The trial of Stephen

Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to death by a mob outside of Jerusalem around A.D. 36, during his trial by the supreme rabbinic court for blasphemy against the Jewish faith. Alan Watson's study of this momentous event, which helped to set the course of early Christianity, focuses on Stephen's enthralling defense speech, which is both the pivotal and, until now, least understood part of the fatal proceedings. Watson discusses the meaning and structure of Stephen's speech, its historical plausibility and implications, and its place in the Acts of the Apostles, which is our so...