Recherche – Detailansicht
Ausgabe: | Juni/2021 |
Spalte: | 558–560 |
Kategorie: | Neues Testament |
Autor/Hrsg.: | Green, Joel B. |
Titel/Untertitel: | Luke as Narrative Theologian. Texts and Topics. |
Verlag: | Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck Oktober 2020. XIV, 346 S. = Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 446. Lw. EUR 134,00. ISBN 9783161565502. |
Rezensent: | Alexey B. Somov |
Luke as Narrative Theologian is a collection of essays written over the course of several years by Joel B. Green, Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Fuller Theological Seminary, who is an eminent expert in Luke-Acts studies and the author of numerous publications on the topic. Most of the essays are published in their original form with some alterations and corrections, but some have been significantly revised. The volume is structured with more general issues regarding Luke-Acts in the first part of the book and more specific theological questions in two other parts. Thus, the book starts with introductory matters, proceeds to particular Lucan texts, and then discusses several key topics. It also includes exten-sive Scripture, author, and subject indices.
The Introductory section starts with the important issue of the narrative unity of Luke-Acts (chapter 1), confirming that the Lucan double work is intended to be read as a single narrative account about salvation coming to the world. Further, G. questions how the matter of history has to be rethought in theological interpretation and compares this with historical criticism. He states that every history-writing is incomplete. It means that the Gospels’ stories have to be read not as an accurate account of what actually hap-pened during Jesus’ ministry but as formative and theological narratives (chapter 2).
The section »Texts« starts with an examination of the social status of Mary in Luke 1:5–2:52 (chapter 3). In discussion with B. J. Malina and J. H. Neyrey’s honor and shame theory, G. demonstrates how important it was for Luke to reverse the social dimensions of the ancient Mediterranean world. In his analysis of Old Testament echoes in Luke 1–2 (chapter 4), G. shows that the Scriptures of Israel are used not as a list of fulfilled prophecies about the Messiah but as a source story about the Abrahamic covenant, which continues in Luke’s own introductory narrative.
In chapter 5, G. discusses Jesus and the daughter of Abraham in Luke 13:10–17 and points out the central role of healing in Lucan Jesus’ mission. It is a part of God’s redemptive plan in contrast to Jewish attempts to restrict access to God’s mercy for the needy. In his analysis of the story of Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1–10 (chapter 6), G. demonstrates how the idea of salvation for the lost is realized in the story of Jesus’ finding of this tax-collector and his restoration to God’s people.
The rending of the Temple veil in Luke 23:44–49 (chapter 7) is explored within the frame of Lucan temple theology. G. shows that Luke’s view of the temple is much more positive than Mark’s: it remains a place for prayer and teaching but no longer plays the role of the cultural and sociological center for the community of Jesus’ disciples.
Jesus’ ascension in Luke-Acts (chapter 8) is discussed within the frame of early Christian Ascension theology. Putting aside the question of its historical veracity, G. shows how the ascension works in Luke’s narrative representation of history.
G. turns to the intertextual reading of the story about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the speaking in other languages in Acts 2:1–13 (chapter 9). He demonstrates that Luke has reconsidered the unity of the world as Babel-, Jerusalem-, and Rome-centered in favor of the new unity of the community of Jesus’ disciples as shaped by Pentecost.
The historical accuracy of the episode of the neglected widows in the Jerusalem community in Acts 6:1–7 (chapter 10) is investigated in the context of narrative and theological interpretation. Accord-ing to G., this story is portrayed as a sort of indictment of the apostles, who could not practice the daily »service« and care for the needy but overcome this failure by establishing a fresh leadership from the minority within the Jerusalem community.
Luke’s representation of the geosocial success of the Gentile mission is analyzed in the context of Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 (chapter 11). Stephen’s reference to the golden calf testifies against Israel’s idolatry and challenges the status of the Temple. In accordance with this idea, in chapter 12 G. demonstrates that in Acts the world-defining center is moved from the Temple to the households as a place of baptism and proclamation of the gospel (10:1–11; 16:11–40).
In the last section of the book, G. treats several theological topics in Luke-Acts. He begins this section with a discussion of conver-sion (chapter 13), which he interestingly analyzes from the cogni-tive perspective of human embodiment experience. From there, G. moves on to Luke’s attitude towards wealth, possessions, the rich and the poor in the context of Jesus’ proclamation of the good news of God’s kingdom (chapter 14). Next, G. explores the relation be-tween Jesus’ death and the soteriology of Luke-Acts (chapter 15) and concludes that Luke’s model of the atonement is very different from that of Mark or Paul. Further, in chapter 16 G. turns to the topic of happiness in Luke 1–2, 6, and 15 as expressed in the language of joy, celebration, and blessing, and continues in chapter 17 with the significance of baptism in Luke-Acts, including the relevance of John’s and Jesus’ baptism in context of what G. calls Luke’s theol-ogy of baptism. Finally, he discusses salvation (chapter 18), prayer (chapter 19), and lastly, Jesus’ resurrection (chapter 20).
G.’s primary method is theological interpretation. This is de-fined as concerning the role of Scripture in the faith of individuals and the church (27). Such a method works together with the canon-ical approach, which investigates the scriptural texts in their final form and is positioned against historical criticism as reconstructing past events in order to narrate history. However, G.’s understanding of theological interpretation does include the study of the historical situation and social conventions within which the ancient texts were shaped and sometimes involves the exploration of traditional material, which helps to explain how historical events were processed in shaping the textual form of biblical texts. Such an approach allows the investigator to not neglect the results of tradition-, source-, form-, and redaction-criticism, when these are needed (25). G. also extensively uses narrative analysis and states that the theological coherence of Luke-Acts is directly connected with its narrative unity in spite of the existence of some theological tensions within Luke’s double-work. In addition to this, the elements of intertextual, discourse, cognitive metaphor, sociological, and anthropological analysis are used. G. is in constant dialogue with other scholars working in this area, such as P. J. Achtemeier, H. Conzelmann, M. Parsons, and R. Pervo. In general, G.’s complex approach is very productive and allows seeing major Lucan topics, e. g., conversion, baptism, and salvation as a more multifaceted picture not only for Biblical studies but also for the study of Christian origins and early Christianity.
It is easy, interesting, and even exciting to read this book, an excellent piece of scholarly work. It would have been even more productive, however, to have all these studies as a single integrated monograph, not merely a collection of essays from different times and journals. Apart from chapters 1 and 10, no significant revision of the material is offered and this puts the rest of the essays at risk of being out of dialogue with more recent studies. In addition, some important Lucan passages, such as Luke 16:19–31 or 20:27–40 are left at the margin of the study. The individual essays are not significantly different in their style or presentation, but topics are some times repeated (e. g., salvation, baptism, conversion) and conclu-sions are not equal in terms of their importance or promoting new ideas. The additional methods G. utilizes (e. g., Cognitive metaphor theory in chapters 6 and 13) could sometimes be used more extensively and in a bolder fashion. I recommend this book to students of Luke-Acts and to those who are interested in narrative and theological interpretation. It also may be helpful for pastors and all those who are interested in these topics.