Acts of Empire, Second Edition

“While studies of ‘the politics of Luke-Acts’ are now routine features of the landscape, Christina Petterson’s intervention is a breath of fresh air. She teases out how regularly assumptions of ‘Christian exceptionalism’ subtly distance Luke-Acts from the culture and ideology of Roman imperialism and instead understands the writing straightforwardly as an artifact of that culture and ideology. Her perspective deserves the attention of scholars of Luke-Acts and early Christianity generally.”


—Neil Elliott, author of The Arrogance of Nations: Reading Romans in the Shadow of Empire





“Petterson adroitly uses her ‘theoretical musings’ to unmask the layers of systemic and symbolic workings of empire in the Acts of the Apostles. Far more than setting the narrative in the context of the Roman Empire, this critically informed analysis unflinchingly demonstrates how Acts itself is deeply implicated in the perpetuation of imperial ideology.”


—Colleen Conway, Professor of Religion, Seton Hall University