The Message of Acts in the History of Redemption by Dennis E. Johnson

This was my favorite book that I read for class in the Fall semester this year (2012).  If you are teaching or preaching on Acts, stop reading and go buy it now.  It really is worth having, and at 250 pages, it won't take you too long to read.  If that wasn't convincing...

Dennis Johnson's The Message of Acts in the History of Redemption is a bit tough to pigeon hole.  It's not really a commentary, though it is quite valuable exegetically.  Nor is it an introduction, as it goes deeper into the text than such a book would.  I think it is best to view it as a theology of Acts.  It looks at the major themes and traces those through the book by means of detailed and learned exegesis.  In short, it is an excellent work.  It is relatively short, and not an ounce of ink was wasted in its production.  Every page contains insightful and valuable observations.  

It is in the pastor or seminary student's hand that this will be most beneficial.  There is a fair amount of discussion of the original language (though, annoyingly, without accents in Greek or pointing in Hebrew).  The (must read) end-notes are a cornucopia of historical, grammatical, and referential information.  Johnson uses the Septuagint extensively, placing Acts firmly in "the History of Redemption."  The amount and profundity of Luke's Old Testament references was something I gleaned from reading this book.   His applications and pastoral challenges are insightful and clearly derived from the text.  His hermeneutic is also instructive.  It is easy to over or under apply Acts, and the nature of the apostolic calling makes application to today tricky.  Johnson navigates these waters well, and is lucid as he discusses issues of interpretation and application.  Given the books length, he does not interact too extensively with scholarly opinion as a commentary would, but this serves the pastor well.  You need not wade through this text to find the meat, because all of the fat has been trimmed.

I am less inclined to recommend this book outright for the lay person.  Each chapter is framed with probing application questions and contextualization that will prove helpful in thinking through Acts, and Johnson's discussion of how Acts relates to the present day is one of the valuable contributions of this work.  However, the fine detail and work in the original languages makes this less likely to be a home run as an introductory work, even if much of this detail is buried in the end-notes   Each chapter is well organized, though, and will benefit all readers in some way.  If you know Acts well and are looking to dig deeper, this is a good book, but it is not a good introduction.  Let me put it this way, I would not use this as a book to read together in a Bible study on Acts, but I would not go without it as a reference if I were teaching such a Bible study.

There are a few drawbacks to this work.  While there is an extensive Scripture index, I do wish a subject index would have been included (but that is something every book of this sort needs).  The editorial decision regarding the original language font (see above) is truly regrettable, and will likely cause some to take this work less seriously than they should.  It feels to me as though the book was written to a seminary level, then edited to be accessible to a wider audience by placing much of the detail work in the end-notes.  The chapters also feel a bit disconnected from each other.  It reads like 13 essays on different aspects of Acts.  By the end, you gain a full understanding of Luke's second letter to Theophilus, but the major themes (or "bridges" as he refers to them) of promise leading to fulfillment, Jew and Gentile relations, and the Apostolic events and our day are mentioned in the in preface, but don't form the organizing structure of the book. Indeed, he begins with the last and these themes are often mixed together within the chapters themselves.  A clearer meta-structure would be appreciated.  Finally, the cover is hideous.

Those drawbacks, though, do not detract from the benefit one will gain in reading this book.  Acts is not just a history lesson of how the Gospel expanded after Jesus left town.  It is a theologically deep explanation of the place of the Church in "the History of Redemption."  At under $15, Johnson's book is well worth a purchase.

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."

The Story of Christianity (2 vols.) by Justo Gonzalez

The two volume Church History by Justo Gonzalez is a great introduction to Church History.  These thick volumes (each over 500 pages) serve as a very good orientation to the two thousand years that have transpired since the resurrection of Jesus.  After a short orientation to first century Palestine, Gonzalez moves on to the church in Jerusalem, and does not stop until the conclusion of volume two with a discussion of the church in the world today.


One of the things that the reader will come to appreciate about these books is the concerted effort on the part of the author to show not only the breadth, but the depth of the Christian story.  Gonzalez draws attention to the life of the average believer in the early church, the development of Christianity in  places outside of the empire in the early centuries of the church, and the contribution of more remote remnants of Christianity in places like Egypt and Ethiopia.  To be sure, much of the ink used in these volumes describes Western History, but that is because most of the History of the Church took place in that region or under its influence.  Throughout the book, though, wherever something is happening outside of Western Europe, or among minorities, Gonzalez calls attention to it.


Despite the length of these volumes, it still reads as a fairly high level overview.  It is rare that any one theologian gets more than a few pages.  Augustine, for instance, who is very significant, has a relatively long section of 12 pages.  One must remember that this is an overview and introduction.  It is not likely that the average reader would want or expect much more than this.  This book is here to orient you in the history of the Church.


Included in these volumes are maps and pictures which prove helpful.  For those whose interest is piqued, the end of most chapters contain sometimes lengthy bibliographies which guide you towards further investigation.  Also quite helpful are the time-lines at the beginning of each book and the beginning of each chapter.  These help you to quickly grasp where you are in human history should you decide to read a specific chapter out of order.


This is great two volume set, and well worth the time if you have any interest in Church History.  They are not perfect volumes (for instance, Gonzalez slightly misunderstands Luther's theology), but as an overview, they are great.  Both volumes read very well and integrate the Christian story into the larger political and historical narratives of the day.  The indexes and tables of contents are very useful if you want to brush up on a specific subject, like, say, German Pietism.  It is a useful and readable history, and as a bonus, it has a quite attractive cover that looks great on a bookshelf.  

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."

The Anonymous Pastor

Before I came to Covenant Seminary, I took a couple of Church History classes through the seminary's distance education program.  They were great classes taught by professor emeratis Dr. Calhoun.  These lectures are available on Covenant Seminary's World-wide Classroom, and I highly recommend them.

As we got to the end of Reformation and Modern Church history, we spent some time reflecting on the history we studied. Over the centuries, there were many famous and important pastors and theologians who helped to shape and protect our faith.  Men like Ignatius, Irenaeus, Origen, Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Augustine, Chrysostom, and Benedict (all from the first five centuries after Christ) are just some of the names of pastors that we know and respect down to this day.  But as Dr. Calhoun pointed out in his lecture, all these names, all of the many people mentioned in our text that we used, are just a tiny fraction of the men who served as pastors and elders in the church.  

For every famous pastor or theologian that we know about, there are thousands who remain anonymous.  The strength of the church is not found in the preaching of Chrysostom, Wycliffe, and Baxter, but in the untold number of men who have humbly worked each Sunday to bring God’s Word to their congregations. We must thank God for the Whitefields and Wesleys, but we must remember that it is a fully acceptable and wonderful calling to be an anonymous, faithful pastor.  To be one of the unnamed thousands who humbly preach each week. 

I know full well that I am not endowed with the gifts of these great men of the faith.  I am certain that I will not be well known in my day, let alone in history.  But if that were to be my goal, I could not be a faithful minister of the Word.  If it were my goal to be the next great world-famous pastor, I would not be able to preach the Gospel of grace.  My arrogance and ambition would get in the way.  The great men of Church History came by greatness quite by accident.  Some loathed the prominence that they found.  John Calvin, for instance, asked that he be buried in anonymous grave.  He was concerned that his fame would detract from the Gospel.  That he is remembered at all is likely quite a disappointment to him.

That is the sort of pastor that I want to be.  Anonymous, not famous.  Faithful to the Word.  One of the anonymous thousands who keep the Gospel flame burning bright for generations. 

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."