Paul R. Finch. Beyond Acts. Sunrise Publications. 2003.

Paul Finch has spent 40 years researching New Testament History. He has brought together the results of his research into a handy one volume book. This book is a must for any serious student of New Testament History.

Arrangement of Book

This 22 chapter book deals with many controversies today over who the original writers of the New Testament books were. It attempts top reveal the truth by leading us to the original sources of information. Additionally, it provides the history of Christianity beyond where the Book of Acts stops. Frankly, I didn’t know most of these “new theories” and am blessed to be a simple believer who totally ignores what many so-called Bible scholars have to say today.

Here are the Chapter Titles and a brief comment on what you will find in that chapter. Some chapters have no comment because the title is self-explanatory.

1. The Apostolic Drama Begins: Includes the Resurrection of Jesus and the testimonies given by Paul.
2. The First Scattering: According to some reliable historical documents, a group of Jesus’ relatives traveled to Marseilles, France where they built a Christian Church. This group included Joseph who was either Jesus’ adoptive father or a brother of Mary, His mother.
3. The Last Days of the Temple: As Ezekiel prophesized, the Temple in Jerusalem completely fell.
4. The Jerusalem Church under James the Just: Tells of James’ martyrdom at the hands of the Jews. Various people in the new Christian church were beginning to deny the name of Christ.
5. The Expectation of the Apostolic Church: The disciples believed that Christ’s return was imminent.
6. The Mystery of the Year 63 C.E.: [C.E. stands for common era; this is now used instead of A.D.]The numbers of Christians had decreased from thousands to hundreds. The Jewish Christians studied the prophecy of Daniel and expected that last 7 years to be fulfilled in their lifetime. When nothing happened, many left the church and others were rethinking their understanding of this prophecy.
7. The Post Years of Acts: Tells of Paul’s ministry, the writing of his Epistles and other events that took place after the initial establishment of Christianity.
8. The “Revelation” of the Apostle Paul: Paul realizes Christ was NOT going to return in the immediate future. He begins to address the church structure for the future.
9. The Prophetic Viewpoint of the Apostle Paul: Shows that Paul’s viewpoint changed and was reflected in his epistles.
10. The Gospel Into Britain.
11. The Jerusalem Church Flees: Discusses occurrences before the Temple at Jerusalem is totally destroyed.
12. The Apostolic Church and the Roman War.
13. The Final Acts of the Apostle Paul: Final events before his martyrdom.
14. Heresy—the Impetus for Canonization
15. The Authority to Canonize Scripture: These two chapters discuss the reasons the early church decided to canonize scripture and the results of their work.
16. The Martyrdom’s of Paul and Peter.
17. The Initial New Testament Canon.
18. The Apostle John and the Canon.
19. The Final Canon of John.
20. Background to the Post-Apostolic Church
21. The Controversy that Divided the Church: The eastern branch of the church tried to remain true to Jewish traditions while the western branch moved away from those traditions.
22. Conclusion.

Recommendation

This is one of the best books I’ve read on the history of Christianity. The Extent of the information provided should be evident just by studying the title of its chapters. Every statement made by the author is documented with quotations from historical writings. That alone tells me how much research went into this book.

It is very clear that this book isn’t for a new Christian. It is geared towards those who are secure in their faith and ready to learn more about the first century of Christianity. Pastors and others who want in-depth knowledge of the history of the church will welcome this book. The Appendixes and extensive Bibliography would help Bible College and Seminary students in their research efforts for classes.

Copyrighted by Diana Pederson, 2005-2009