Building on the form-critical assessment of the Lukan ascension story (LK 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-12) as a rapture story, and motivated by the consideration that the 'monotheistic principle' almost inevitably must have led to a reestimate of the meaning and function of rapture in comparison with heathen rapture stories (immortalisation and deification ), the present study seeks to investigate the Lukan ascension story in the light of the first-century Jewish rapture traditions (Enoch, Elijah, Moses, Baruch, Ezra, etc.). The author argues that first-century Judaism provides a more plausible horizon...

In this volume Arie Zwiep examines the character and purpose of the Judas-Matthias pericope in Acts 1:15-26 in the wider context of Jewish, Graeco-Roman and early Christian traditions on the death of the wicked in terms of divine retribution. Through a comprehensive analysis of form and function of the pericope in its historical and literary context, this study seeks to discern the distinctly Lukan perspective in the light of first-century reflection on the figure of Judas Iscariot, the role of the Twelve in the earliest Christian communities, and current eschatological expectations that have...