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Vulgate: Acts: Acts index

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The Book of Acts is a first-century historical narrative from the New Testament, attributed to Luke as a sequel to his Gospel, tracing the founding and spread of the early Christian church from roughly 30–62 CE. It opens with Jesus's ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which transforms a small group of disciples in Jerusalem into a missionary movement, with Peter's sermon alone adding three thousand converts in a single day. The narrative's first half centers on the Jerusalem church — miraculous healings, communal property-sharing, clashes with Jewish authorities, the stoning of Stephen, and Philip's outreach to Samaritans and an Ethiopian official — culminating in the pivotal conversion of Saul of Tarsus, the church's chief persecutor, on the road to Damascus. The second half follows Paul through three missionary journeys across Asia Minor, Greece, and the Aegean world, showing him planting congregations in cities like Philippi, Corinth, and Ephesus, and debating Stoic and Epicurean philosophers in Athens. A distinctive and recurring argument is that Christianity fulfills Jewish scripture rather than contradicting it — a claim Paul makes before synagogue audiences, Roman governors, and King Agrippa alike. The book ends unresolved, with Paul under house arrest in Rome still preaching openly, a conclusion that implicitly frames the mission as ongoing and unfinished.

Vulgate: Acts: Acts index

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