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The Charismatic Theology Of St. Luke

Decent Essays

Roger Stronstad’s book The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke opens wide the vast work of the Holy Spirit within Luke’s two-part book Luke/Acts and points out Luke’s intent to present the full activity of the Holy Spirit from beginning to end. In fact, Stronstad writes, “[The] concentration of references to the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of Luke demonstrates that the topic of the Spirit is historically and theologically of more interest to Luke than it is to the other evangelists” (Stronstad 39-40). Furthermore, Stronstad pushes against the notion that Luke was simply a historian, but rather a theologian. He states, “Modern research has emphasized that he was a theologian…His view of theology led him to write history” (Stronstad 9). Luke’s theology of the Holy Spirit is overwhelmingly evident in the way Stronstad presents the continuation of Holy Spirit’s activity from the Old Testament to the New Testament, the Holy Spirit’s purpose in completing God’s mission and the means in which the Spirit is received. First of all, Stronstad walks back through the Old Testament to create a foundation of who the Holy Spirit is and what his purpose is. In doing so, he reveals Luke’s did not have a new understanding of the Holy Spirit in the time of Jesus; yet rather, Luke viewed the Holy Spirit as the same one who was working in the Old Testament. Also, Stronstad reveals Luke’s in-depth understanding of the Old Testament, including the Greek Bible—the Septuagint (Stronstad 8), gave him the

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