Ascent Into Heaven in Luke-Acts: New Explorations of Luke’s Narrative Hinge

Description

Luke's two-volume work contains the only narrative depictions of Jesus' ascent into heaven in the New Testament. The significance of the event at the end of the Gospel and the beginning of Acts have long been recognized. While select studies have focused on particular aspects of these accounts, however, the importance of the ascension to Luke-Acts calls for renewed attention to the narratological and theological significance of these accounts. Here, leading scholars discuss the ancient, literary and theological contexts of the ascent-into-heaven accounts for the next generation of interpreters. Contributors vii Abbreviations ix David K. Bryan and David W. Pao Introduction 1 1. Ascension Scholarship Past, Present, and Future Arie W. Zwiep 7 Part I. Lukan Ascension Narratives in their Ancient Contexts 2. Jesus’s Ascension through Old Testament Narrative Traditions Steve Walton 29 3. “For David Did Not Ascend into Heaven . . .” (Acts 2:34a) Reprogramming Royal Psalms to Proclaim the Enthroned-in-Heaven King Joshua W. Jipp 41 4. A Revised Cosmic Hierarchy Revealed Apocalyptic Literature and Jesus’s Ascent in Luke’s Gospel David K. Bryan 61 5. Benefactor and Paradigm Viewing Jesus’s Ascension in Luke-Acts through Greco-Roman Ascension Traditions James Buchanan Wallace 83 Part II. Lukan Ascension Narratives within Luke’s Literary Program 6. The Unity of Luke-Acts and the Ascension Narratives Stanley E. Porter 111 7. Jesus’s Ascension and the Lukan Account of the Restoration of Israel David W. Pao 137 8. The Ascension and Spatial Theory Matthew Sleeman 157 9. Lukan Cosmology and the Ascension Charles Anderson 175 10. The Ascension as a Cultic Experience in Acts Rick Strelan 213 Part III. A Theologian’s Postscript 11. What Is This Conversation You Are Holding? Douglas Farrow 235 Selected Bibliography on the Ascension in Luke-Acts (1995–2015) 253 Ancient Sources Index 263