Memoirs of an Unfinished Tale: A Performance of Acts of the Apostles with Application Questions for Study and Discussion - Hardcover

by Mark F. Whitters (Author)

"What if Luke had to reteach the basic lessons of his history of the early church? How would he communicate his point while livening up the details for someone who either was not present for the actual event or had not paid sufficient attention the first time he wrote Acts of the Apostles? This is Luke's resume for a younger and still eager Theophilus. He reenacts stories and replays events almost as a performance before the audience's eyes. He knows that history is not a dry memorization of facts nor a chain of events, but a compendium of vital lessons that guide growth and change. History unfolds as episodes, cohering around an intelligible theme with drama and suspense. Not unlike a play, it requires imaginative performance to both entertain and provoke an audience to react. This is a fresh way of presenting the Bible, a method based on a rapidly growing movement in college and university classrooms called "reacting." It is in line with more traditional ways of understanding Scripture as performed in the context of liturgy. At the same time this book challenges individuals with creative poems and illustrations and a built-in system of application questions for daily readings."

Author Biography

Mark F. Whitters is a senior lecturer with a post in Jewish Studies in the Department of History & Philosophy at Eastern Michigan University. He is a member of an ecumenical brotherhood called Servants of the Word that has done urban outreach in the city of Detroit, where he has lived for the past seventeen years. He is author and editor of several books and more than twenty articles.