The Charismatic Theology Of St Luke

What is the meaning of the Holy Spirit's activity in Luke-Acts, and what are its implications for today? Roger Stronstad offers a cogent and thought-provoking study of Luke as a charismatic theologian whose understanding of the Spirit was shaped wholly by his understanding of Jesus and the nature of the early church. Stronstad locates Luke's pneumatology in the historical background of Judaism and views Luke as an independent theologian who makes a unique contribution to the pneumatology of the New Testament. This work challenges traditional Protestants to reexamine the impact of Pentecost and explores the Spirit's role in equipping God's people for the unfinished task of mission. The second edition has been revised and updated throughout and includes a new foreword by Mark Allan Powell.

"The meaning of this book is that the walls must come down between Pentecostals and evangelicals. If canonical Luke has a charismatic theology as Stronstad proves, we cannot consider Pentecostalism to be a kind of aberration born of experiential excesses buta 20th century revival of New Testament theology and religion. It has not only restored joy and power to the church but a clearer reading of the Bible as well." --

In this first study of its kind, noted Pentecostal Lucan scholar Martin Mittelstadt has undertaken an extensive examination of Pentecostal scholarship with an eye toward assessing the influence of Luke-Acts upon it. Beginning with Azusa Street and continuing to the present Mittelstadt: 1) traces the emergence of Pentecostal scholarship in the academic marketplace with the various responses to the catalytic the work of James D.G. Dunn, 2) examines the influence of Luke-Acts on narrative theology, missiology, healing and exorcism, the role of women, spiritual formation, and Oneness theology, and 3) identifies Pentecostal contributions in the area social ethics, peace-making, suffering and persecution, ecumenism, globalization, and post-modernity. The work concludes with observations on possibilities for future engagement and an extensive bibliography.

For centuries Christians have had the concept of the priesthood of all believers firmly engrained in their minds. The prophethood of all believers, on the other hand, is, so Stronstad believes, the main focus of Spirit-baptism in Luke-Acts. A landmark study in Lukan pneumatology, this book is aimed at a mixed readership ranging from the scholar to the informed layperson. The role of the Spirit in Luke is clearly portrayed in terms of vocational empowerment. Traditionally, Lukan pneumatology has been viewed through Pauline or Johannine spectacles, but by interpreting Luke independently of the other Gospels and the epistles, Stronstad has cogently argued for the historical and contemporary relevance of Spirit-baptism. He challenges the reader to develop a new appreciation of Luke's theology of the Holy Spirit, and, in fact, to consider the role of the prophethood of all believers for today's world.

Lukan narrative takes its readers into God's story: how his salvation plan in Jesus began on the slopes of Judea and at the Sea of Galilee, ending on the hill of Calvary and the Mount of Olives, yet moving on and telling how the Spirit descended onto the Temple Mount empowering God's people, who then began to fulfill the given mandate in the presence of the Spirit. Yet, readers of Luke-Acts, throughout the centuries, have had a meandering journey as they have tried to understand the narrative's persuasion and Spirit-references. This book seeks to bring awareness to these challenges by some of the most respected Pentecostal biblical scholars and systematicians. Here their vigorous labor with the questions of hermeneutics and theology in relation to Lukan writings have come to fruition. These contributions have been collected as a Festschrift in honor and celebration of the career of Roger Stronstad, a Pentecostal biblical scholar whose contribution to Lukan studies have moved Pentecostal scholarship from shadows into daylight. The editor of this volume invites the readers of Lukan narrative to journey together on the road to Emmaus, as we continue to ponder the events in the past, the present, and the future.

A little over one hundred years ago the Holy Spirit breathed a fresh awakening into little communities in Topeka, Kansas (1901) and then on Azusa Street in California (1906). Over the past century this spiritual awakening has touched every country on the globe. By 2014 there were 631 million Pentecostals in the world, comprising a quarter of all Christians, and that number is forecast to grow to 800 million by 2025. This book offers a window into some of the unique features of this phenomenal movement through expert contributions from some of the world's preeminent Pentecostal theologians. It presents a Pentecostal perspective on important theological themes that pastors, theologians, and lay leaders are grappling with in the twenty-first century.