Witnesses of the Resurrected Messiah
Luke’s Presentation of the Main Theological Theme of the Acts of the Apostles, with Particular Emphasis on the Narrative of Paul’s Missionary Activity
Abstract
The dominant classification of Acts as the history of the early Christian Church whose main aim is to present the spread of the nascent movement from a less important part of the Roman Empire (Judea) to the very heart of the Empire (Rome), seems to be supported by Ac 1, 8 which is often taken as a kind of very general a table of contents. However, the rather unexpected end of Acts (a short and laconic account regarding Paul’s period in Rome), and Luke’s approach to and use of his sources, allow us to assume that Luke was aiming rather at a great story involving some main hearos and many other participants than are involved in just one thematic story. Following this assumption, based on the content of Acts, it is possible to individuate two main heroes (Peter and Paul) whose fate is somehow connected with many other persons that are also involved in giving witness to Jesus the Resurrected Messiah. In this study we look at Acts as the story concerning the two the most important witnesses, Peter and Paul, in order to determine their contribution to establishing the structural and doctrinal foundation of the New Israel.
Keywords:
Witness; Resurrected Messiah; Peter; Paul; Gentiles; JewsReferences
Bruce, F. F., Paul. Apostle of the Heart Set Free (Grand Rapids – Cambridge: Paternoster Press 1977)
---, The Book of the Acts, (Grand Rapids: The Paternoster Press 1988)
Capes, D. B. – Reeves, R. – Richards, E. R., Rediscovering Paul. An Introduction to His World, Letters, and Theology (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press 2017)
Conzelmann, H., Acts of the Apostles (Philadelphia: Fortress 1987)
Donaldson, T. L., Paul and the Gentiles. Remapping the Apostle’s Convictional World (Minneapolis: Fortress 1997)
Fitzmyer, J. A., The Acts of the Apostles (New Heaven – London: Yale University Press 2010)
Holladay, C. R., Acts. A Commentary (NTL; Louisville – Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press 2016)
Johnson, L. T., Decision Making in the Church. A Bible Model (Philadelphia: Fortress 1983)
---, The Acts of the Apostles (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press 1992)
Keener, G. S., Acts. An Exegetical Commentary. Vol. 3 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic 2014)
Kim, S., The Origin of Paul’s Gospel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 1981)
Kurz, w. S., Acts of the Apostles (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic 2013)
Lindars, B., New Testament Apologetic (London: SCM Press 1961)
Murohy-O’Connor, J., Paul. A Critical Life (Oxford – New York: Oxford University Press 1996)
O’Neil, J. C., “The Connection Between Baptism and the Gift of the Spirit in Acts”, The Journal for the Study of the New Testament 63 (1996)
Padilla, O., The Speeches of Outsiders in Acts (SNTSMS; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2008)
Peterson, D. G., The Acts of the Apostles (Grand Rapids – Cambridge: Eerdmans 2009)
Ramsay, W. M., St. Paul. The Traveller and Roman Citizen (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications15 2001)
Schnabel, E. J., Acts. Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan 2012)
Tabor, J. D., Paul and Jesus. How the Apostle Transformed Christianity (New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks 2012)
Walaskay, P. W., And So We Came to Rome. The Political Perspective of St Luke (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983)
Walton, S., Leadership and Lifestyle: The Portrait of Paul in the Miletus Speech and 1 Thessalonians (Cambridge: Cambridge University press 2000)
Witherington III, B., The Acts of the Apostles. A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids – Cambridge: Eerdmans 1998)
Wilson, S. G., The Gentiles and the Gentiles mission in Luke-Acts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1973)
Zehnle, R. F., Peter’s Pentecost Discourse: Tradition and Lukan Reinterpretation in Peter’s Speech of Ac 2 and 3 (SBLMS 15; New York: Abingdon Press 1971)
Nanzan University, Nagoya, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1225-4000
License
- Pursuant to the Act on Copyright and Related Rights of February 4, 1994, the Author of the publication grants to the Publisher of the journal „The Biblical Annals” e a non-exclusive and royalty-free license to use the Work submitted for publication, without time and territorial restrictions in the following fields of use:
a) record the Work and copy it by means of any technique (including printing and electronic recording) on all known data carriers (including IT, electronic and polygraphic), and in all IT systems (in particular those available online);
b) enter the Work into computer memory, disseminate the Work and its copies, as well as market the Work and its copies;
c) publicly perform, replay, display and screen the Work, as well as lend, rent and lease the Work and its copies;
d) make available, market and disseminate the Work and its copies via IT networks, and in particular via the Internet, including the promotion or advertising of the Work, the journal or the Publisher. - The Author shall further grant his/her consent for the Publisher to use and dispose of derivative works.
- The Publisher may sublicense the work.
- Third parties may use the articles and other materials containing the Works, or developed on the basis of the Works in line with the model Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (also referred to as CC BY 4.0).
