Acts: (A Theological Bible Commentary from Leading Contemporary Theologians - BTC) (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) - Softcover

Jaroslav Pelikan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1587433540 ISBN 13: 9781587433542

Publisher: Brazos Press, 2013

Synopsis

In this volume, an internationally renowned historian of Christian doctrine offers a theological reading of Acts. Now in paper.

"[A] significant commentary. . . . Pelikan asks big questions: what is sin? what were the earliest creeds? what is the nature of apostleship? He is sensitive to nuances of Greek but not obsessed by them. As such, this book will be helpful to preachers and, to a lesser extent, general readers who are sometimes flummoxed by more specialized and technical biblical commentaries."
--Publishers Weekly

New series volumes will continue to release in cloth, but as older volumes reprint, they will release in paper.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Catholic Press Association Book Award Winner

"[Acts] has all the marks of Pelikan's scholarship: a close reading of the Greek text; a verse-by-verse commentary on that text studded with references to the great patristic commentators; and a constant eye on the theological and homiletical possibilities of the text itself, as well as its place in the liturgical life of the church both West and East."
--Lawrence S. Cunningham, America

"The commentary serves as a rich storehouse of information on historical theology, providing [Pelikan] with the opportunity to expound on the intersections of Acts with the major teachings of the church. . . . The book will be of great value to all who are interested in the reception history of Acts and in theological interpretation of biblical texts."
--Shelly Matthews, Catholic Biblical Quarterly

"A fascinating peregrination through the history of Christian thought. . . . Pelikan offer[s] a very selective verse-by-verse theological commentary on Acts that supplements the primary focus of the volume: a series of theological excurses covering a broad range of loci communes. If such is the theological journey one seeks, one would be hard pressed to find a better guide."
--John F. B. Miller, Review of Biblical Literature

"What Jaroslav Pelikan offers us . . . [is] a set of observations on what phrases and passages in Acts might remind us of in the later history of Christian doctrine. As a sampler of vintage Pelikan tidbits, it is a scintillating piece of work, a tour de force in the history of dogma, a kaleidoscope of brilliant reflections by a generous and faithful Christian scholar."
--Brian E. Daley, SJ, Pro Ecclesia

"Pelikan's volume robustly demonstrates what reading enlivened by tradition and dogma can look like. It is a timely invitation to the church and the academy."
--Angus Paddison, International Journal of Systematic Theology

"[Acts] is a tour de force of the history of doctrine, as Pelikan draws in his lifetime to remark upon a vast panoply of subjects."
--Steven J. Koskie, Journal of Theological Interpretation

From the Inside Flap

From the Series Preface

This series of biblical commentaries was born out of the conviction that dogma clarifies rather than obscures. The Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible advances upon the assumption that the Nicene tradition, in all its diversity and controversy, provides the proper basis for the interpretation of the Bible as Christian Scripture. God the Father Almighty, who sends his only begotten Son to die for us and for our salvation and who raises the crucified Son in the power of the Holy Spirit so that the baptized may be joined in one body--faith in this God with this vocation of love for the world is the lens through which to view the heterogeneity and particularity of the biblical texts.

The commentators in this series were chosen because of their knowledge of and expertise in using the Christian doctrinal tradition. They are qualified by virtue of the doctrinal formation of the mental habits, for it is the conceit of this series of biblical commentaries that theological training in the Nicene tradition prepares one for biblical interpretation, and thus it is to theologians and not biblical scholars that we have turned.

The Nicene tradition does not provide a set formula for the solution of exegetical problems. The great tradition of Christian doctrine was not transcribed, bound in folio, and issued in an official, critical edition. As Augustine observed, commenting on Jer. 31:33, "The creed is learned by listening; it is written, not on stone tablets nor on any material, but on the heart." This is why Irenaeus is able to appeal to the rule of faith more than a century before the first ecumenical council, and this is why we need not itemize the contents of the Nicene tradition in order to appeal to its potency and role in the work of interpretation.

R. R. Reno, General Editor

About this edition

• Publisher: Brazos Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1587433540
• ISBN 13: 9781587433542
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320