Acts (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible | BTC)

by Jaroslav Pelikan

Publisher:

Brazos

, 2005

Overview

Jaroslav Pelikan, one of the most well-respected scholars in the history of Christianity, brings you an insightful and well articulated commentary on Acts. This distinctly theological commentary focuses more on the themes and dogmas of Acts, rather than the text itself.

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Key Features

• Contains an in-depth introduction
• Offers theological analysis of Scripture
• Includes bibliographical references and indexes

Contents

Top Highlights

“The narrative of Acts, indeed the history of the early church in the following centuries, can be read as the process of making explicit what was implicit in this ‘gospel of the forty days,’ of giving ritual form and eventually written form to a tradition, attributed to none less than the risen Lord himself, that was oral in its origins and in its transmission.” (Page 40)

“Acts is a book of frenetic action amid a constantly shifting scene: conspiracy and intrigue and ambush, hostile confrontations and fierce conflicts sometimes to the death, rioting lynch mobs and personal violence (→28:31), ‘journeyings often’ (2 Cor. 11:26 AV) and incessant travel on an Odysseus-like scale all over the Mediterranean world (→27:24), complete with shipwreck and venomous serpents, ‘chains and imprisonment’ (Heb. 11:36), followed in at least two instances by a successful jailbreak, though only with the aid of celestial mechanics (5:17–20; 12:6–11; 16:26–28), famine and earthquake, crime and punishment (as well as a great deal of punishment, sometimes even capital punishment, without any real crime ever having been committed).” (Page 23)

“The central premise in this commentary series is that doctrine provides structure and cogency to scriptural interpretation. We trust in this premise with the hope that the Nicene tradition can guide us, however imperfectly, diversely, and haltingly, toward a reading of Scripture in which the right keys open the right doors.” (Page 16)

“he was bound with chains of iron, he daily set believers free from the chains” (Page 295)

Praise for the Print Edition

This remarkable project is especially lucky in its inaugural volume on Acts of the Apostles by the noted historian of dogma, Jaroslav Pelikan. If the rest of the commentators live up to the high standard set by Pelikan . . . the series could end up marking a turning point in the history of biblical hermeneutics.

—Edward T. Oakes, professor of systematic theology, University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary

[Acts] has all the marks of Pelikan’s scholarship: a close reading of the Greek text; a verse-by-verse commentary on that text studded with references to the great patristic commentators; and a constant eye on the theological and homiletical possibilities of the text itself, as well as its place in the liturgical life of the church both West and East.

—Lawrence S. Cunningham, John A. O'Brien Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame

Product Details

• Title: Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible: Acts
• Author: Jaroslav Pelikan
• Editor: R. R. Reno
• Publisher: Baker
• Publication Date: 2005
• Pages: 320

About Jaroslav Pelikan

Jaroslav Pelikan (1923–2006) (PhD, University of Chicago) was a historian of Christianity, theology, and medieval intellectualism. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago. Throughout his life he held numerous intellectual leadership positions. He was dean of Yale Graduate School from 1973 to 1978, president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, editor of the religious section of Encyclopedia Britannica, a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and founder of the Council of Scholars at the Library of Congress. He was Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University, where he served on the faculty from 1962 to 1996. Pelikan wrote over 30 books, including Mary Through the Centuries, Jesus Through the Centuries, Whose Bible Is It?, and The Vindication of Tradition.