Into the Fray by Matt Mikalatos

I would describe Into the Fray as a commentary on the book of Acts. But it's a bit more than that, too. The pattern of the book is a retelling of stories from Acts followed by personal stories from Mikalatos that help open up the stories that many of us have read so often that they seem ordinary. Mikalatos does an excellent job of helping us remember that these stories are anything but ordinary.
The star of the book of Acts as revealed in this book is the Holy Spirit. The stories that are through out the journeys of the apostles, including Paul, point to the great work that the Holy Spirit was doing in the early church and is continuing to do today.
My favorite story was when the Doctor (Luke) meets Paul. The idea of Paul being a roughly beat up and healed man was not an image that I had entertained before. I read stories of Paul getting beat up and walking it off, but it didn't occur to me that Paul actually suffered from injuries that he would have recovered from time and time again.
Overall, Into the Fray is a refreshing journey through the book of Acts. Mikalatos does an excellent job of retelling the everlasting stories of scripture in a modern context. This is an excellent commentary that would be easy to use with a group in a class setting.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for the purpose of review.

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