensive knowledge of the abounding life and the vital principles recorded in the Bible. In endeavoring to lay the foundations for this study, I have been constantly helped and inspired, not only by work in the college classroom, but also by scores and hundreds of letters from men and women in various professions and activities who have been able 308942 to speak from their practical experience in the larger laboratory of life. To endeavor to lay before them in each succeeding period those portions of the Bible that are the most significant and to leave out none that are of primary importance has been one of the constant aims of this series. In the present volume the task has been especially difficult, yet inspiring because of the richness of the material. In Paul's epistles the historian also possesses contemporary records which are of priceless value; but even here frequent omissions bring out in clearer relief the remaining passages which present the logical thought and the essential teachings of the great apostle to the Gentiles. Following the example of modern translators like Moffatt and Weymouth, I have broken up many of Paul's cumbersome and involved sentences into smaller and more intelligible units. By so doing the modern reader is enabled to gain a truer appreciation, not only of the apostle's thought but also of his vigorous literary style. The large debt which I owe to the writers who have pioneered this many-sided field is suggested in the Appendix. To my former student, Professor Case, of the University of Chicago, I feel under especial obligation for his illuminating survey of the religious background of the Apostolic Age in his Evolution of Christianity. The study of each succeeding period of biblical history has also brought into increasing prominence the lofty yet practical social idealism of the men who inspired and wrote the Old and New Testaments. The subject is too large and to vital to be presented only fragmentarily. Its comprehensive treatment is, therefore, reserved for a separate volume on "The Social Teachings of the Prophets and Jesus." YALE UNIVERSITY, January, 1916. C. F. K. CONTENTS I. THE RECORDS OF THE WORK AND TEACHINGS OF THE APOS- I. The Significance of the Apostolic Age.-II. The New Testament Letters and Epistles.-III. The Aim of the Book of Acts.-IV. Its Authorship and Date.-V. The Early II. THE HISTORICAL AND RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND OF THE I. The Rulers of Rome.-II. What Rome Did for Chris- tianity.-III. Contemporary Palestinian Judaism.-IV. The Judaism of the Dispersion.-V. The Greek Philosophies. -VI. The Emperor-Worship.-VII. The Mystery-Relig- PAGE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY IN PALESTINE AND SYRIA I. The Return of the Disciples to Jerusalem.-II. The Choice of a Successor to Judas.-III. The Story of the Day of Pentecost.-IV. The Coming of the Spirit.-V. Peter's I. The Historical Record.-II. The Healing of the Lame Beggar.-III. Peter's Interpretation of the Old Testament Prophecies.-IV. His Defense before Jesus' Murderers.- V. The Effect of the Release of Peter and John upon the Christian Community.-VI The Communistic Tendencies I. The Story of Stephen's Martyrdom.-II. The Appointment Acts 81b, 4-40, 1119, 20, 24, 26b, 121-23. I. The Far-Reaching Effects of Stephen's Martyrdom.-II. The Samaritan Field.-III. The Results of Philip's Preach- ing in Samaria.-IV. His Conversation with the Ethiopian Eunuch.-V. The Spread of Christianity to Antioch. VI. The Persecution of the Jerusalem Christians by Herod Agrippa I.-VII. Peter's Changed Attitude Toward the PAGE SCL. PAUL'S EARLY TRAINING AND CONVERSION... Acts 223, Gal. 113, 14, Acts 269-18, Gal. 115-17, Acts 2620a, II I. Paul's Inheritance.-II. His Personality.-III. His Early Environment at Tarsus.-IV. His Training at Jerusalem.- V. His Zeal as a Persecutor.-VI. The Four Accounts of His I. Paul's Work at Antioch.-II. The Sending Forth of Bar- nabas and Paul.-III. Their Work in Cyprus.-IV. The I. The Burning Problem in the Christian Church.—II. The Accounts of the Way in Which It Was Solved. III. Paul's Interview with the "Pillars" at Jerusalem.-IV. Problems Arising from the Association of Jewish and Gentile Chris- |