Keeping the Church in Its Place The Church as Narrative Character in Acts

by Thompson, Richard P.

• ISBN13: 9780567026453
• ISBN10: 0567026450
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-11-15
• Publisher: Bloomsbury T & T Clark

Summary

This work focuses on the church or group of Christian believers and its function as a character or character group within the narrative of Acts. Most scholarly considerations of the subject of the church within New Testament studies either address significant questions about the respective situations and contexts of groups of earliest Christians or examine textual materials regarding the church without due regard for the literary context of those materials. Within Lukan studies, such tendencies are obvious. However, few if any works deal specifically with the descriptions and function of the church as a character within the larger narrative context and plot of Acts. This study offers a fresh reading of Acts that keeps the church in its literary places within that narrative. What this study uncovers are descriptions of the church or Christian believers with repetitive emphases on certain characteristics that are presented in the initial scenes of the narrative: the blessing and presence of God, the unanimity of the believers, the communal caring for one another, and the proclamation of the gospel. Within the narrative, however, the portrayal of the Jewish people stands in sharp contrast, so that opposition to God and divisive behaviour are the typical Lukan descriptions of that group. The progression of the Acts narrative presents an evolving image of the church that eventually includes both Jewish and non-Jewish believers of the gospel, with growing opposition from the Jewish people and even from the Jewish believers in Jerusalem. This dynamic portrait of the church in the book of Acts contrasts three different views concerning what one might call "the people of God": the Jewish people as the historical people of God, Jewish believers as represented by the Jerusalem church, and the church including both Jewish and non-Jewish believers. Acts encourages its readers to define and identify the church or Christian community as the people who belong to God, rather than those whose identity as God's people was based on historical or religious categories and distinctions.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	vii
Introduction	1	(6)
Ancient Narratives, Characterization, and the Acts of the Apostles	7	(22)
Ancient Narrative Texts, Readers, and the Reading Process	9	(8)
Reading Characters in Ancient Narratives	17	(11)
Characterization and the Acts of the Apostles	28	(1)
The Jerusalem Church as Narrative Character (Acts 1:1--8:3)	29	(87)
The Earliest Believers after Jesus' Ascension (Acts 1:12--26)	30	(7)
The Gathered Believers and the Coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:1--13)	37	(5)
The Community of Believers and the Aftermath of the Pentecost Events (Acts 2:42--47)	42	(19)
The Praying Believers after Initial Persecution (Acts 4:23--31)	61	(8)
The Community of Believers after Persecution and Divine Affirmation (Acts 4:32--37)	69	(8)
The Church and the Incident with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1--11)	77	(7)
The Church after the Incident with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:12--16)	84	(5)
The Proclaiming Believers and Increasing Persecution (Acts 5:17--42)	89	(7)
The Earliest Believers and the Problem with the Windows (Acts 6:1--7)	96	(7)
The Scattered Believers after the Death of Stephen (Acts 8:1b--3)	103	(8)
The Characterization of the Church or Group of Believers in Jerusalem (Acts 1:1--8:3)	111	(5)
The Churches in Jerusalem and Beyond as Narrative Characters (Acts 8:4--12:25)	116	(45)
The Jewish Believers outside of Jerusalem (Acts 8:4)	117	(2)
The Early Believers in Damascus (Acts 9:19b--25)	119	(7)
The Jerusalem Church Meets the Believing Saul (Acts 9:26--30)	126	(4)
The Church in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria (Acts 9:31)	130	(3)
Peter, Cornelius, and the First Group of Gentile Believers (Acts 10:44--48)	133	(9)
The Jerusalem Church Questions Peter about His Actions (Acts 11:1--18)	142	(5)
The First Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:19--30)	147	(7)
Another Look at the Church in Jerusalem (Acts 12:1--19)	154	(3)
The Characterization of the Christian Churches or Groups of Believers in Jerusalem and Beyond (Acts 8:4--12:25)	157	(4)
The Churches in the Roman Empire as Narrative Characters (Acts 13:1--28:31)	161	(80)
The Church in Antioch Sends Barnabas and Saul (Acts 13:1--3)	162	(5)
The Christian Believers in Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:44--52)	167	(9)
The Christian Believers in Lystra and Other Cities (Acts 14:19--28)	176	(6)
The Controversy in Antioch and the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1--35)	182	(14)
The Churches in Antioch and Asia after the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:36--16:5)	196	(4)
The Believers in Thessalonica and Beroea (Acts 17:1--15)	200	(4)
The Church in Corinth (Acts 18:1--17)	204	(3)
Some Believers in Ephesus (Acts 18:24--28)	207	(3)
More Believers in Ephesus (Acts 19:1--41)	210	(7)
The Ephesian Church and Paul Say Farewell (Acts 20:17--38)	217	(7)
Groups of Believers as Paul Approaches Jerusalem (Acts 21:1--16)	224	(3)
The Jerusalem Church Meets with Paul (Acts 21:17--36)	227	(7)
The Roman Believers Meet Paul (Acts 28:11--31)	234	(2)
The Characterization of the Christian Churches or Groups of Believers in the Roman Empire (Acts 13:1--28:31)	236	(5)
Conclusion	241	(8)
Bibliography	249	(32)
Index of Ancient Sources	281