<P> Luke seems to have taken as his model the works of two respected Classical authors, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who wrote a well - known history of Rome, and the Jewish historian Josephus, author of a history of the Jews . Like them, he anchors his history by dating the birth of the founder (Romulus for Dionysius, Moses for Josephus, Jesus for Luke) and like them he tells how the founder is born from God, taught authoritatively, and appeared to witnesses after death before ascending to heaven . By and large the sources for Acts can only be guessed at, but Luke would have had access to the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures), the Gospel of Mark and the collection of "sayings of Jesus" called the Q source . He transposed a few incidents from Mark's gospel to the time of the Apostles--for example, the material about "clean" and "unclean" foods in Mark 7 is used in Acts 10, and Mark's account of the accusation that Jesus has attacked the Temple (Mark 14: 58) is used in a story about Stephen (Acts 6: 14).) There are also points of contacts (meaning suggestive parallels but something less than clear evidence) with 1 Peter, the Letter to the Hebrews, and 1 Clement . Other sources can only be inferred from internal evidence--the traditional explanation of the three "we" passages, for example, is that they represent eye - witness accounts . The search for such inferred sources was popular in the 19th century, but by the mid-20th it had largely been abandoned . </P> <P> Acts was read as a reliable history of the early church well into the post-Reformation era . By the 17th century, however, biblical scholars began to notice that it was incomplete and tendentious--its picture of a harmonious church is quite at odds with that given by Paul's letters, and it omits important events such as the deaths of both Peter and Paul . The mid-19th - century scholar Ferdinand Baur suggested that Luke had re-written history to present a united Peter and Paul and advance a single orthodoxy against the Marcionites . (Marcion was a 2nd - century heretic who wished to cut Christianity off entirely from the Jews). Baur continues to have enormous influence, but today there is less interest in determining Luke's historical accuracy (although this has never died out) than in understanding his theological program . The late archaeologist William Mitchell Ramsay concluded, after about 30 years of investigation, that: "Luke's history is unsurpassed in respect of its trustworthiness...Luke is a historian of the first rank...(Luke) should be placed along with the very greatest of historians ." </P> <P> Luke was written to be read aloud to a group of Jesus - followers gathered in a house to share the Lord's supper . The author assumes an educated Greek - speaking audience, but directs his attention to specifically Christian concerns rather than to the Greco - Roman world at large . He begins his gospel with a preface addressed to Theophilus, informing him of his intention to provide an "ordered account" of events which will lead his reader to "certainty". He did not write in order to provide Theophilus with historical justification--"did it happen?"--but to encourage faith--"what happened, and what does it all mean?" </P> <P> Acts (or Luke--Acts) is intended as a work of "edification ." Edification means "the empirical demonstration that virtue is superior to vice," but is not all of Luke's purpose . He also engages with the question of a Christian's proper relationship with the Roman Empire, the civil power of the day: could a Christian obey God and also Caesar? The answer is ambiguous . The Romans never move against Jesus or his followers unless provoked by the Jews, in the trial scenes the Christian missionaries are always cleared of charges of violating Roman laws, and Acts ends with Paul in Rome proclaiming the Christian message under Roman protection; at the same time, Luke makes clear that the Romans, like all earthly rulers, receive their authority from Satan, while Christ is ruler of the kingdom of God . </P>

Who was the book of acts written to
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