This book analyzes Stephen's perfection, both in terms of rhetorical fittingness, and Christian tradition concerning the significance of his dying forgiveness prayer. It questions the event's historicity, underscores Acts' rhetorical violence, and reads Acts against narratives of the martyrdom of James as a means to a richer history of early Jewish-Christian relations.

"The big circle of her argument takes up the problems of normatively seeing ourselves as innocent victims, of sanctifying violence, and, specifically, of narrating violent deeds of others as justification for violence. Any who are not uncomfortable about one or more of these issues are not listening. . . . Perfect Martyr is a scholarly book that also faces pressing contemporary issues."--Review of Biblical Literature (reviewed by Richard Pervo, author ACTS: A Commentary) "Seldom have I learned so much from a book and simultaneously dissented so much. The book is a pearl of research, thoroughly and astutely annotated. Matthews makes the best case I have read for a second-century anti-Marcionite setting for Acts."--Review of Biblical Literature (reviewed by Robert Brawley of McCormick Theological Seminary) "Theoretically sophisticated and historically grounded, Shelly Matthews' Perfect Martyr is the most compelling study ever produced of Stephen, Christianity's first martyr. More than that, it exposes the ideological investments of the author "Luke" who establishes his Christian self-identity at the expense of the fictitious Other, the fabricated figure of the violent Jew." --Bart D. Ehrman, James A. Gray Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill "Building upon her earlier ground-breaking study of women in the Lukan narrative, here Shelly Matthews pushes the envelope even further. Through a detailed study of the texts and traditions related to Stephen, she shows how early Christian self-definition is predicated on the disfiguration of the other. One will not think about early Christian constructions of and interactions with Judaism in the same way after encountering such thoughtful and engaging analysis." --Todd Penner, author of In Praise of Christian Origins: Stephen and the Hellenists in Lukan Apologetic Historiography "Perfect Martyr is an innovative and utterly persuasive reading of the account of the death of Stephen in the New Testament. Matthews shows how the narrative insulation of Roman authorities from culpability produces Jewish guilt and Christian innocent victimhood simultaneously and asks trenchant questions about the theological reverberations of this troubling rhetorical move across time. A must read for scholars and non-specialists alike." --Elizabeth A. Castelli, author of Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making "Brilliantly challenging regnant scholarly assumptions concerning the historicity of the stoning of Stephen, Matthews shows how this narrative perfectly encapsulates the anti-Jewish rhetoric of Luke-Acts and traces its seminal role in the construction of Christians as distinct from Jews and of Jews as murderous and savage. Matthews's important contribution to the study of early Jewish-Christian relations thus also demonstrates a broader truth: the act of narrating the violence of others is a potent strategy for legitimating one's own use of violence." --Ra'anan S. Boustan, author of From Martyr to Mystic: Rabbinic Martyrology and the Making of Merkavah Mysticism "Perfect Martyr is a sophisticated academic study of great value to scholars and graduate students...."--CHOICE "[T]his is an elegant book that offers a fresh, thoughtful, theoretically and methodologically sophisticated reading of the depth of Stephen in Acts...It is compulsory reading for anyone interested in the rhetoric of Luke-Acts, Jewish-Christian relations, and early Christian martyrdom."--The Journal of Religion This book is wonderfully enhanced by Weimer's use of primary and secondary literature on the religious history of early New England and the historiography concerning the larger Western apocalyptic tradition. The number of pages Weimer devotes to discursive footnotes is quite astounding: the text itself is 149 pages, the annotation 57. Many of these notes contain highly instructive primary quotations related directly to arguments in the text."--New England Quarterly "Well-researched, well-written, and ambitious in its scope. The monograph will certainly demand an attentive hearing from scholars in Acts, but Matthews also effectively challenges a wide swath of students of the New Testament and early Christianity to reassess one of the most important yet problematic questions in our scholarship."--Biblical Interpretation "Matthews shows immense control over the secondary and ancient sources. It is also a rhetorically effective--and affective--volume."--Interpretation "Sophisticated and powerful...The book is a compelling turning point in discussions of Jewish-Christian relations in Acts. Anyone with interest in how one group constructs itself in opposition to another, both in scripture and in present contexts, should read it."--Religious Studies Review "A scholarly presentation, radically challenging the commonly accepted position of Stephen's narrative among scholars and laypeople...The presentation is appealing for both scholars and others without much knowledge of technical jargon."--Missiology

Selling point: Brings the story of the stoning of Stephen into conversation with recent important work on martyrdom and collective Christian consciousness. Selling point: Calls into question reigning orthodoxies about the usefulness of the historical-critical method in recovering historical kernels of truth from the Acts' narrative, exposes the circularity in widely held scholarly arguments that the stoning of Stephen reflects"indubitable historical reality," and argues for reframing historical narrative in terms of rhetoric and ethic. Selling point: Unmasks the violence imbedded in early Christian rhetorics of superlative mercy as contained in the Sermon on the Mount and the dying forgiveness prayers. Selling point: Through comparison with related traditions of the martyrdom of James, this book disrupts the singularity of the canonical version of "the parting" of Christians from Jews. Selling point: Calls into question reigning orthodoxies concerning Luke as a Gospel of Peace by noting this Gospel's usefulness in refuting the marcionite view that vengeance lies in the realm of the Old Testament God alone. Selling point: Refines the hypothesis that both the introduction to Luke and the canonical Acts were written to address the Marcionite heresy.

Selling point: Brings the story of the stoning of Stephen into conversation with recent important work on martyrdom and collective Christian consciousness. Selling point: Calls into question reigning orthodoxies about the usefulness of the historical-critical method in recovering historical kernels of truth from the Acts' narrative, exposes the circularity in widely held scholarly arguments that the stoning of Stephen reflects"indubitable historical reality," and argues for reframing historical narrative in terms of rhetoric and ethic. Selling point: Unmasks the violence imbedded in early Christian rhetorics of superlative mercy as contained in the Sermon on the Mount and the dying forgiveness prayers. Selling point: Through comparison with related traditions of the martyrdom of James, this book disrupts the singularity of the canonical version of "the parting" of Christians from Jews. Selling point: Calls into question reigning orthodoxies concerning Luke as a Gospel of Peace by noting this Gospel's usefulness in refuting the marcionite view that vengeance lies in the realm of the Old Testament God alone. Selling point: Refines the hypothesis that both the introduction to Luke and the canonical Acts were written to address the Marcionite heresy.