Acts (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) [Hardcover]

Jaroslav Pelikan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2006 | Series: Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible

Jaroslav Pelikan initiates this forty-volume commentary series with his work on Acts. This commentary, like each in the series, is designed to serve the church--through aid in preaching, teaching, study groups, and so forth--and demonstrate the continuing intellectual and practical viability of theological interpretation of the Bible.

Pastors and leaders of the classical church--such as Augustine, Calvin, Luther, and Wesley--interpreted the Bible theologically, believing Scripture as a whole witnessed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Modern interpreters of the Bible questioned this premise. But in recent decades, a critical mass of theologians and biblical scholars has begun to reassert the priority of a theological reading of Scripture.

The Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible series enlists leading theologians to read and interpret Scripture for the twenty-first century, just as the church fathers, the Reformers, and other orthodox Christians did for their times and places.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This significant commentary kicks off the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible series, which will eventually grow to a library of 40 volumes. Unlike other commentaries that are written mostly by biblical scholars, these books will be penned by theologians interested in what the Bible has to say about enduring theological questions; as series editor R.R. Reno puts it, the series "was born out of the conviction that dogma clarifies rather than obscures." Pelikan's contribution, for example, is less about the socioeconomic conditions that informed Paul's missionary journeys than it is about systematic theology, Christian doctrine and the formation of the early church. Pelikan asks big questions: what is sin? what were the earliest creeds? what is the nature of apostleship? He is sensitive to nuances of Greek but not obsessed by them. As such, this book will be helpful to preachers and, to a lesser extent, general readers who are sometimes flummoxed by more specialized and technical biblical commentaries. (Jan.)
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From the Inside Flap

From the Series Preface

This series of biblical commentaries was born out of the conviction that dogma clarifies rather than obscures. The Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible advances upon the assumption that the Nicene tradition, in all its diversity and controversy, provides the proper basis for the interpretation of the Bible as Christian Scripture. God the Father Almighty, who sends his only begotten Son to die for us and for our salvation and who raises the crucified Son in the power of the Holy Spirit so that the baptized may be joined in one body--faith in this God with this vocation of love for the world is the lens through which to view the heterogeneity and particularity of the biblical texts.

The commentators in this series were chosen because of their knowledge of and expertise in using the Christian doctrinal tradition. They are qualified by virtue of the doctrinal formation of the mental habits, for it is the conceit of this series of biblical commentaries that theological training in the Nicene tradition prepares one for biblical interpretation, and thus it is to theologians and not biblical scholars that we have turned.

The Nicene tradition does not provide a set formula for the solution of exegetical problems. The great tradition of Christian doctrine was not transcribed, bound in folio, and issued in an official, critical edition. As Augustine observed, commenting on Jer. 31:33, "The creed is learned by listening; it is written, not on stone tablets nor on any material, but on the heart." This is why Irenaeus is able to appeal to the rule of faith more than a century before the first ecumenical council, and this is why we need not itemize the contents of the Nicene tradition in order to appeal to its potency and role in the work of interpretation.

R. R. Reno, General Editor

Jaroslav Pelikan (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University. His universally acclaimed works include the five-volume The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine and Jesus through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture.

General Editor
R. R. Reno is associate professor of theology at Creighton University. He is the coauthor of Heroism and the Christian Life and has published essays in First Things and Pro Ecclesia.

Projected volumes in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible include:

John Behr (St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary) on Exodus

Telford Work (Westmont College) on Deuteronomy

Stephen Fowl (Loyola College, Maryland) and Samuel Wells (Duke University) on Ruth & Esther

Peter Leithart (New St. Andrews College) on 1 & 2 Kings

David Burrell (University of Notre Dame) on Job

Ellen Charry (Princeton Theological Seminary) and Anne Astell (Purdue University) on Psalms

Paul Griffiths (University of Illinois at Chicago) on Song of Songs

Kevin Vanhoozer (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) on Jeremiah

Robert Jenson (Center of Theological Inquiry) on Ezekiel

Stanley Hauerwas (Duke University) on Matthew

David Lyle Jeffrey (Baylor University) on Luke

Bernd Wannenwetsch (Oxford University) on 1 & 2 Corinthians

Kathryn Greene-McCreight (Yale University) on Galatians

John Webster (King's College, Aberdeen) on Ephesians

George Hunsinger (Princeton University) on Philippians

Christopher Seitz (University of St. Andrews) on Colossians

Douglas Farrow (McGill University) on 1 & 2 Thessalonians

David Hart (University of Virginia) on Hebrews

Timothy George (Beeson Divinity School, Samford University) on James

Geoffrey Wainwright (Duke University) on Revelation

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Brazos Press (January 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587430940
• ISBN-13: 978-1587430947
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #527,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Imagine that....a theologian reading the Bible!, February 9, 2006

By 

Robert Knetsch "Wanna-be theologian" (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Acts (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) (Hardcover)

I had the wonderful opportunity to get this book early as it was offered at the American Academy of Religion conference in November before it hit the shelves.

The concept of this whole series is fascinating and its intention, if carried through, should have a lasting impact on the relationship between biblical and theological studies. Too often there has been a traditional divide between the two fields and Brazos has decided to show how theology not only is "useful" for biblical interpretation - it is the very breath of theological talk.

In this first Volume on Acts, Pelikan has arranged his commentary so that he can pull out major theological "themes" - everything from Mary as Theotokos to the "Gospel of 40 days". With a rich analysis of the greek text and enlightening insights into the strong theological backbone if the book, Pelikan exemplifies the reality that theology is not about the Bible, but the other way around.

If you are looking for the typical textual and historical analysis, dry criticism and a search for redaction, please, go elsewhere. Pelikan, and I suspect the authors of the rest of the series, simply take the Bible to mean what it says. It is a reading "in faith".

What Pelikan has also been able to do is not only present to the reader a great scholarly work that is of interest to those who are in professional ministry, but also to make it accessible to people who may wish to use the book for personal use in biblical reflection. I would love to see this and the subsequent books to be used by bible study groups to really get a sense of the theological "meat" that can be found in all biblical text.

I look forward to reading more from this series.

Read and Enjoy!

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars theological and church historical commentary on Acts, January 17, 2007

By 

Daniel B. Clendenin (www.journeywithjesus.net) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Acts (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) (Hardcover)

Any new book by Jaroslav Pelikan is an automatic read for me. I cannot think of another writer whose erudition in the service of the church fires my mind and soul more than him. Magisterial, meticulous, encyclopedic, prolific, and prodigious, Pelikan is the Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University where he served on the faculty from 1962-96, the past president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2004 the recipient of the Library of Congress's annual John W. Kluge Prize in the Human Sciences (the $1 million award focuses on academic disciplines not covered by the Nobel prizes). Most in his guild would consider him the greatest historian of Christian thought in his generation.

Born in 1923, and showing no signs of scholarly fatigue, Pelikan converted from his Lutheran heritage to Eastern Orthodoxy a few years ago (he dedicates this volume "To my liturgical family at Saint Vladimir's"), and so this book, like many of his recent publications, exemplifies his hearty and unapologetic embrace of Christian orthodoxy. Noting that even the most extravagant claims made about the Bible enjoy their moment in the sun, Pelikan admits that this commentary "is based upon what may turn out to be the most radical presupposition of all: that the church really did get it right in its liturgies, creeds, and councils--yes, and even in its dogmas."

Pelikan's volume is the first in this Brazos series that will publish distinctly theological commentaries, as opposed to traditional exegetical commentaries written by Old and New Testament technical specialists. Stanley Hauerwas of Duke, for example, is writing the volume on the Gospel of Matthew. Pelikan's method, then, is refreshingly different than most commentaries. For each of the twenty-eight chapters in the book of Acts he focuses on three distinct theological themes. Acts 15, for example, provides opportunity to discuss controversy and polemics, along with the emergence of creeds and councils, while for Acts 17 natural revelation takes center stage. The eighty-four themes traverse most all of Christian theology.

In Acts 1:4 the disciples were instructed "not to depart from Jerusalem" until so instructed, then in the final chapter we read "and so we came to Rome" (28:16). "Six monosyllables in English (though not in Greek)," writes Pelikan, "this sentence is the signal that the Way (11:26) was being transferred--or rather, already had been--to a world stage and was no longer hidden 'in a corner' (26:26). These words from the first chapter and from the last chapter are the bookends of the Acts of the Apostles" (p. 290). Whether treating matters of history, theology, rhetoric, philology, the Greek and Roman classics, textual variants, creeds, councils, art, music, and the early mothers and fathers of the church, Pelikan displays a deft and judicious touch, an eloquent writing style, a staggering command of the sources, and a sensitivity for "the predicament of the Christian historian" (Florovsky, p. 279) who must abide by the canons of his discipline while not suppressing his own vibrant faith commitment (Pelikan likens it to a young doctor doing brain surgery on his mother)--all of which inspire confidence in the Gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed by the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Theologian's Interpretation Of Acts, September 22, 2007

By 

Jacques Schoeman (SA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Acts (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) (Hardcover)

There has been a worldwide steady decline in traditional Protestant church membership, and an increase in churches with more recent origins. Research has proven that the common denominator for this has been an unprecedented return to the Book of Acts and the re-interpreted views on church growth, which was exponentially phenomenal in the first two centuries of the church's existence. Emblematic of this trend, C Peter Wagner includes extra-biblical spiritual gifts and offices in his The Book of Acts - martyrdom, exorcism, voluntary poverty, and modern missionaries as 'apostles' based on the Vulgate's Latin translation for apostles: 'missio'. To which Paul would certainly respond: 'Are all apostles?' 1 Cor 12:29

What makes Pelikan's commentary more of a pleasure to use is the 3-per-chapter anecdotes, stories, of the developing NT church. They are all listed in front of this edition. It makes a pleasurable read to discover alongside the Lord's apostles how the church expanded. The formulation of doctrine and tradition is well recorded here, and is standard Lutheran fare, with a good touch of Eastern orthodoxy. The 'catholic' church in its embryo stage is brilliantly analyzed by a theologian whose strength was early church history.

'It bears explaining, on the basis of the distinction between 'theology' and 'economy' (15:8,9), that this 'sending' of the Holy Spirit by Father and the Son was described as 'economic', that is, within the dispensation of human history, by contrast with the eternal 'proceeding' within the Godhead (John 15:26).' p 51

On Acts 2:31:
'The resurrection of Christ was the supreme manifestation of the divine dialectic that had been typologically foreshadowed in the recognition scene between the patriarch Joseph and his brothers: 'You took counsel against me for evil, but God took counsel on my behalf for good.' (Gen 50:20 LXX) - that declaration 'but God took counsel' is suggested also in the phrase of this chapter 'the definite plan and foreknowledge of God'. The crucifixion and resurrection supremely documented the fulfillment of prophecy. Peter's Pentecost message was a catena of the familiar passages from the prophets and the Psalms in which David 'foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ.' pp. 54 - 55

On Acts 6:2-4:
'The selection of these 7 deacons, with the allocation to them of certain duties that had previously fallen on the apostles themselves, has long been interpreted as the institution of the traditional threefold ministry of bishop, presbyter and deacon...' p 91

'The distinction between Scripture and the word of the gospel (Anglo-Saxon good spell) was that the word of God in the gospel was primarily oral, because it did not come by reading, but 'faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ' (Roman 10:17). The verb that went with 'the word of God' in the book of Acts was not 'write', but 'speak' or 'preach' or 'proclaim' or 'announce' or 'teach'.' pp. 112 - 113

A definite change occurred when Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, began to pen his epistles. Hopefully the Word will always remain the primary means of grace.

Pelikan's is an informative and factual presentation, with the added anecdotes definitely a worthwhile resource for students and pastors alike. It is not a verse-by-verse commentary.