Douglas Campbell, professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School, has been awarded the Duke Endowment Fellowship from the National Humanities Center. The grant of $50,000 will support work on his book, Depicting Paul: The Book of Acts and History, during the 2016–17 academic year.

Campbell’s research examines the historicity of the book of Acts by comparing its depiction of Paul with evidence about the life of the apostle found in the letters attributed to him, which Campbell analyzed in his book Framing Paul: An Epistolary Biography, published by Eerdmans in 2014. Campbell's new work reveals how the author of the book of Acts presents historical information, especially the events ascribed to the life of Paul. “The author reorders various incidents historically in the interest of what we might call theological narrative,” says Campbell. “But beyond this, the author’s knowledge of Paul’s life and travels is astonishingly accurate, much more so than I expected.”

The National Humanities Center fellowship grants are made possible by their own endowment, grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and individual contributions from friends of the center. This year the National Humanities Center will award more than $1,300,000 in individual fellowship grants to support scholars in their research. Fellows are invited to conduct research at the National Humanities Center facilities, located in Research Triangle Park, N.C., which provide library resources, seminars, and opportunities to share ideas with other scholars.