title: The Mystery of Acts: Unraveling Its Story
author:  Richard I. Pervo 
description: This is Pervo's amazing, clear, and unsullied conclusion to his long and magnificent scholarship on Acts. Pervo's conclusion is stunning because it is won by impeccable scholarship and thorough consideration of the traditional views of Luke as historian. It changes the picture of Christian beginnings, and should change the minds of New Testament scholars. --Burton Mack, Professor of Religion and Early Christianity, emeritus Claremont Graduate University<br /><br />Pervo writes with verve and has a commanding knowledge of the literature on Acts, and his assessment of the theological intent of Acts is informative. --The Bible Today<br /><br />Richard Pervo, who has dedicated most of his scholarly life to the study of Acts, is an international authority in this area. His new book is intended specifically to introduce the non-specialist to recent research in the field by focusing on the problems of attempting to derive history from the text; indeed, Pervo appreciates the author of Acts more as a creative catechist than as an historian. Ever the thorough expositor, Pervo takes the whole text of Acts into account and, adopting the guise of a detective searching for clues, presents his conclusions in such a lucid and enjoyable way that any intelligent reader will be both instructed and entertained. The specialist, too, will profit from the book, for it presents complicated data along with insightful observations in a simple and thus convincing way. Pervo s new volume is the best concise analysis of Acts that I know of, and that is to say nothing of its wry wit and stylistic polish. --Gerd Ludemann, Professor of New Testament at the University of Gottingen, Germany
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  # The Doctor's Dilemma
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### George Bernard Shaw
  
  
  This page copyright © 2002 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
  ACT I
  
  
  ACT II
  
  
  ACT III
  
  
  ACT IV
  
  
  ACT V
  
  
  
  
  
  
      
  
  
  This etext was produced by Eve Sobol, South Bend, Indiana, USA
  
  
  
      
  
  
  TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: The edition from which this play was taken
  
  
  was printed with no contractions, thus "we've" is written as
  
  
  "weve", "hadn't" as "hadnt", etc. There is no trailing period
  
  
  after Mr, Dr, etc., and "show" is spelt "shew", "Shakespeare" is
  
  
  Shakespear.
  
  
  
  
  
  I am grateful to Hesba Stretton, the authoress of "Jessica's First
  
  
  Prayer," for permission to use the title of one of her stories for
  
  
  this play.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### ACT I
  
  
  
  
  
    
  On the 15th June 1903, in the early forenoon, a medical student,
  
  
  surname Redpenny, Christian name unknown and of no importance, sits
  
  
  at work in a doctor's consulting-room. He devils for the doctor by
  
  
  answering his letters, acting a