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Spirit and kingdom in the writings of Luke and Paul

This study examines the differences between Luke and Paul’s understanding of the Spirit by examining the specific question of the relationship of the concept of the Spirit to the concept of the kingdom of God in each writer.  In Chapter 1, the research begins with a review of the significant contributions of recent scholarship about the relationship between the pneumatologies of Luke and Paul on the basis of three major positions presented by three key scholars, J.D.G. Dunn, M.M.B. Turner, and R.P. Menzies, who are the main dialogue partners in this study. Chapter 2 explores the role of the Spirit in intertestamental Jewish literature, noting that the Spirit of prophecy is here not strongly associated with life-giving wisdom.  This pattern is reflected in Luke-Acts (chapter 4) which demonstrates that Luke also does not generally understand the gift of the Spirit as the source of life-giving wisdom.  However, the pneumatological perspective found in Paul (chapter 3) is not fully mirrored in the Jewish literature.  Paul, rather, is an innovator in that he presents the Spirit as the life of the kingdom of God. Chapter 3 discusses the relationship between the Spirit in Paul and the kingdom of God in the Synoptics.  Paul’s concept of the Spirit supplants the concept of the kingdom by showing how life in the Spirit is virtually synonymous with life in the kingdom of God in the Synoptics. Chapter 4 elucidates that Luke’s dissociation of the Spirit from the kingdom blessings is a sharp contrast with Paul’s clear association between them. Chapter 5 explores the nature of the relationship between the Spirit and the kingdom in Luke-Acts.  Unlike Paul, who views the Spirit as the essence of the kingdom of God, the role of the Spirit is related in a specific or restricted way to the kingdom according to Luke.  Luke sees the Spirit as primarily the divine means by which the kingdom is proclaimed.  So, for Luke where the Spirit is at work, there the kingdom is being proclaimed.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:252071
Date January 2002
CreatorsCho, Youngmo
PublisherUniversity of Aberdeen
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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