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and Theology
Biblical Theology Bulletin: A Journal of Bible
DOI: 10.1177/014610799902800406
1999; 28; 165 Biblical Theology Bulletin: A Journal of Bible and Theology
F. Scott Spencer
ACTS. Cambridge, UK: University Press, 1996. Pp. xx + 374. Cloth, n.p
Book Reviews: Ben Witherington, III, ed., HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND SOCIETY IN THE BOOK OF
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165
Book Reviews
Ben
Witherington, III, ed., HISTORY, LITER-
ATURE, AND SOCIETY IN THE BOOK OF
ACTS.
Cambridge,
UK:
University Press,
1996.
Pp.
xx
+
374. Cloth, n.p.
This collection of fourteen
essays by
leading
Lukan scholars
explores
various fac-
ets of the book of Acts in its formative
first-century setting.
While
broadly
reflect-
ing
the traditional historical interests of F. F.
Bruce and C.
J
Hemer-two well
known,
con-
servative British
interpreters
of
Acts, to
whose
memory
this volume is dedi-
cated-these studies also
exemplify
certain
newer, interdisciplinary approaches
elucidat-
ing
the ancient
literary
and social contexts of
Acts.
Part I contains five
essays dealing
with
fundamental
questions concerning genre
and
historiography
from different
compara-
tive
perspectives.
W.
J. McCoy,
a classicist,
offers a detailed introduction to the work of
the
pioneering
Greek
military historian,
Thucydides;
in a substantial addendum com-
paring Thucydides
and
Luke, particularly
in
their treatment of historical
speeches,
Ben
Witherington suggests
that
Thucydides pro-
vides a &dquo;close&dquo; model for the author of Acts
&dquo;who means to write
accurately
on a serious
subject
without
neglecting
certain concerns
for
style
and rhetorical convention&dquo;
(p. 26).
C. K. Barrett
presents
a critical
comparison
of the distinctive accounts of the
Jerusalem
conference in Acts 15 and Galatians 2
through
the
eyes
of two eminent nine-
teenth-century
historians of
early
Christian-
ity,
F. C. Baur and
J.
B.
Lightfoot. Although
often
pitted against
one
another,
each
scholar,
in Barretts estimation, still com-
mends himself to modern students of Acts
continuing
to wrestle with
(apparent)
dis-
crepancies
between Lukes narrative and
Pauls letters: where Baur
admirably pro-
motes unfettered critical
inquiry (philoso-
phy), Lightfoot
models
judicious sifting
of
available
linguistic
evidence
(philology).
Charles Talbert
recapitulates
his case
that Luke-Acts
represents
a
type
of Greco-
Roman
biographical
literature in the mold
of
Diogenes
Laertius LIVES.
focusing
on the
careers of a
founding philosopher-teacher
(Jesus
in Luke) and his
successor-disciples
who
perpetuate
his work and emulate his life
(apostels
in Acts). Analyzing
the
preface
to
Acts, Loveday
Alexander finds that it, like its
counterpart
in Luke 1:1-4, best
occupies
a lit-
erary
niche &dquo;where
historiography
intersects
with the
broader, non-rhetorical tradition of
philosophical
and technical
prose&dquo; (or &dquo;scien-
tific literature,&dquo; p. 101). Jacob Jervell
stresses
more the
uniqueness
of Lukes work in
Greco-Roman
antiquity, viewing
it as a de-
liberate extension of &dquo;salvation
history,&dquo;
a
scriptural commentary demonstrating
the
fulfillment of Gods
holy purpose (boure) for
Israel in the mission of
Jesus
and his follow-
ers.
Part II features five studies
tackling spe-
cific &dquo;historical and
theological
difficulties in
Acts.&dquo;
Craig
Hill
challenges
the dominant
paradigm (since F. C. Baur) dividing early
Jewish Christianity,
as
presented
in Acts
6-8,
into two clear-cut factions of &dquo;conserva-
tive,&dquo; &dquo;legalistic&dquo; Hebraists, on the one hand,
and more &dquo;liberal,&dquo; &dquo;universalist&dquo; Hellznists,
on the other. As Hill sees
it, the fluid and
complex
nature of
Jewish Christianity
defies
facile
parsing
into
tidy
cultural and
&dquo;ideologi-
cal
pigeonholes.&dquo;
Richard Bauckham contrib-
utes two
analyses
of
speech
material: the first,
exposing
the
sophisticated,
&dquo;skilled
exegesis&dquo;
of the
Jewish scriptures
in
James
address in
Acts
15:13-21-drawing
on both Hebrew
and Greek versions (further complicating
the
supposed
Hebrew-Hellenist dichot-
omy)-and
the
second, isolating
a
typical pat-
tern of
early
Christian
preaching (kerygma)
summarized in Acts
2:22-24, 32-33; 3:13;
10:36-42; 13:23-31, reflecting
a basic
yet
flexible form of oral tradition
underlying
the
kerygmatic
outlines in Pauls
writings (1 Cor
15:3-7) and certain
early second-century
works (Ascension of
Isaiah; letters of
Ignatius).
David Moessner discovers in the
speeches
of Acts an
overarching emphasis
on
the
crucifixion, exaltation, and
proclama-
tion
of Jesus
Messiah as the three
&dquo;necessary&dquo;
(dei) planks
of Gods ultimate
plan (boule)
for
redeeming
Israel and the
nations, a
plan
already pre-&dquo;scripted&dquo;
in the
scriptural
ac-
counts
surrounding Moses, David, and the
suffering
Servant of God in Isaiah (cf. Jervell,
above). Within this
plan,
Moessner
argues,
against
standard critical
opinion,
that the
death of
Jesus
carries
&dquo;atoning&dquo; significance
as the means for
effecting
&dquo;release of sins.&dquo; In
the most distinctive
methodological
contri-
bution in this
sections, Jerome Neyrey
effec-
tively
utilizes the
comprehensive
model of so-
cial stratification in
agrarian
societies devel-
oped by
Gerhard Lenski, along
with
anthropological grids
of honor-shame cul-
tures, to describe the social status of Paul
portrayed
in Acts. The
emerging picture
re-
veals a
thoroughly
&dquo;urban and urbane Paul,&dquo;
a
&dquo;forensically adept&dquo;
member of the &dquo;re-
tainer class&dquo; able to hold his own before
Jew-
ish and Roman elites.
Part III
presents
four studies of
peculiar
literary phenomena
in Acts.
Focusing
on the
numerous intertextual echoes between Acts
and both the
Gospel
of Luke and the Greek
First Testament (LXX), Joel
Green detects a
markedly
&dquo;overcoded&dquo; narrative (in the
terms of
literary
critic Umberto Eco) in
which readers are
expected
to
interpret
the
story
of the
early
church (Acts) as
fully
&dquo;in-
scribed&dquo; within the web of
preceding
stories
surrounding
the
person
of
Jesus (Luke) and
the
people
of Israel (LXX). Bill Arnold fur-
ther takes
up
the matter of Lukes
employ-
ment of the First
Testament, suggesting
the
the narrators
placement
of First Testament
citations and
phrases
on the
lips
of
key
speechmakers
in
Acts-Stephen, Peter,
and
Paul-serves to
identify
these characters and
their
viewpoints
with the
figures
of
Moses,

David-and even God-whom

they
are
quot-
ing.
Ben
Witherington
seeks to uncover
Lukes editorial tendencies
by comparing
his
handling
of Mark and
Q
in the Third
Gospel
and
multiple
versions of Pauls conversion in
Acts. He concludes that Luke shows
high
re-
spect
for his sources when
presenting speech
material and is most innovative when com-
posing summary
units and scene frames.
Ap-
propriately,
the final
chapter
concerns the fa-
miliar
problem
of Acts
&dquo;abrupt ending.&dquo;
Wm. F. Brosend contends that the
Gospel
of
Mark, with its own
open ending
in
16:8, pro-
vided the model for Acts conclusion. In
both
cases,
the sudden
story-break
was in-
tentional, encouraging
curious readers to
delve back into the narrative for further in-
sight.
This volume
provides
a
stimulating,
ac-
cessible introduction to
contemporary
schol-
arship
on Acts.
Many
of the
essays represent
by RONALD ROJAS on April 5, 2009 http://btb.sagepub.com Downloaded from
166
samples
or
synopses
of the authors
larger
works. Of course,
no
single
collection can
hope
to cover the full
range
of issues and
methods
explored
in the rich (mine-)field of
modern Lukan research. These studies are
particularly strong
in
probing
the
genre
and
speeches
of Acts
using
traditional histori-
cal-critical tools. The brief, but
tantalizing,
taste of newer
approaches employing
so-
cial-scientific
(Neyrey)
and
narratological
(Green, Arnold) interpretive
models should
spur
readers to
investigate
these two fruitful
methods of
analysis
more
fully. Regrettably
missing
from this volume is
any
attention to
recent liberationist, feminist,
deconstructionist, and other
ideologically
sensitive treatments of Luke-Acts
(except
for
a
passing
nod to &dquo;the
wryly post-everything&dquo;
biblical scholar, Stephen Moore, on the
very
last
page!).
F. Scott
Spencer
Wingate University
Wingate, NC 28174
Irene Nowell,
WOMEN IN THE OLD TESTA-
MENT. A
Liturgical
Press Book.
College-
ville,
MN:
L:iturgical Press, 1997.
Pp.
vi
+
208.
Paper, $7.95.
Barbara E.
Reid,
CHOOSING THE BETTER PART?
WOMEN IN THE GOSPEL OF LUKE. A Mi-
chael Glazier Book.
Collegeville,
MN:
Liturgical Press, 1997.
Pp.
xiv
+
245. Pa-
per, $17.95
Irene Nowell
hopes
that this introduc-
tion will
encourage
readers to search for more
biblical women and to find the
story
of faith
reflected in the stories of their own lives
(p.
1). The book reflects sound
scholarship
with
a
good pastoral
orientation.
There is rich
variety
in the stories of
women from Israels
beginnings through
the
wisdom literature and the
apocrypha.
The au-
thor follows the
style
of
presenting
a biblical
passage involving
a woman and
following
that
with an
explanation
of historical and
literary
elements that affect
interpretation
of the text.
With
regard
to Sarahs
story,
for
instance, the
speculation
of the rabbinic tradition about
what Sarah did
during
the
ninety years
of her
barrenness is a case in
point.
The wife-sister stories in the
surrogate
motherhood of
Hagar
are unraveled in the
context of their ancient culture.
Insight
is
gained by considering
the effect the Code of
Hammurabi had on the mindset of the re-
spective
characters
(p. 17). The later
Deuteronomic law code of the 7th
century
BCE also addressed the issues of
multiple wives,
their
offspring,
and inheritance.
Another
helpful aspect
of the work is
analysis
of
literary
form. The birth announce-
ment form and its
changes
in Genesis 17 and
18 with
regard
to Sarah
(p. 10) surfaces
again
in Genesis 16 for
Hagar (p. 15) and for Sam-
sons mother in
Judges
13
(p. 75). Also the
pattern
of the twelve hero stories found in
Judges (p. 64) facilitates reader understand-
ing.
This forms interaction with other forms,
especially
the birth announcement form
(p.
75), gives scholarly insight
into the nature of
the narrative.
After
discussing
women
figures
in Is-
raels
history,
Nowell moves to the wisdom
tradition with Gods Wisdom
personified
in
the
image
of a woman. The
portrayal
of
Lady
Wisdom is found in Proverbs, Sirach,
and the
Wisdom of Solomon. She states the The Book
of Wisdom clarifies what Proverbs and Sirach
have
suggested.
The Wisdom Woman is an
image
of God, and She is
Scriptures
most
powerful
confirmation of creations truth: &dquo;Man
is an
image
of God; woman is an
image
of
God.... The two
together
are the best
image
of God in all of creation&dquo;
(p. 151).
This book can be
interesting
and infor-
mative for
intelligent readers,
even
though
they may
not
possess
the tools of scientific
biblical
training.
Even more, it can be a valu-
able resource for classes or adult
study groups
who
pursue
its lessons with a
professional
teacher or
guide. Finally,
a short
bibliography
offers titles for further
reading.
Centering
on Lukes Second Testament
stories of
women,
Barbara Reids book is a
scholarly presentation
that
begins by explain-
ing methodological choices, various
types
of
text
criticism,
and the social
study method,
among scholarly disciplines
that collaborate
to reconstruct the historical and cultural as-
pects
of the first centuries before and after
Christ. Greek words are
given
to
specify Eng-
lish terms and thus focus
clearly
on the
investigation
of the
meaning
of texts. These
pedagogical
tools make the work of
exegesis
accessible to educated readers.
Through
a hermeneutics of
suspicion (p.
9), Reid offers an alternative view to that of
some scholars who advance the
popular
no-
tion that Luke
regards
women and men as
equals (p. 2). She finds the liberationist
ap-
proach
to be the most
helpful, however, for
dismantling
the
patriarchal
structure of bibli-
cal texts and
replacing
it with an alternate vi-
sion
(p. 8). In her view the
advantage
of that
method is that it addresses
patriarchy
as the
root cause of womens
oppression,
but without
rejecting
the biblical tradition. It also avoids
the dualism of some
approaches
that
pit
men
and women
against
one another
(p. 9).
After
discussing
the
ongoing
demands
of discipleship
and the
recognition
that in to-
days
church we
experience
the
equality
of
men and women in
many
areas
including
dis-
cipleship,
Barbara Reid asks the
question,
&dquo;What are we to do with Lukes stories that re-
inforce
gender
divisions?&dquo;
(p. 53). She be-
lieves it is
preferable
to
engage
in a
process
of
recontextualization and
reinterpretation
in
which Lukes
patriarchal
biases are un-
masked, recognized,
and
challenged
so that
preachers
and teachers will not continue to
reinforce
gender
role divisions.
&dquo;Choosing
the better
part
would be to read with new
eyes
against
Lukes intent&dquo;
(pp. 53-54).
The author notes Lukes
understanding
of salvation
history
in two
ages:
the first,
promise
and
prophecy;
and the second, the
new
age
of
saving history begun by Jesus.
Eliz-
abeth, Mary,
and Anna are cast in the mold of
prophetic
women of Israel.
They belong
to
the
age
of
promise.
Luke characterizes Chris-
tian women
by
a
quiet, private stance, and
public prophetic
ministries
belong
to the
men. Reid reads Lukes restrictive
portrayals
of women with a hermeneutics of
suspicion
so as to look for
ways
to release their liberat-
ing potential (p. 95). Lucan redaction is
only
one side of an
early
Christian debate; the
Johannine portrait
shows
vocal, publicly
min-
istering
women
(p. 160).
Even
though positive
directions can
emerge
from Lukan stories, they
can still be
used to
undergird patriarchally
constructed
systems
that
relegate
women to
passive sup-
by RONALD ROJAS on April 5, 2009 http://btb.sagepub.com Downloaded from