Masters Degrees (Old and New Testament)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Old and New Testament) by Subject "Bible. Acts -- Criticism, interpretation, etc."

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    The role of the ascended Jesus in the Acts of the Apostles
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Park, Hansung; Nel, Marius Johannes; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study endeavours to rediscover the significance of the ascension narrative as a key for understanding the activity of Jesus as divine character within the whole Acts narrative by exploring ancient ascension accounts and the theme of divine involvement in Graeco-Roman historiography. This study offers a fresh approach. It illuminates the connection between ascension accounts and the use of divine involvement in ancient historiography, and demonstrates that the ascension of Jesus can be understood in the light of the connection. By extending the investigation to both Graeco-Roman and Jewish ascension accounts, Chapter 2 demonstrates that the ascension narrative reports the absence of the ascended character on earth and the presence of him as a god (Graeco-Roman) or like Elijah (Jewish) in heaven, including an expectation of activity of the ascended character from heaven. Chapter 3 then ascertains that the portrayal of divine character as the driving force of stories/history is a common feature in ancient historiographies, and that a significant number of Graeco-Roman historians insist on divine involvement in human affairs. The Acts of the Apostles shares this feature of Graeco-Roman historiography. Setting Acts in conversation with the previous chapters, focusing on the ascension narrative and the portrayal of the heavenly Jesus’ appearances, shows that the ascension narrative was understood as Jesus’ divine identity and his activity from heaven for people. It also highlights Luke’s theological view that the divine character, like Jesus, is the driving force of the story/history. All of this is affected in fundamental ways by Luke’s portrayal and testimonies of the ascended Jesus’ activity in the Acts narrative. As a result, this thesis clarifies that the ascension narrative in Acts does not merely report the absence of Jesus and his exaltation (Acts 2:33); it also enables the ascended Jesus’ active involvement in the Acts narrative as a whole. Jesus as the divine character thus continues to participate in God’s plan for the church/the disciples as described and testified in Acts. Although Jesus is taken up into heaven, Jesus’ characterisation makes him active and present rather than silent and absent in the Acts narrative.