Criminalization in acts of the apostles : race, rhetoric, and the prosecution of an early Christian movement / Jeremy L. Williams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Williams, Jeremy L., 1989- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criminal justice, Administration of--Rome.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Prosecution--Rome.

Prosecution.

Bible. Acts.

Bible.

Christians--Rome.

Christians.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 230 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 2024.

Summary:

In this study, Jeremy L. Williams interrogates the Book of Acts in an effort to understand how early Christian texts provide glimpses of the legal processes by which Roman officials and militarized police criminalized, prosecuted, and incarcerated people in the first and second centuries CE. Williams investigates how individuals and groups have been, and still are, prosecuted for specious reasons - because of stories and myths written against them, perceptions of alterity that render them subhuman or nonhuman, the collision of officials, and financial incentives that foster injustices, among them. Through analysis of criminalization in Acts, he demonstrates how Critical Race Theory, Black studies, and feminist rhetorical scholarship enables a reconstruction of ancient understandings of crime, judicial institutions, militarized police, punishment, and socio-political processes that criminalize. Williams' study highlights how the criminalization of Jesus followers as depicted in Acts enables connections with contemporary movements. It also presents the ancient text as a critique against the shortcomings of some contemporary understandings of justice and human rights.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 13 Oct 2023).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781009366342 (ebook)

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.