Editing Historicity of the Bible (section)

===Historicity of Acts===
{{main|Historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles}}
Archaeological inscriptions and other independent sources show that Acts contains some accurate details of 1st century society with regard to titles of officials, administrative divisions, town assemblies, and rules of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. However, the historicity of the depiction of [[Paul the Apostle]] in Acts is contested. Acts describes Paul differently from how Paul describes himself, both factually and theologically.<ref name=Brit>{{cite book |last1=Cain |first1=Seymour |display-authors=etal |title=Britannica.com Online |chapter-url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/64496/biblical-literature/73440/The-Acts-of-the-Apostles?anchor=ref598122 |access-date=15 November 2018 |language=en |chapter=Biblical literature}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=May 2024}} Acts differs from Paul's letters on important issues, such as the [[Paul of Tarsus and Judaism|Law]], Paul's own [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostleship]], and his relation to the [[Early centers of Christianity#Jerusalem|Jerusalem church]].<ref name=Brit/>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=May 2024}} Scholars generally prefer Paul's account over that in Acts.<ref name=Harris>{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Stephen|author-link=Stephen L Harris |title=Understanding the Bible: A Reader's Introduction |date=1985 |publisher=Mayfield Pub. Co |isbn=978-0874846966 |edition= 2nd}}</ref>{{rp|316}}<ref name=Hornik2017>{{cite book |last1=Hornik |first1=Heidi J. |last2=Parsons |first2=Mikeal C. |title=The Acts of the Apostles through the centuries |date=2017 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |isbn=9781118597873 |edition= 1st}}</ref>{{rp|10}}