"The book of Acts
continues the narrative of the Gospel according to Luke by tracing the story of
the Christian movement from the resurrection of Jesus to the time when the
apostle Paul was in Rome, proclaiming the gospel 'with all boldness and without
hindrance.' Most of the first half of Acts is occupied with the Jerusalem
church, its leaders and relationships, while the latter half is dominated by
Paul and his three missionary journeys, climaxed by his arrest and voyage to
Rome. ... Like the four Gospels, Acts is an anonymous book. The tradition
attributing the third Gospel and Acts to Luke ... begins in the latter part of
the second century and remains constant thereafter. ... The date of the
composition of Acts is disputed ... perhaps in the 80s. ... Luke's purpose in
writing was to awaken faith by showing the triumphant progress of the Good News
and to defend Christians against the charge that they were destructive of
Jewish institutions and a troublesome element in the empire." [from "The Acts
of the Apostles," The New Oxford Annotated Bible on the CD-Rom
Biblical Reference Library (Oxford U. Press)]