In this insightful and thorough study, intended for serious students of the New Testament, Delbert Wiens analyzes Stephen's Sermon in Acts 7 and points out not only that it is a basic outline of the gospel, the "good news" which the disciples were to proclaim, but that its literary structure is paralleled by the structures of Luke and Acts. Stephen argued that Israel's sacred history revealed the developmental stages of the Kingdom of God, which was completed with the event of the Christ. Luke and Acts present the life of Jesus and the Church in parallel stages. As Luke promised Theophilus (Luke 1:1-4), the significance of the deeds and words of Jesus are to be discovered in the structure of what Luke had written. Stephen's Sermon thus not only presents a summary of the message which permeates the Gospels, it also provides insight into the literary structure which elucidates that message. If you can handle college-level work, you'll gain valuable insights from this book.