'Societies routinely use language and policies about criminalization to protect their powerful members and degrade others. Jeremy Williams has given us a groundbreaking study for understanding how Acts depicts Jesus's followers as a movement at odds with the elites and systems that held and guarded prerogatives in the Roman world. Through careful analysis of rhetoric used to criminalize people as deviants and corrective translations of key passages in Acts, this valuable book provides clarity to the theological and apologetic tendencies of the Bible's narrative about the early church. Williams's critical reflections on how Acts illuminates the rhetoric of criminality in American society and vice versa make this book even more of a 'must read' within academic and ecclesial circles.' Matthew L. Skinner, Asher O. and Carrie Nasby Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary 'As Acts scholarship has revisited critical inquiries about identity, politics, and imperial power while at the same time movements for justice have illuminated the dynamics of policing, Criminalization in the Acts of the Apostles lands at an ideal moment. Drawing upon sophisticated engagement with interlocking theories of racism, politics, and criminology alongside careful engagement with the text of and the scholarship around Acts, Jeremy Williams brings to light translational and interpretive possibilities that draw scholars to reimagine not just the narrative texture of Acts but the potent infrastructure underlying its storytelling about power, politics, and the divine. This book promises to help reshape our understanding of the literary world of Acts but also cause us to question anew the too often unstated and unexamined ideological stances of its interpreters.' Eric D. Barreto, Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of New Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary 'With research that is both relevant and sophisticated, Williams' reading of Acts is innovative. And his analysis is not only focused on ancient texts, but also he carefully shows the similarities between the rhetoric of ancient criminalization and the criminalization of Black people in the West - specifically in the United States. This book is a necessary read for New Testament scholars, and I think readers outside of the field of biblical studies would benefit from it as well because of Williams' attention to contemporary concerns.' Christy Cobb, Reading Religion ' a compelling analysis of criminalization and injustice in Acts.' Jin Young Kim, Revue Biblique 'Jeremy Williams offers an indispensable study of the book of Acts and the rhetoric of crime in the Roman Empire.' Jimmy Hoke, The Christian Century 'Williams is a pleasure to read in his clarity, insightfulness, and erudition. His ability to weave together a wealth of Roman, Jewish, early Christian, scholarly, and theoretical resources into a compelling, thought provoking, and politically relevant work is outstanding. It is exemplary in the way that it combines scriptural and historical studies with theory and contemporary issues. Readers will find here fresh and innovative approaches to Acts.' Erin Runions, The Bible and Critical Theory 'One of the joys of scholarship is the bracing feeling of encountering new and convincing treatments of familiar texts and ideas. Jeremy L. Williams's 'Criminalization in the Acts of the Apostles' offers that feeling in spades. Having taken the time to read these narratives as Williams reads them, it is difficult to return to understanding them any other way. a fierce and learned work: a reflection on the ways words authorize actions, the ways systems and stories enforce prejudices, and the ways scholars can contribute to the work of doing justice.' Eric C. Smith, Review of Biblical Literature
