This collection of previously published essays reveals a personal journey. Two decades ago, I could not have anticipated the twenty-first century theological and methodological shifts in biblical studies. In these essays, I encourage readers to observe my evolution by way of adventures in Luke-Acts. In so doing, I invite readers to reimagine a story not simply about the past, but rich with possibilities
Martin W. Mittelstadt (Ph.D., Marquette Universiy) is Professor of New Testament at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri. On Luke-Acts, he previously published The Spirit and Suffering in Luke-Acts: Implications for a Pentecostal Pneumatology (T & T Clark, 2004) and Reading Luke-Acts in the Pentecostal Tradition (CPT Press, 2010). In addition to various professional articles and edited volumes, he co-edited Mennocostals: Pentecostal and Mennonite Stories of Convergence (Pickwick Press, 2020) with Brian K. Pipkin, and Canadian Pentecostal Reader: The First Generation of Pentecostal Voices in Canada (CPT Press, 2021) with Caleb Courtney. He is a past-president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies (2021).
This book is part Luke-Acts commentary and critique; part reception history; and part testimony. Or, as pentecostal scholars insist, all of the above at once. Walk with my friend Marty through the forest of his scholarship, which is in many ways his autobiography. Savor the honesty of his comments on the trail, which shine with a depth of appreciation and critique that only seasoned insiders can offer. Rest with him at the site where he witnesses to Lukeâs ongoing power âboth to crush and to save my faith,â and ponder whether that tension is yours as well. - Holly Beers Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Westmont College
Acknowledgements
List of Tables
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part 1 Journeying with Peers: Review Essays 1âAcademic and Pentecostal: An Appreciation of Roger Stronstad
1âTaking Ownership of a Pentecostal Heritage
2âA Classic in the Making: The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke
3âEnlarging the Reformation Vision
4âThe Life in the Spirit New Testament Commentary: A Challenge to Canonical Chronology
5âHermeneutical Debate
6âCelebrating the Life and Scholarship of Roger Stronstad
2âReimagining Luke-Acts: Amos Yong and the Biblical Foundation of Pentecostal Theology
1âNew Crossroad: Pentecost and Pentecostals after a Century
2âYong and the Context for Lukeâs Pneumatological Imagination
3âLuke, Pentecostals, and Yong: Conflicting Messages on Women
5âPerforming Inclusivity: Re-imagining Politics, (Dis)ability and (Im)migration
6âConclusion
3âCraig Keenerâs Acts: An Exegetical Encyclopedia in Four Volumes: An Almost Exhaustive and Exhausting Work
1âIntroduction to the Commentary
2âCommentary Proper
3âLuke and Acts vs. Luke-Acts
4âPublication Oddities and Challenges
5âProspective Readership
6âFinal Remarks: Utter Admiration
4âFor Profit or Delight?: Richard Pervoâs Contributions to Lukan Studies
1âThe Emergence of PervoâFoundations for a Career in Luke and Acts
2âThe Works at Hand
3âEvaluation
4âImplications for a Pentecostal Readership
Part 2 Themes in Luke-Acts 5âEat, Drink, and Be Merry: A Theology of Hospitality in Luke-Acts
1âHospitality in the Ancient World
2âThe New Testament and Hospitality
3âHospitality in Luke-Acts
4âPentecost: Enlarging the Vision
5âJesus on the Margins: Guest and Host
6âThe Church at the Margins: Jesus to the World
7âSacred Meals and Beyond
8âThe Banquet as the Taste of Heaven
9âNo Room for an F in Hospitality
6âSpirit and Suffering in Contemporary Pentecostalism: The Lukan Epic Continues
1âIntroduction: A Twentieth-Century Epic of Lukan Proportions
5âThe Epic Continues: Spirit and Suffering in Contemporary Pentecostalism
Part 3 Anabaptist Affinities 7âMy Life as a Mennocostal: A Personal and Theological Narrative
1âPersonal Narrative
2âTheological Narrative
3âPentecostal and Mennonite Convergence
4âOutlookâProphetic and Postmodernism
8âSpirit and Peace in Luke-Acts: Possibilities for Pentecostal/Anabaptist Dialogue
1âMethodology: A Literary Analysis
2âSpirit and PeaceâThematic Prominence in Luke-Acts
3âThe Way of Peace: Prophetic Anticipation (Luke 1:79; 2:14; 2:29)
4âJesus and the Way of PeaceâParadigmatic and Preparatory
5âFulfillment of the Gospel of Peace
6âContemporary Possibilities: Pentecostals and Anabaptists in Conversation
9âReading Luke-Acts as a Mennocostal: Pentecostals, Mennonites, and the Prophethood of All Believers
1âTwentieth Century Fisticuffs: More or Less History?
2âTurning the Corner: Thank God for Roger Stronstad and John Howard Yoder
3âLuke Timothy Johnson: A Catholic Guide to Mennocostal life
4âReading Luke-Acts as a Mennocostal
5âDisclaimer and Invitation
10âLukan Politics Then and Now: A Pentecostal Vision for The Common Good
1âFood Distribution in Acts 11:27â30 and 12:20â25
2âConcerning Incarcerations and Executions in Acts 12 and Beyond
3âPentecostal Politics, Lukan Ambiguity, and Prophetic Imagination
4âObservations from Springfield, Missouri
11âManifest Lament: Pentecostals, Lukan Hospitality, and Indigenous Decolonization
1âLiving Haunted Lives: Concerning Peace, Dust, Decolonization, and Hospitality
2ââUnsettlingâ Reflections of a Canadian Pentecostal
Part 4 Time for a U-Turn: The Rise of Reception History 12âReceiving Luke-Acts: The Rise of Reception History and a Call to Pentecostal Scholars
1âWhat is Reception History?
2âReceiving Luke-Acts in the Christian Tradition
3âReceiving Luke-Acts in the Pentecostal Tradition: Back to the Future
13âNothing to Sneeze At: Receiving Acts 19:11â12 in the Canadian Pentecostal Tradition
1âCanadian Pentecostals and Their Handkerchiefs
2âMaking Sense of Handkerchiefs
3âPentecostals, Handkerchiefs, and Modern Hermeneutics
14âOn Prodigals, Elder Brothers, and Fathers: The Reception of Luke 15:11â32 in the Pentecostal and Charismatic Traditions
1âThe Rise of Reception History
2âReceiving Luke 15 in the Pentecostal and Charismatic Traditions
3âConclusion: Preliminary Observations
15âA Century in the Making: Receiving the Samaritan Pentecost (Acts 8:4â25) in the Pentecostal and Charismatic Traditions
1âTongue-Tied Classical Pentecostals
2âSubsequence without Evidential Tongues
3âThe âFirstâ New Issue: Beliefs, Baptisms, and More Tongues
4âHands Extended by another Latter Rain
5âCharismatic Cousins
6âThe nar: Spiritual and Territorial Warfare
7âToward Hospitality
Bibliography
Index
Upper Division Undergraduate students, Graduate and Seminary students, Doctoral students. Pentecostal readings of Luke-Acts, Theology of Luke-Acts, Hermeneutics