Britannica
Sources used in this answer
How does Acts of the Apostles describe the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
St. Luke
St. Luke, illuminated page from the Beatus Apocalypse, Mozarabic, 975; in the Gerona Cathedral, Spain.
The Acts of the Apostles describes the spread of Christianity as a continuous geographical movement from Jerusalem to Rome, serving as a central theme of the author's "theological geography."12
The narrative is structured into two primary phases:
- The Jerusalem Mission: The initial chapters (1–12) focus on the church in Jerusalem under the leadership of St. Peter. During this period, the gospel begins to extend beyond Jewish limits, notably when Peter is guided by the Holy Spirit to baptize the Roman centurion Cornelius, marking an early inclusion of Gentiles.13
- The Gentile Mission: Chapters 13–28 follow the missionary journeys of St. Paul. Following the Council of Jerusalem, Paul becomes the primary spokesman for the mission to the Gentile world. His travels form a circuit that eventually leads him to Rome.12
The book concludes with Paul in Rome, where he is depicted as witnessing openly and unhindered. This ending signifies that the gospel has successfully reached the center of the inhabited world, fulfilling the narrative arc from the church's birth at Pentecost to its establishment in the capital of the Empire.12