Five Major apocryphal Acts survive from the early period of the Christian church, the so-called Acts of Andrew, of Paul, Peter, John, and Thomas. In the canonical New Testament, the apostle Andrew, brother of Peter is mentioned only a dozen times. In the Acts of Andrew, his post-resurrection mission and heroic martyrdom are closely detailed in a series of acts or episodes. This study edition of the Acts of Andrew present a fresh, new translation of the text with cross-references, notes, and commentary. An extensive introduction also sets out the challenge of recovering and reconstructing the original text.

The apostle Paul--antifeminist conformist, or social radical? Combining New Testament studies with folkloristic methods to search for the true identity of Paul, the author sheds new light on the apocryphal "Acts of Paul" and the Pastoral Epistles of the canonical New Testament.

With this book, the legends surrounding the apostle have been rescued from near oblivion and properly placed in the Pauline tradition. Formulated in the days of early Christianity and handed down through the centuries, they cast new light on Paul's views about the ordination of women, the forms of Christian community, and the meaning of the gospel for politics, society, and sexuality.

MacDonald argues that the apocryphal Acts of Andrew represent an attempt to transform Greco-Roman myth into Christian narrative categories by telling the story of Andrew in terms of Homeric epic, in particular The Odyssey.