This collection provides a rich, multilayered analysis of a long-neglected branch of early Christian apocryphal literature that examines the relationship between tradition and redaction, uses of language, and the fluid border between literary criticism and motif analysis. The introduction takes the reader on the journey of editing, translating, and interpreting apocryphal and hagiographic narratives on the apostles and the first Christians. The volume concludes with the critical edition of two previously unpublished Greek texts: a version of the Martyrdom of Ananias and a memoir on John the Evangelist.

• Contents 
• Foreword
• Sullivan, Lawrence E.
• Preface
• Bovon, François
• Abbreviations
• Short Titles
• Editing the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
• Bovon, François
• Performance and Rewriting
• The “Prehistory” of the Acts of Peter
• Thomas, Christine M.
• The Acts of Mark: Tradition, Transmission, and Translation of the Arabic Version
• Callahan, Allen Dwight
• Byzantine Witnesses for the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
• Bovon, François
• Language
• The Greek Language of the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: A Study in Style
• Warren, David H.
• Philological Aspects of the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
• Zachariades-Holmberg, Evie
• Literary and Religious Studies
• Political Authority and Cultural Accommodation: Social Diversity in the Acts of Paul and the Acts of Peter
• Brock, Ann Graham
• Ritual Epicleses in the Greek Acts of Thomas
• Johnson, Caroline
• Articulate Animals: A Multivalent Motif in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
• Matthews, Christopher R.
• “She Became What the Words Signified”: The Greek Acts of Andrew's, Construction of the Reader-Disciple
• Nasrallah, Laura S.
• Physical and Spiritual Restoration: The Role of Healing Miracles in the Acts of Andrew
• Pao, David W.
• An Inquiry into the Relationship between Community and Text: The Apocryphal Acts of Philip 1 and the Encratites of Asia Minor
• Slater, Richard N.
• Appendices
• The Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Ananias (BHG 75y)
• Bovon, François
• Zachariades-Holmberg, Evie
• The Memorial of Saint John the Theologian (BHG 919fb)
• Taniguchi, Yuko
• Bovon, François
• Antonopoulos, Athanasios
• Bibliography
• Index of Biblical References
• Index of Early Christian Apocrypha
• Index of Ancient Texts and Authors
• General Index