Book of Acts as Story

R. Bauer David

Description

A senior New Testament scholar and teacher helps students understand the historical, literary, and theological issues of the book of Acts and introduces key concepts in the field of narrative criticism. This volume captures the message of the book of Acts by taking seriously the book's essential character as a powerful story through which Luke communicates profound theological truth. While giving attention to historical background, its purpose is to lead readers through a close reading that yields fresh insights into passages throughout Acts.

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 15 juin 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493429028
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Cover
Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2021 by David R. Bauer
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www .ba keracademic .co m
Ebook edition created 2021
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-2902-8
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture translations are the author’s own.
Dedication

To the memory of my grandparents Roy and Grace Casto
Contents
Cover i
Half Title page ii
Title Page iii
Copyright Page iv
Dedication v
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1. Approaching Acts 5
2. Narrative Criticism and Acts 11
3. Literary Structure of Acts 49
4. The Promise and the Preparation: Acts 1:1–26 67
5. The Witness to Jerusalem: Acts 2:1–8:1a 81
6. The Witness to All Judea and Samaria as Far as Antioch: Acts 8:1b–12:25 131
7. The Witness to the End of the Earth: Acts 13:1–28:31 169
Bibliography 249
Author Index 265
Scripture and Ancient Sources Index 269
Back Cover 285
Acknowledgments
Among the many who deserve thanks I should like to express my gratitude to Asbury Theological Seminary for granting me a sabbatical in the spring of 2019 to do research for this book and to write the bulk of this volume. I also want to thank the excellent staff at Baker Academic, without whose direction, counsel, and encouragement this book would never have seen the light of day. Among them I should name particularly James Kinney, executive vice president of academic publishing; Bryan Dyer, acquisitions editor; and Jennifer Hale, who with patience and professionalism oversaw the final process of readying the manuscript for publication. I appreciate also the careful, painstaking labor that my son, Christopher, has invested in the development of the indexes.
The writing of this volume has given me opportunity to reflect upon the ways in which the love for the Scriptures was nurtured in me from earliest childhood by my family, and so I acknowledge my debt to them all by lovingly dedicating this book to the memory of my maternal grandparents, Roy and Grace Casto.
Abbreviations
Old Testament Gen. Genesis Exod. Exodus Lev. Leviticus Num. Numbers Deut. Deuteronomy Josh. Joshua Judg. Judges Ruth Ruth 1 Sam. 1 Samuel 2 Sam. 2 Samuel 1 Kings 1 Kings 2 Kings 2 Kings 1 Chron. 1 Chronicles 2 Chron. 2 Chronicles Ezra Ezra Neh. Nehemiah Esther Esther Job Job Ps(s). Psalm(s) Prov. Proverbs Eccles. Ecclesiastes Song Song of Songs Isa. Isaiah Jer. Jeremiah Lam. Lamentations Ezek. Ezekiel Dan. Daniel Hosea Hosea Joel Joel Amos Amos Obad. Obadiah Jon. Jonah Mic. Micah Nah. Nahum Hab. Habakkuk Zeph. Zephaniah Hag. Haggai Zech. Zechariah Mal. Malachi
New Testament Matt. Matthew Mark Mark Luke Luke John John Acts Acts Rom. Romans 1 Cor. 1 Corinthians 2 Cor. 2 Corinthians Gal. Galatians Eph. Ephesians Phil. Philippians Col. Colossians 1 Thess. 1 Thessalonians 2 Thess. 2 Thessalonians 1 Tim. 1 Timothy 2 Tim. 2 Timothy Titus Titus Philem. Philemon Heb. Hebrews James James 1 Pet. 1 Peter 2 Pet. 2 Peter 1 John 1 John 2 John 2 John 3 John 3 John Jude Jude Rev. Revelation
Bible Versions ET English translation LXX Septuagint MT Masoretic Text NASB New American Standard Bible NIV New International Version NRSV New Revised Standard Version RSV Revised Standard Version
Secondary Sources AB Anchor Bible AnBib Analecta Biblica BDAG Danker, Frederick W., Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature . 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000 Bib Biblica CurBR Currents in Biblical Research FF Foundations and Facets GBS Guides to Biblical Scholarship Int Interpretation JPTSup Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement Series JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament JSNTSup Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series LCL Loeb Classical Library LNTS Library of New Testament Studies NTD Das Neue Testament Deutsch NTS New Testament Studies SBL Studies in Biblical Literature SNTSMS Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament . Edited by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964–76 TLNT Theological Lexicon of the New Testament . C. Spicq. Translated and edited by James D. Ernest. 3 vols. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994 WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament
Introduction
The book of Acts plays a pivotal role in the New Testament. It stands at the center of the New Testament canon, following the Gospels and immediately preceding the Epistles. It thus forms the bridge between the Gospels and the Epistles (and Revelation). Like the Gospels, it is a “foundation document,” describing the beginnings of the Christian faith. But it also provides the framework according to which we are to understand the Epistles. It sets forth the apostolic history that serves as the basis and interpretive grid for the apostolic teaching embedded in the New Testament letters. This canonical ordering was clearly intentional, for it involved separating Acts from the Gospel of Luke, even though these two books were written by the same author and Acts was intended to be the second volume of the two-volume work. 1 It is thus the linchpin of the New Testament.
Moreover, along with Hebrews, the book of Acts is one of two New Testament books that explores what the exalted Christ is doing now, between the resurrection and the parousia. 2 (I will argue below that, in a sense, the exalted Christ is the primary actor in the narrative.) Whereas Hebrews addresses this theme through discourse and with its own theological emphases (especially the royal priesthood of Christ), the book of Acts offers a narrative interpretation of the present Lordship of Christ with an emphasis upon his sovereign participation in the historical events involving the Church in the world. Acts is the only New Testament book that offers a theological interpretation of the history and, more specifically, the mission of the Church, and it does so with constant attention to the role of the exalted Christ.
All of this means not only that the book of Acts is supremely important but also that it is unique among the writings of the New Testament. Only Luke 3 connects his account of Jesus with the story of Jesus’s earliest followers in the years immediately after the resurrection. Indeed, no comparable book exists among the entirety of early Christian writings. To be sure, subsequent centuries saw the emergence of books with “Acts” in their title (e.g., Acts of John, Acts of Peter, Acts of Paul, Acts of Thomas); these belong to the New Testament Apocrypha. But these are generally fanciful, romanticized, and often grotesque accounts that lack the degree of substantial theological intentionality that we find in the canonical Acts. They thus stand closer to what the ancients expected of novels than to the historiography that characterizes our canonical book of Acts. 4
In fact, the very distinctiveness of Acts raises questions regarding the character of the book that are difficult to answer. For example, does the book of Acts belong to a specific genre, and if so, how should we classify it? What exactly is the relationship between the book of Acts and the Gospel of Luke? Is a knowledge of Luke’s Gospel necessary for understanding Acts, or can we adequately understand the book of Acts by taking it as a self-contained, essentially separate work? What is the purpose of Acts? Indeed, does it have a single purpose, or is it more accurate to think of a multiplicity of purposes?
As we will see, scholars have offered a variety of answers to these questions. But there is one characteristic of Acts about which virtually everyone agrees: it is a narrative. It presents a consistent story from beginning to end. Yet, surprisingly, readers have often not taken full advantage of this observation as they approach the book of Acts. Some have treated it as simply a chronicle of events from which they can mine information in an attempt to construct the first chapter of the history of the Church. Others have dissected it in the hope of identifying sources that lie behind the book of Acts, earlier traditions that Luke had at his disposal.
But manifestly the narrative character of the book of Acts calls upon us to read it accordingly, to apply a method of interpretation that is appropriate to the nature of the book of Acts as story. Increasingly, therefore, scholars have brought insights from “literary criticism” or “narrative criticism” to bear in the interpretation of Acts. Yet, for the most part, these studies have been directed to certain themes or motifs in Acts, or Luke-Acts, or to smaller portions of the book. 5 Up to this point, little has been done to examine the book as a whole according to narrative criticism. 6 It is therefore the purpose of this volume to examine the book of Acts in its entirety according to the principles of narrative criticism, so as to lead to a fresh interpretation of Acts and insights into the meaning of some of the major themes and motifs of the book. More specifically, I have three aims in mind. First, I intend to demonstrate that Jesus is the dominant character in the book of Acts in the sense that the book presents a story in which God continues to realize his purposes in the world primarily through the repeated and constant actions of the exalted Christ, whose involvement in the events of the narrative render him ultimately responsible both for the witnessing activity of