The Acts of the Apostles: Fiction, Myth, Tradition

Apostle: One who is sent

Disciple: One who follows another

Fiction

1. The action of fashioning or imitating

2. Arbitrary invention

3. That which is fashioned or framed; a device

Myth

1. "a narrative concerning sacred reality and its relationship to humanity . . . designed to
disclose the ultimate truth about human questions." --Lawrence Cunningham, John Kelsay, R.
M. Barineau, Heather McVoy, ed., The Sacred Quest

2. a complex of stories . . . which, for various reasons, human beings regard as demonstrations
of the inner meaning of the universe and of human life. -- Alan Watts, Myth and Ritual in
Christianity

3. fable or legend: any unreal or imaginary story

Tradition

1. The action of handing over (something material) to another

2. The action of transmitting or ‘handing down’, or fact of being handed down, from one to another, or from generation to generation

3. In the Christian Church, any one, or the whole, of a body of teachings transmitted orally from generation to generation since early times; held by Roman Catholics to comprise teaching derived from Christ and the apostles, together with that subsequently communicated to the church by the Holy

Chapters 1-4: What gets framed

1. Mantle of leadership handed over smoothly to the apostles, who number 12 and are defined as compantions of Jesus

2. All the Christians acts together, stay together, worship together and live together

3. They all preach the same gospel

4. Christian festivals of Easter and Pentecost now replace Jewish festivals of Passover and Shavuot (called Pentecost in Greek)

5. Apostles received the ability to heal, convert, and preach

6. The apostles preach to Jews in Jerusalem but the leadership rejects them

7. All the Christians are morally upright people who live ideal lives and worship in the Temple (and probably pay their taxes)