Exemplary life2012

"Exemplary Life articulates Luke's vision for life together in a local church using key passages from Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-35; and 5:12-16 (known as 'summary narratives') as the starting point of reference. Although Luke is rightly acclaimed as the church's first historian, he was a powerful writer and theologian as well. He also planted churches with Paul and had definite convictions about what life together in the church should look like. Yet, Luke's theology of church life is underemphasized in modern scholarship, downplayed by issues rising from the historical-critical method. However, when the summary narratives are studied through the lens of narrative and rhetorical criticism, Luke's strategy is unmistakable. Those passages cast a vision for life together in an exemplary church, drawn...