The Acts of the Apostles (Sacra Pagina Series, Vol 5)

Rating:
Summary: Luke-Acts Volume 2
Review: The Gospel of Luke and The Acts of the Apostles, jointly called Luke-Acts, have long been recognized as the single work in two volumes of an author with a distinctive understanding of the origins of Christianity. This commentary on Acts by Timothy Luke Johnson follows his commentary on the Gospel, published a year earlier in the same series, and must be read with it to fully appreciate his effort.

My review of Johnson's commentary on the Gospel (Sacra Pagina Volume 3) applies to both volumes. There is no need in repeat in detail here what you will find there. Briefly, Johnson has treated the two NT books as one literary unit and has used narrative analysis in his study in preference to historical investigation. He demonstrates that the overarching theme controlling both books is God's fidelity to his promises and his people, and that a prophetic structure dominates the narrative from beginning to end. Acts 1-7 is critical to his interpretation of the whole, both the Gospel story and its continuation in Acts. "The critical questions are posed and answered in these chapters. However lengthy, detailed, or fascinating the remainder of the Acts narrative may be, in dramatic terms it must be considered strictly denouement." (p. 14.)

The commentary format is the same as that of the Gospel. An additional feature of the notes is the inclusion of citations from the so-called "Western Text" of Acts, considered by Johnson to be (most likely) "an unusually sustained scribal redaction." At times it is useful in showing how Acts was understood at an early date.

Neither this summary nor the longer review of the Gospel commentary can possibly do justice to Johnson's attention to detail in the notes, his presentation of known Lukan themes, and his well thought-out interpretations. When the two commentaries are taken together, as they should be, they add up to more than the 4-star rating of each might suggest.