9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
awesome!, April 23, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke (Paperback)
This book is by far the best book which shows the distinct difference between classical pentecostal beliefs and the beliefs of more modern charismatic churches. In this book you get a clear picture of the spiritual gifts as God intended them to be used. With this book we have finally reached true scholarly height within the Pentecostal camp. This book boosts classical pentecostalism into the acedemic field. Roger has written an exciting yet purely biblical study of the differences between the holy spirit as Paul understands it compared to Lukes view. Both views are equally important, but also different in that Paul looks at the Holy Spirit as an indwelling prescene at our new birth while Luke looks at the Spirit's gifts to us. Overall this is an excellent book and a perfect book that shows true pentecost at its best.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Seminal Study of the Pneumatology of Luke-Acts, April 16, 2008
This review is from: The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke (Paperback)
This is an important but often misunderstood (and therefore underappreciated) text on Luke's pneumatology (theology of the Holy Spirit) as revealed in the two-volume historical narrative of Luke-Acts. The title of the book needs explanation. Stronstad states in Chapter 2 that he uses the term "charismatic" in a functional and dynamic sense to mean "God's gift of His Spirit to His servants, either individually or collectively, to anoint, empower, or inspire them for divine service." The focus is on Spirit-generated service, and the servants Stronstad has in mind include faithful Jews, Jesus as the Charismatic Christ, and Christians. By "theology" Stronstad is referring specifically to pneumatology, and he states that "Luke is found to have a charismatic rather than a soteriological theology of the Holy Spirit" (page 12). He makes this statement at the end of Chapter 1 which addresses methodology for interpreting the gift of the Spirit in Luke-Acts.
Stronstad states that a "consensus methodology" must be comprised, at a minimum, of three principles: 1) Luke-Acts is theologically homogeneous, 2) Luke is a theologian as well as a historian, and 3) Luke is an independent theologian in his own right. He expounds on each. If one accepts these principles and interprets Luke's pneumatology in light of them, one will clash with some other contemporary interpretations of it. "For example, contrary to some popular interpretations, Luke's characteristic phrase 'filled with the Holy Spirit': 1) is modeled after its use in the Old Testament (LXX), 2) has the same meaning in the Gospel as it has in the Acts, and 3) has a different meaning in Luke-Acts than it has in Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians" (page 12).
Some Pentecostal Christians consider this book to be an important contribution to contemporary Pentecostal theology in terms of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. However, this can easily be misunderstood. In classical Pentecostal (CP) theology, there are two distinct questions related to Spirit baptism: 1) how does it relate to salvation, and 2) what phenomenon is the evidence of it. The CP answers that Spirit baptism is distinct from, and subsequent to, salvation and that speaking in other tongues is the initial, physical evidence of it. Stronstad's book provides support for the former, but very little, if any, support for the latter. For example, he shows that Luke uses the phrase "filled with the Holy Spirit" nine times in Luke-Acts and the evidence isn't always speaking in other tongues. In the Gospel of Luke, the phenomenon for Elizabeth (1:41) and Zacharias (1:67) being filled with the Spirit is prophecy in their native tongue, not other tongues. Also, CP theology tends to speak of one Spirit baptism (with the evidence of other tongues) but many subsequent fillings (inclusive of other evidences). Stronstad doesn't make this distinction (and apparently neither does Luke-Acts). To be filled with the Spirit is to be baptized with the Spirit (compare Acts 2:4 with 1:5). They are synonymous. Also, he says that "being filled with the Spirit is not a once-for-all experience" (page 54). This is shown by the fact that the apostles Peter and Paul were filled with the Spirit more than once (Peter: Acts 2:4, 4:8, 4:31; Paul: Acts 9:17, 13:9). Those who interpret being "filled with the Holy Spirit" as a one-time event of salvation/conversion cannot appreciate Luke's distinctive understanding and application of the experience as potentially repetitive. Also, CPs who interpret Spirit baptism as a single event evidenced by speaking in other tongues may have trouble appreciating the idea that all Spirit fillings are "Spirit baptisms" and one's first Spirit baptism may be evidenced by phenomena other than speaking in foreign tongues (for example, prophetic speech in one's native tongue).
Regardless of what position one takes on interpreting Luke's pneumatology, especially his understanding of being "filled with the Holy Spirit," Stronstad's book is an important contribution to the topic. Even Reformed theologian Walter C. Kaiser in his chapter on the Reformed perspective of the baptism in the Holy Spirit in Perspectives on Spirit Baptism: Five Views (2004), edited by Chad Owen Brand, called it "seminal" while disagreeing with it. This book is highly recommended.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Strong defense of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, January 31, 2004
This review is from: The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke (Paperback)
This short book (85 pages) is a strong defense of the subsequent experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as seen in Luke-Acts, and as taught by Pentecostals. I find it interesting, that the author doesn't seem to believe (though he never flat out says so) that tongues is "the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit." Instead, he seems to believe that any prophetic type speech (prophecy, praise, tongues) accompanies the baptism of the Holy Spirit... though he never uses famous term, "THE initial physical evidence."
This book is a must have.
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