The Conclusion of Luke–Acts: The Significance of Acts 28:16–31
Ebook
The conclusion of Luke-Acts is regarded as one of the most important chapters of Luke's two-volume work. Several significant Lukan themes are found in Acts 28, all of which make some contribution to the purpose and aim of the author in writing Luke-Acts: the Gentile mission, the triumph of God's Word, and the relationship of Christianity with Judaism and Rome. Acts 28 contains many historical problems that have been debated for centuries, including the "we" statements, the figure of Paul in Acts 28, and the abrupt-ending. Puskas compares the conclusion of Acts with other important chapters of Luke-Acts: the introduction of the Gospel, the conclusion of Acts, the "defense of Paul" chapters, as well as other passages. In this significant chapter of Acts 28 there are still fundamental problems of exegesis that need to be addressed: What is the literary function of Acts 28? What is Luke trying to tell his readers in the text?
"The ending of Acts has long perplexed students of the Lukan narrative. Why this abruptness? Why not a more satisfying sense of closure for Luke's literary project? In concert with recent studies that find in Acts a defense of Paul, Charles Puskas urges that, with Acts 28:16-31, Luke makes a strong literary-theological case supporting Paul as one who carries on the work of Jesus. What is more, in this well-documented study he presses for the importance of the witness of Acts for the life and mission of the church that continues beyond its pages."
-Joel B. Green, Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Fuller Theological Seminary
"The ending of Acts has puzzled its readers at least since Chrysostom, who observed that the conclusion of Acts 'leaves the hearer thirsty'! (Hom. Act. 15). When Charles Puskas first tackled the issues surrounding Acts 28 in his 1980 dissertation, literary studies of the New Testament were in their infancy; since then a number of significant interpreters have tackled the problems posed by the final chapter of Acts. In this thoroughly revised and updated monograph, Puskas takes into account all those studies subsequent to his first work and renews his own exploration of the literary patterns and theological themes which culminate in the final chapter of Acts. The results are rewarding, and one would be hard pressed to find a surer guide to the exegetical maze that is Acts 28. Puskas' proposals regarding the literary structure and theological themes of Acts 28 are judicious and, on the whole, compelling and convincing. Puskas is to be thanked for once again engaging one of the most important chapters, not only in Luke and Acts, but in the whole of the New Testament, and Wipf and Stock is to be commended for making this slim, handsome volume available to a wider audience."
- Mikeal C. Parsons is Kidd L. and Buna Hitchcock Macon Chair in Religion, Baylor University
Product Details
- Title : The Conclusion of Luke–Acts: The Significance of Acts 28:16–31
- Author: Puskas, Charles B.
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications
- Publication Date: 2009
- ISBN: 9781498274975
Charles Puskas has over twenty years experience in the publishing industry as an academic editor, trade sales representative, senior reference editor, and field sales manager with three major religious publishing companies: Augsburg Fortress, Abingdon, Eerdmans Publishing Company. Puskas earned his PhD in Biblical Languages and Literature from Saint Louis University, and has spent twelve years teaching biblical studies and theology at four private colleges and two public universities. He is the author of The General Letters, Hebrews and Revelation, The Letters of Paul: An Introduction (1993, 2013), An Introduction to the New Testament (with Michael Robbins; Cascade, 2011), and The Conclusion of Luke-Acts: The Significance of Acts 28:16-31 (Pickwick, 2009).