Each essay offers brief historical and literary information on the second (or middle) reading assigned for the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle. Suggestions for cross-cultural comparisons with Western culture and links with the gospel for each Sunday encourage readers to explore pastoral applications to modern life.The second readings were intended to be an independent, semi-continuous reading of the Acts of the Apostles and the letters attributed to Paul and James, with selections from Peter and the book of Revelation. In The Cultural World of the Apostles, Pilch explains that, because the readings were shortened, their brevity has deprived readers of sufficient context to interpret the text-segment in a responsible way. To help people make sense of such high-context documents, Pilch provides a broader literary context for each reading.John J. Pilch, PhD, teaches Scripture at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. His book The Cultural Dictionary of the Bible won The Catholic Press Association Award for 2000. His other publications by The Liturgical Press include The Cultural Tools for Interpreting the Good News; The Cultural World of Jesus series; The Triduum and Easter Sunday: Breaking Open the Scriptures; Choosing a Bible Translation; Galatians and Romans in The Collegeville Bible Commentary; and articles in The Modern Catholic Encyclopedia, The Collegeville Pastoral Dictionary of Biblical Theology, and The Bible Today.

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