Michael Green is an Anglican priest; he was also one of the speakers at
the Plano
West conference, which is where I bought this book, a detailed study
of the Acts of the Apostles.

Acts is the fifth book of the New Testament; written by St. Luke the
Evangelist, it picks up where Luke’s gospel leaves off, with the events
in Jerusalem in the days and weeks after Christ’s resurrection. Early on
the focus is on St. Peter, but before too long the focus shifts to St.
Paul and remains with him to until the end of the book. All told, the
narrated events span thirty years, thirty years in which the Christian
faith spread from Jerusalem to the farthest reaches of the Roman Empire.

Should you ever visit the north of England, go to the city
of York and tour Yorkminster Cathedral. Don’t miss the undercroft.
Renovations there uncovered the remains of two previous churches and a
Roman camp dating back to the New Testament era–and in the Roman camp
they found Christian graffiti. It’s been conjectured that St. Paul
converted some of his Roman guards during one or another of his spells
in prison, and that the poor fellows were shipped off to England as
a result.

Now, consider the distance between Jerusalem and York. Consider that
Christianity spread purely by personal contact and individual persuasion.
Christians were the least of the least in the Roman world; they had no
political power, and no way to coerce belief. I might add, Christianity
continued to spread in this peaceful way, occasionally suffering great
persecution, for over two-and-half-centuries, until finally a Christian
sat on the Roman throne.

One might contrast this peaceful process with the history of Islam,
which was allied with political authority and spread by military force
from its inception. Constantine’s conversion was hailed as a great
deliverance by Eusebius and others, and in the short term they were
certainly correct; with him the intermitten waves of persecution finally
came to an end. But in him the Church found itself to be the partner of
the State, and that’s generally been a bad thing. I support
the separation of Church and State with my whole heart, not because of
the corrosive effect of a state religion on the state but because of the
corrosive effect of political power on my religion.

Anyway, the whole process began in those first thirty years, the thirty
years discussed by Acts. Taking the remarkably quick spread of
Christianity as his starting point, Green asks, “How did it happen? What
were these early Christians like? How did they live? What did they do,
to spread the Good News?” Rather than taking the book of Acts verse by
verse, chapter by chapter, Green takes in the whole book, scrutinizing
these early believers from many different angles, and drawing parallels
with our current practice–and largely, and fairly, to our detriment.

I found it a fascinating book, both as Church history and as a call to
action in the present day. It’s a rich source of ministry ideas and an
inspiration both. It is, however, aimed directly at a Christian
audience; if you’re looking for a general history of the early Christian
era or an introduction to the book of Acts, you’ll need to look elsewhere.