Willie James Jennings - Acts: A Theological Commentary on the Bible

A treat for the mind, the heart, and the flesh. This moving meditation on Gods divine desire placed in us by the Spirit is a powerful theological commentary on how it is possible for us to break down our categories and barriers that separate us and journey, together, to the new, to our next. This is a book of hope and possibilities about a book of hope and possibilities... and this is good news.

Emilie M. Townes, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter
Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society,
Vanderbilt University Divinity School

Willie Jennings has long called us toward the truly Christian imagination needed for a post-Christendom and post-colonial (both contested notions and realities) world. Here he announces that such an imaginative revolution was long ago heralded by the divinely poured-out Spirit on the Day of Pentecost two thousand years ago that inspired cross-Mediterranean diasporic witness, a new form of Jew-Greek cosmopolitanism, and empire-resisting messianic citizenship. The book of Acts thus ignites faithful discipleship for a plurimorphic and polyglot people of God navigating the nationalisms, ethnocentrisms, and globalisms of the third millennium!

Amos Yong, Professor of Theology and Mission,
Fuller Theological Seminary, and author of
Who Is the Holy Spirit: A Walk with the Apostles

Jennings writes as poet, preacher, and prophet. He takes the reader on a theological tour of Acts, and like a good tour guide, he describes the familiar places thoughtfully. Like the best of tour guides, he also takes the reader to places of importance that are often unnoticed. We are familiar with Pauls beatings and imprisonment, but Jennings invites us to think theologically about prisons and beatings. We are familiar with the Jewish-Christian struggles in Acts, but Jennings guides us to think more deeply about the Jewish diaspora and the trauma that empire imposes. These visits to neglected places engender new understanding and perspective on the events recounted in Acts. This commentary preaches as faithfully as it teaches.

Daniel Aleshire, Executive Director,
The Association of Theological Schools

The latest addition to the Belief series is a remarkable commentary. Through his fresh, stimulating interpretation of the book of Acts, Jennings offers profound and deep theological-ethical engagement with Lukes second volume. This beautifully written commentary will inspire readers who seek to listen with care to what Acts has to say to the theological and ethical challenges of contemporary life. Page after page, readers of Jenningss work, like the Saul of Acts 9, may find vision-obscuring scales falling away from their eyes. This is an important voice for our time.

John T. Carroll, Harriet Robertson Fitts Memorial Professor
of New Testament, Union Presbyterian Seminary

This commentary on Acts is unlike any Ive read, for Willie Jennings is not afraid to read against the grain. His distinctive voice and prophetic reading is essential, especially in these days of social turmoil, days in which the church is seeking to make sense of its seeming loss of cultural power, days in which clarity about Scripture and its transformative power is needed more than ever.

Eric D. Barreto, Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of New
Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary

ACTS

BELIEF

A Theological Commentary
on the Bible

GENERAL EDITORS

Amy Plantinga Pauw
William C. Placher

ACTS

WILLIE JAMES JENNINGS

2017 Willie James Jennings

First edition

Published by Westminster John Knox Press

Louisville, Kentucky

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2610 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396. Or contact us online at www.wjkbooks.com.

Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
are copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission.

Book design by Drew Stevens

Cover design by Lisa Buckley

Cover illustration: David Chapman/Design Pics/Corbis

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Jennings, Willie James, 1961- author.

Title: Acts / Willie James Jennings.

Description: First edition. | Louisville, KY : Westminster John Knox Press,
2017. | Series: Belief: a theological commentary on the Bible | Includes
bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017005493 (print) | LCCN 2017007882 (ebook) | ISBN
9780664234003 (printed case : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781611648058 (ebk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Bible. Acts--Commentaries.

Classification: LCC BS2625.53 .J46 2017 (print) | LCC BS2625.53 (ebook) | DDC
226.6/07--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017005493

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.

Contents

Series Introduction by William C. Placher
and Amy Plantinga Pauw

William C. Placher worked with Amy Plantinga Pauw as a general editor for this series until his untimely death in November 2008. Bill brought great energy and vision to the series and was instrumental in defining and articulating its distinctive approach and in securing theologians to write for it. Bills own commentary for the series was the last thing he wrote, and Westminster John Knox Press dedicates the entire series to his memory with affection and gratitude.

William C. Placher, LaFollette Distinguished Professor in Humanities at Wabash College, spent thirty-four years as one of Wabash Colleges most popular teachers. A summa cum laude graduate of Wabash in 1970, he earned his masters degree in philosophy in 1974 and his PhD in 1975, both from Yale University. In 2002 the American Academy of Religion honored him with the Excellence in Teaching Award. Placher was also the author of thirteen books, including A History of Christian Theology, The Triune God, The Domestication of Transcendence, Jesus the Savior, Narratives of a Vulnerable God, and Unapologetic Theology