The Bible and Beyond Podcast Episode
Is the Book of Acts Historically Accurate?
Dr. Perry Kea
An interview with Dr. Perry Kea
Perry Kea, an expert scholar on the Book of Acts, explains why the objectives of the author of the book differ from simple historical documentation. The letters of Paul provide an excellent example of such differences and illustrate why the objective of the Book of Acts is inconsistent with historical facts. Stories in Acts were a means of using resources to address other questions, such as the source of authority for the new Christian movement.
Dr. Perry Kea is a long-time member of the Westar Institute – which pursues honest and rigorous inquiry on the origins and cultural implication of the Christian tradition. He was an active member of Westar’s Seminar on the Acts of the Apostles. Perry served as a Westar board member and then five years as the board chairperson. He stepped down as chair in 2019 and continues to serve as a volunteer staff member for Westar. He earned his PhD from the University of Virginia and then taught for 35 years at the University of Indianapolis.
Recommended reading related to this podcast: Acts and Christian Beginnings: The Acts Seminar Report.
Thank you so much for this podcast. I am one of the listeners who needed to know more about the statement of a previous interviewee that The Acts was not reliable history. From this podcast with Dr. Kea, I can see that much of this issue stems from the two facts of the author arranging his/her accounts to support a particular topic as well as what might be termed literary styles in those years. Though the author of Luke/Acts may have taken liberties, as in writing as fact of a letter from the church leadership for which there is no other supporting evidence, it seems that in general he/she was doing what we all do in preparing a lesson or Sunday School class, i.e. citing incidents and actions that support the topic we wish to emphasize. I really appreciated this podcast and Dr. Kea’s knowledge and background.