Foreword by Wayne A. Meeks Abbreviations Introduction 1. The Genre of the Gospels: Nonliterary and Literary "Parallels" "Gospel" as a Literary Form Modern Scholarship and the Gospels Genre Criticism and the Gospels The Gospels as a "Nonliterary" Genre Ancient Biographical Literature Greco-Roman Biographical Literature Israelite-Jewish "Biographical" Literature 2. The Gospels as Ancient Biography and the Growth of Jesus Literature The Form of the Gospels The Content of the Gospels The Function of the Gospels The Gospels as Greco-Roman Biography Later Jesus Literature 3. Luke-Acts and Ancient Historiography The Problem of Genre Hellenistic Historiography The Form and Content of History Constituent Literary Forms The Function of History Israelite Historiography Hellenistic Jewish Historiography Camparing Ancient Historiographies 4. The Generic Features of Luke-Acts and the Growth of Apostle Literature The Form of Luke-Acts Constituent Oral Forms Constituent Literary Forms The Content of Luke-Acts The Function of Luke-Acts Luke-Acts as General History The Apocryphal Acts 5. Letters in the Ancient World Greco-Roman Letters Aramaic and Jewish Epistolography 6. Early Christian Letters and Homilies Formal Literary Analysis Form-Critical Analysis Epistolary Styles of Discourse Types of Early Christian Letters Occasional Letters and Homilies General Letters and Homilies 7. The Apocalypse of John and Ancient Revelatory Literature What is Apocalypticism? Types of Ancient Revelatory Literature Early Christian Apocalypticism The Apocalypse of John Christian Apocalypses in Transition Index of Selected Subjects Index of Selected Biblical Passages