Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 40:1 (NA 1989)
Article: The Historical Value Of Acts
Author: W. Ward Gasque

TynBul 40:1 (1989) p. 136

The Historical Value Of Acts

W. Ward Gasque

During the past one hundred and fifty years of debate concerning the historical value of the Acts of the Apostles, few of those who have asserted opinions on the subject have actually done any primary research on the matter. Certainly, F. C. Baur (1792–1860), the Tübingen scholar who initiated an energetic attack on the trustworthiness of the Lucan account of Christian origins and whose long shadow continues to be cast across the contemporary discussion, did not. Searching the pages of the New Testament and the early Christian writings for texts to support his critical and historical assumptions, Baur never really took time either to engage in detailed exegesis or to do fundamental historical research (in the normal sense of that word),1 though admittedly the materials necessary for this task were only beginning to come to light as he worked. The same can be said for most of the early defenders of Luke’s reliability on both sides of the Channel, with the exception of J. B. Lightfoot (1818–89).2 One had to wait for the work of Sir William M. Ramsay (1851–1939)3 to see the beginning of the application of knowledge gained from the treasury of historical materials that was coming to light through the work

TynBul 40:1 (1989) p. 137

of archaeologists and epigraphers and through the subsequent unearthing of papyri and ostraca.

However, not even Ramsay made a complete study of the subject. His celebrated conversion to a more positive assessment of the writings of Luke led him to marshall an array of historical date in their defense, and he continued to produce a multitude of scholarly articles that provide both direct and indirect support for the essential historicity of Acts;4 but he never produced a systematic and complete treatment of the topic as a whole.

The only full investigation of the question of the historical value of Acts ever published was researched some seventy years ago, namely, the magisterial monograph by the distinguished German Catholic scholar, Alfred Wikenhauser (1883–1960).5 In spite of the work’s careful, systematic, critical, and comprehensive nature it has rarely been referred to, much less been made full use of. Wikenhauser brings the research of classical historians and archeologists during the previous century into the discussion, and makes a close examination of the narrative of Acts in this light, as well as in the light of its own int...