Questions for Reflection:
1. The story of Paul and Barnabas in the wilds of Lycaonia (Acts 14) graphically portrays a tension between the Gospel and the culture that it addresses. Are there elements of the contemporary scene, either locally, nationally, or globally, that present a similar tension between what Christians stand for and what the culture can perceive? Are there ways of bridging the gap between the two?
2. In several of the episodes of this part of Acts, significant tensions between believers in Christ and traditional Jews become prominent. What do you make of those tensions? Are there similar tensions in the contemporary relationship between Christians and Jews? Or are there analogous tensions between Christians and other religious traditions, such as Islam. What do we, as twenty-first century Christian believers make of such interfaith tensions?
3. Acts portrays Paul as influenced by important passages from the Hebrew scriptures. How important for us in the twenty-first century are the connections with those Biblical passages? How do we understand our relationship with the scriptures of ancient Israel?