Episode 8: Resurrection To Pentecost -The Location of the Acts 2 Account

Welcome to Network211’s JourneyTalks. We want to help you discover and grow in your journey with God. We will engage the Bible with you so that you can understand better what it teaches and also so that you can apply it to your daily life. 

We are continuing our series called, “Resurrection to Pentecost.” Today, we present Episode Eight: The Location of the Acts 2 Account. 

Your host is Dr. Mark Flattery. He serves as President of Network211. Mark is a career missionary who has served in ministry all of his adult life. He is the author of “Stand Firm: What to Do When Life Knocks You Down.” 

 Our guest today is Dr. Jeffrey P. García. He is an Assistant Professor of New Testament and Second Temple Literature at Nyack College, NYC. He holds a Ph.D. in Hebrew and Judaic Studies from New York University. His research interests include the Second Temple, early Rabbinic period, and the Gospels. Dr. García is particularly invested with the role of the Gospels and Acts as part of the corpus of ancient Greco-Roman Jewish texts. 

He is the author of Understanding the Gospels as Ancient Jewish Literature  (Jerusalem: Carta), and co-editor of The Gospels in First-Century Judaea (Brill, 2016). He is currently preparing a new volume, ”Creation, Composition, and Condition: On Being Human in Ancient Judaism.” Dr. García works as a teaching guide in Israel, Jordan, and Greece with the Center for Holy Lands Studies. You can learn more about him at www.csajco.org. 

Questions for Reflection  

1. Read Acts 2. 
2. Traditionally, Acts chapters 1 and 2 are read together. What are some linguistic reasons that the location of these events may not be the same?
3. What was the population of Jerusalem during the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)?
4. Why were the pilgrims in Jerusalem during this holiday and where would they have gathered?
5. What location had the infrastructure to hold a large number of people and also to offer the opportunity to baptize 3,000 people?
6. According to Dr. Garcia, what was the understanding of the word “house” in Acts 2:2 by the original readers?
7. What is the relationship between the location of the events of Acts 2 with the ministry of Jesus and then with the believers’ call given in Acts 1:8?

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