Abstract
Dr David Bauer is a fine scholar of New Testament narrative. He is known for his work on Matthew (The Gospel of the Son of God; and The Structure of Matthew’s Gospel) and has co-authored a valuable book for students and preachers on sensitive reading of the Bible (Inductive Bible Study). In this book he turns to Acts, and provides a clear, lucid and helpful short-ish commentary preceded by thoughtful and clear methodological reflection.
This is not, however a commentary in the conventional sense, for it is driven by one approach—narrative criticism—and it does not seek to be comprehensive (although the coverage of Acts is thorough). The opening chapters discuss (ch. 1) the relationship of Acts to Luke (he takes the mainstream view, that Acts is Luke’s ‘volume 2’), the genre of Acts (concluding that it is a form of ancient historiography), and (ch. 2) his approach to Acts through narrative criticism. He sketches the development of narrative criticism in biblical studies, and then shows how he sees the plot of Acts as a conflict between Christ with his people and Christ’s opponents. This leads to outlining his approach to characters and characterisation, setting, and point of view. Against Conzelmann, Dr Bauer argues cogently for a twofold division of time, before and after the appearance of the Christ (pp. 31-32). A third chapter considers the literary structure of Acts, seeing 1:8 as the keynote, in common with many.
The bulk of the book is a section-by-section running commentary using the structure Dr Bauer identifies. He considers, in turn, The Promise and the Preparation (1:1-26); The Witness to Jerusalem (2:1–8:1a); The Witness to All Judea and Samaria as Far as Antioch (8:1b–12:25); and The Witness to the End of the Earth (13:1–28:31). Each of these sections contains wise, thoughtful exegesis, good interaction with well-chosen scholarly interlocutors in English and German (and, occasionally, French), and some very helpful diagrams and charts which provide visual summary of a key theme, section or idea. There are insights a-plenty here which will feed understanding and reflection on Acts, the vast majority of which I found immediately persuasive. In other cases, I have been made to think again about particular passages, and I am grateful for that. Dr Bauer’s approach focuses on the world which Acts portrays while drawing on our knowledge of the ancient world to inform his discussion—he is not using an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ version of narrative criticism, which bears no relation to the real world of antiquity.
I found this book engaging, readable and well organised. Dr Bauer says he writes for students, pastors and informed laypeople, and he succeeds mightily in doing that. This book immediately goes high up my bibliography for students of Acts. I recommend it most warmly.