This volume of Kleine Schriften reflects François Bovon's two major fields of research: Luke-Acts on the one hand, and early Christian Apocrypha on the other. He insists on the ethical and missionary practices of the early Christian communities. The apostle Paul's ethical concern is presented not as an opposition between good and evil, but as a crescendo from the good to the best. The authority of John, the author of the Book of Revelation, is described in a nonhierarchical way as the care of a brother for his brothers and sisters rather than of a father. Women ministry is attested in recently discovered portions of the Acts of Philip. This collection of essays shows also how doctrinal positions were reached in the middle of strong tensions. Such is the witness of the Fragment Oxyrhynchus 840 in favor of a spiritual purification. François Bovon is also attentive to the reception of the earliest Christian documents in the Late Antiquity period. As a whole he describes aspects of early Christianity in its variety but also in its unity.

Born 1938; 1967-93 Professor at the Divinity School at the University of Geneva; since 1993 Professor of New Testament and early Christian literature at Harvard Divinity School; in 2000 President of the International Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas; currently the Frothingham Professor of the History of Religion Emeritus at Harvard Divinity School.