Charles Hedrick on the Accounts of Paul's Conversion in Acts

The following article is now available on-line in PDF:

Charles W. Hedrick, “Paul’s conversion/call: a comparative analysis of the three reports in Acts,” Journal of Biblical Literature 100.3 (Sept. 1981): 415-432. Click here to read.

F.F. Bruce on St Paul in Macedonia

The following article in now available online in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "St. Paul in Macedonia," Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 61.2 (1979): 337-354.

My thanks to the Trustees of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester for their kind permission to reproduce this article.

Vox Evangelica Volume 27 now on-line

The following articles are now available on-line in PDF:

Derek J. Tidball, "Editorial Note: Vox Evangelica 1962-1997," Vox Evangelica 27 (1997): 6.

Stanley J. Grenz, "Christian Integrity in a Postmodern World (The Laing Lecture for 1997)," Vox Evangelica 27 (1997): 7-26.

Chrys C. Caraounis, "The Biblical Attitude to Homosexuality Against its Ancient Background," Vox Evangelica 27 (1997): 27-44.

Peter James Cousins, "Great Lives in Troubled Times: The Date and Settings of the Octavius by Minucius Felix," ," Vox Evangelica 27 (1997): 45-56.

Peter G. Riddell, "Islamic Variations on a Biblical Theme as Seen in the David and Bathsheba Saga" Vox Evangelica 27 (1997): 57-74.

Max Turner, "The Spirit in Luke-Acts: A Support or a Challenge to Classical Pentecostal Paradigms," Vox Evangelica 27 (1997): 75-101.

This bring the digitisation of this journal, begun in 2006, to a conclusion. My thanks once againt London School of Theology for their permission and especially to Dr Anthony Billington for his assistance.

I. Howard Marshall on the Jewish Dispersion in New Testament Times

The following article is now available in both iPaper and PDF:

I. Howard Marshall, "Dispersion in New Testament Times," Faith and Thought 100.3 (1972-3): 237-258.

This article provides some extremely valuable insights into a significant area of New Testament background and early Christian missions.

W. Ward Gasque on Sir William M. Ramsay

The following book is now available in PDF:

W. Ward Gasque, Sir William M. Ramsay: Archaeologist and New Testament Scholar. A Survey of His Contribution to the Study of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. pp.95.

The contribution of Sir William Ramsay to New Testament studies is often overlooked. Ward Gasque's study illustrates Ramsay's significance in the Nineteenth Century and the continuing impact of his research.

F.F. Bruce on Commentaries on Acts

The following article is now online in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "Commentaries on Acts," Epworth Review 8.3 (Sept. 1981): 82-87.

I was fortunate recently to have access to the full run of Epworth Review and Methodist Publishing House have given me permission to reproduce a number of articles. In this article F.F. Bruce provides a helpful review of commentaries written on Acts up to 1981.

Max Turner on Spiritual Gifts then and now

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

Max Turner, "Spiritual Gifts Then and Now," Vox Evangelica 15 (1985): 7-64.

This article makes up the large part of Volume 15 of Vox Evangelica provides some valuable insights to those (like myself) interested in the subject of spiritual gifts. This passage in particular caught my attention:

3.2.2.3 Tongues as an Aid to Private Devotion?

This, the usual explanation given by Pentecostals, Charismatics and, for that matter, by most New Testament scholars, has been vigorously denied by Edgar who insists: (1) that such a view contradicts the purpose stated in 1 Corinthians 14:22; Mark 16:15-17 and implicit in Acts 2:1-13. (2) A private gift would not be for the edification of the church and makes it unique. (3) Such a gift would be self-centred. (4) If the gift of tongues could edify it would surely be given to all. (5) If the purpose is private devotion directed to God why should there be a gift of interpret­ation? (6) Anyway Paul says that tongues do not edify the believer; his mind remains fallow. (7) It is clear that in 1 Corinthians 14:2 using a gift to speak ‘only to God’ is equivalent to ‘speaking into the air’ (14:9): it is, for Paul, a negative concept, not something to be exercised. (8) In 14:14-16 Paul discourages praying with the Spirit alone (which is not tongues anyway) and urges praying with the mind also.

These points need not delay us long. We take them seriatim: (1) There is no contradiction between tongues viewed as an aid in devotion and what is said in 1 Corinthians 14:22; Mark 16:15-17 and Acts 2:1-13 unless one arbitrarily asserts tongues may only have one function. Edgar does just this, but he is inconsistent here for he is forced to admit that Acts 10:46; 19:6 do not denote sign-gifts of evangelistic import. Edgar is wrong in giving exclusive place, or even primary place, to the function of tongues stated in the long ending of Mark and implied in Acts 2: in doing this he almost certainly misrepresents Paul. (2) As exercised in the church, with interpretation, the gift does edify. And if used privately to build up the individual this also (albeit indirectly) edifies the church. But the notion that no gift could possibly be given to benefit the receiver/user (rather than the church he serves) is quite arbitrary and fails to see that all the other gifts build up the endowed as well (though we admit not exclusively). (3) Why can the gift not be God-centred? (4) If tongues is merely one gift amongst many by which an endowed person might be built up then he who has not received the gift is not thereby necessarily impoverished. (5) On Edgar’s view it should be an anomaly that the gift of interpretation is required at all: but on the view presented above the speaker who has tongues and interpretation will not only edify the church more, but also edify himself more (note that Paul assumes that it is the tongues-speaker who should interpret usually, vv.5, 13). (6) Edgar’s antithesis is false; Paul allows that spiritual activity not cognitively recognized by the practitioner may edify (cf. Rom. 8:26). (7) To be sure, Paul bans the phenomenon (if uninterpreted) from the assembly; but he fully recognizes that it is genuinely a speaking to God (14:2, 28)―the problem for the assembly is that unless interpreted it is ‘only to God’. It is perfectly right of Edgar to say that Paul does not hereby positively advocate private devotional tongues; but what Paul says nevertheless entails that he considered it an appropriate use. Later, however, in 1 Corinthians 14:28 Paul commands that if glōssai are not interpreted the speaker should then be silent in church; he should speak rather ‘to himself and to God’. As it is improbable that Paul is counselling private use of tongues in church when another is ministering, this seems to be a positive injunction to private use. (8) Praying and singing with the Spirit are almost certainly tongues (or, at least, not forms understood to the speaker) else the contrast with prayer en nō(i) makes contextually less sense. This is confirmed by the contrast en glōssē(i)/en nō(i) lalein in verse 19. However much we agree with Edgar that Paul encourages prayer ‘with the mind also’, he clearly recognizes―as valid―prayer that is not with the mind, but is merely glōssē(i) (14:14).

We conclude that Paul saw a variety of functions to be fulfilled by tongues-speech, but probably saw its major role to be a private one.

W. Ward Gasque on The Historical Value of the Book of Acts - a British Perspective

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

W. Ward Gasque, "The Historical Value of the Book of Acts: The Perspective of British Scholarship," Theologische Zeitschrift 28 (1972), 177-196.

Following my publication of his Evangelical Quarterly article on this topic Professor Gasque asked me to place on-line this article as well, which I am pleased to do. It discusses the contributions of J.B. Lightfoot, Sir William Ramsay and F.F. Bruce to the study of Acts. The article appears with permission of the current editor of Theologische Zeitschrift.

Ward Gasque on the Historical Value of the Book of Acts

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

W. Ward Gasque, "The Historical Value of the Book of Acts," The Evangelical Quarterly 41 (1969): 68-88.

This article provides a detailed discussion of the academic debate over the historicity of Acts.

F.F. Bruce on St Luke's portrait of St Paul

The following article is now online in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "St Luke's portrait of St Paul," George Dion. Dragas, General editor., Aksum - Thyateira. A Festschrift for Archbishop Methodios of Thyateira and Great Britian. London: Thyateira House, 1985. pp.181-191.

I found this a particularly interesting study. I would guess that, given its somewhat obscure source, that very few people would have read it before. One of my favourite parts is Bruce's suggested answer to the question why Luke seems reluctant to mention Paul's collection for the poor of Jerusalem in Acts:

The reason, I suggest, was apologetic. When the time came for Paul’s accusers to formulate their charges against him at the hearing of his appeal before the imperial tribunal, the Jerusalem relief fund could well have been misrepresented as an inter­ference with the collection and delivery of the annual half-shekel tax to the temple authorities in Jerusalem. The organization and conveyance of this tax enjoyed the express protection of Roman law. But the half-shekel tax was exacted from Jews; Paul’s relief fund was contributed by Gentiles. Even so, it could have been argued that the Gentile contributors were po­tential proselytes to Judaism, whom Paul had enticed away from the synagogue into an association of his own, and that the relief fund represented an improper diversion of money which, but for Paul’s activity, would have gone ultimately to swell the temple re­venue. The accusation that Paul had violated the sanctity of the temple by bringing Gentiles within pro­hibited bounds (Acts 21:28; 24:6) could not be su­stained since no witnesses could be produced; but here was a more subtle attempt to convict Paul of infringing the temple privileges, and one which a skilled advocate could present in a persuasive way. In former times it was argued by more than one scholar that Luke’s narrative was written to provide Paul’s counsel for the defence with factual material to be used at his trial before Caesar; if this thesis can no longer be sustained in its earlier form, it may still be argued that a document prepared for this purpose served Luke as one of his sources for this part of his narrative. (Why could such a document not have been prepared by Luke himself?) The issue of the relief fund would in that case have been too delicate to be treated in detail; Luke, or the author of his source, judged that Paul’s reference to “alms and offerings” in his defence before Felix was as much as it was politic to say on this subject. If the “alms and offerings” are said to have been designed for Paul’s “nation”, this should not be dismissed as a suggestio falsi: Paul himself hints here and there in his letters that he envisaged the relief fund not only as a gift to the church of Jerusalem but also as a witness to the whole Jewish nation at the centre of its life.

F.F. Bruce on Paul in Rome (Part 1 of 5)

The following article is now available on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "St. Paul in Rome, Part 1," Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 46.2 (March 1964): 326-45.

This is part one in a series of five which will be appearing over the nexr few weeks. This is F.F. Bruce at his best, insightful and in full command of the relevant secondary sources, an excellent article. My thanks to the John Rylands Library for their kind permission.

F.F. Bruce on Paul and Jerusalem

The following article is now available on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "Paul and Jerusalem," Tyndale Bulletin 19 (1968): 3-25.

FFB reconstructs the relationship of the Apostle Paul with the church of Jerusalem as deduced from his epistles and the book of Acts.

F.F. Bruce on the Jerusalem Church of First Century AD

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "The Church of Jerusalem," Christian Brethren Research Fellowship Journal 4 (April 1964): 5-14.

This is a thought provoking account of the history of the Jerusalem church which provides an excellent introduction to more recent work, particularly Richard Bauckham's study:

Richard Bauckham, "The Relatives of Jesus," Themelios 21.2 (January 1996): 18-21.

F.F. Bruce on the Speeches in Acts - 30 Years On

Paternoster Publishing have kindly granted me permission to reproduce all of the articles from Robert Banks, ed., Reconciliation and Hope. New Testament Essays on Atonement and Eschatology Presented to L.L. Morris on his 60th Birthday. Carlisle: The Paternoster Press, 1974.

The first to be available is:

F. F. Bruce, "The Speeches In Acts: Thirty Years After," pp.53-68.

Vox Evangelica Volume 2 (1963) now on-line

Volume 2 of Vox Evangelica is now online in PDF:

Ralph P. Martin, "Aspects of Worship in the New Testament Church," Vox Evangelica 2 (1963): 6-32.

Donald Guthrie, "Recent Literature on the Acts of the Apostles," Vox Evangelica 2 (1963): 33-49.

The notes of Donald Guthrie's article are confused in the original version and should be carefully checked.

E.F. Kevan, "Legalism: An Essay on the Views of Emil Brunner," Vox Evangelica 2 (1963): 50-57.

H.D. McDonald, "What is Meant by Religious Esperience?" Vox Evangelica 2 (1963): 58-70.

J. Savage, "The Theology of the Christian Mission: A Review Article," Vox Evangelica 2 (1963): 71-80.