Acts for Everyone, Part Two (The New Testament for Everyone)

I thoroughly enjoyed Parts 1 and 2 of “Acts for Everyone.” Tom Wright is a wonderful companion if you are journeying through Acts. He offers wonderful insights into the characters and background events behind each of of the stories and offers practical suggestions for how this applies to our lives and our world today.

An in-depth study of the latter chapters of Acts.

Tom Wright has written a series of New Testament commentaries that are easy and enjoyable to read. He combines excellent scholarship and insight with reader friendly simplicity. I highly recommend the Everyone series to everyone. In each book a very readable translation of the New Testament book being discussed, is provided by Tom Wright. He follows this by a story or anectedote and then gives his insightful comments on the text itself. At the end of each book is a helpful glossary of terms.In chapters 1-12 that make up part 1 Wright skillfully walks us through the stories of the ascension, the outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 2, the spreading of the gospel by Peter before the Sanhedrin, the stoning of Stephen that caused the church to move out from Jerusalem into Judea, Samaria, and unto the utmost parts of the earth. This spread of the gospel climaxes with Peter and Cornelius and the spread of the gospel out into the Gentile world. In part 2 he works his way through chapters 13-28. This will take you through the missionary journey's of Paul, the Jerusalem Council, Paul's trip to Jerusalem, his two years in prison at Ceaserea where he offers his defense before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa, then the trip to Rome, which includes Paul on the isle of Malta, and finally in Rome awaiting trial. Wright takes the position that Luke is taking Paul's life in parallel to Jesus, who set his face toward Jerusalem, where he knew the son of man would be handed over to be crucified. Paul, despite prophecies of warning from Agubus, goes to Jerusalem and causes a stir about the resurrection. He ends up in Rome preaching the Gospel. Wright masterfully walks us through the drama of Acts and does so with simple and easy clarity, but with the backing of great scholarship.

N.T. Wright is (deservedly) famous as a scripture scholar, but in this series addresses a general public. His explanations are well-founded. This is the fruit of biblical scholarship, not biblical scholarship itself and the discussion with colleagues that is so often found in academic commentaries is left out. Because Wright wants to engage, he uses a homiletic style which uses an image, often a story and often about him to introduce the reader to a small section of the text. Sometimes it works not very well, but it always makes a point. A homilist will find that this images can be adapted to make good attention grabbers. The exegesis is well founded and free of novelties for novelty's sake.I would recommend this series to all who want to understand Christian scripture, to bible study groups, and to priests and all who want to and need to explain scripture. A theology student can certainly do worse for an introduction into an important book of the bible, and will find the interpretation a great help when tangling with the more involved exegesis that academia has to offer.

N.T. Wright is a good writer. This is the second "for Everyone" commentary that I have purchased (Revelation was the first). Both were very useful. He takes a story like approach that introduces most sections with a personal story that illustrates the Biblical text. His exegesis is good without being too heady. He doesn't dwell at length on the original Greek, but does bring in word studies when they are helpful. Wright does a fine job of contextualizing his comments on the text to today's world.If you're a biblical scholar or a seminary student, this book may be too simplistic for you. If you are new to biblical studies and are interested in learning more or are leading a Bible study in a local church this book will be perfect for you.

I am slowly buying these one book at a time as I read through the new testament. Love the way it explains and brings the bible to life. As all of NTs books are, this is a fantastic read and resources.

I like to use study guides or books for our weekly group Bible study, so they can run independently if I, the priest, can't be present. We used Acts for Everyone, Part One first, and the group unanimously decided to go on with Part Two. I consider Wright to be just a tad on the conservative side of center (we also love Marcus Borg, who I consider just a tad on the liberal side of center - so we get balance!), but you can't beat Wright's perfect combination of scholarship and personal reflection, which is exactly what our Bible study looks for. It seems to be designed, perhaps, for daily study (small sections), but the content is so "meaty" that our hour-long study gets through about three sections per week. I think Wright's studies are something we'll use often in the future.

I am pleased to learn more than I already knew about Acts. I am also pleased to find such accurate and faithful to the scriptures commentary coming from a church that seems to get more out of left field every day. i found it a pleasure to read, except two jarring notes. Writing 'The Holy Spirit' without capitals, though he agrees that The Holy Spirit is God. And backing the discredited theory of Global Warming. Aside from these, it is well written. Bravo.

Wright is at home in the first century world, and he helps us to enter into the story of Jesus and the Apostles, so that we can begin to see it as our story as well.

Good

This certainly lives up to the title of 'for everyone'. This is a very accessible and easy to understand treatment of Acts 13-28. Anyone who has read Acts 1-12 Pt 1 by this author will not be disappointed. Tom Wright writes in a way that brings his subject to life with relevant illustrations and a comprehensive background to the material. First century AD Rome and its Empire comes alive as we follow the journey of the apostle Paul on his missionary journeys around the eastenr Mediterranean. We gain a deeper understanding of the man Paul himself. His life and teaching is put in the context of the times and society inn which he lived. Altogther a worthy follow-up to Acts For Everyone Pt 1 and well worth reading by both theologians and lay persons alike.

All of this series is wonderfully clearly written - provides lots of great insights and many of the passages covered unpacks things in ways I have not seen before - easy to read with the underlying depth of scholarship

Arrived in a very bad condition ! Really Disappointing !