The Prophethood of All Believers: A Study in Luke's Charismatic Theology (Journal of Pentecostal Theology Suppleme Series, 16)

For centuries Christians have had the concept of the priesthood of all believers firmly engrained in their minds. The prophethood of all believers, on the other hand, is, so Stronstad believes, the main focus of Spirit-baptism in Luke-Acts. A landmark study in Lukan pneumatology, this book is aimed at a mixed readership ranging from the scholar to the informed layperson. The role of the Spirit in Luke is clearly portrayed in terms of vocational empowerment. Traditionally, Lukan pneumatology has been viewed through Pauline or Johannine spectacles, but by interpreting Luke independently of the other Gospels and the epistles, Stronstad has cogently argued for the historical and contemporary relevance of Spirit-baptism. He challenges the reader to develop a new appreciation of Luke's theology of the Holy Spirit, and, in fact, to consider the role of the prophethood of all believers for today's world. "This study is not about 'the theology of St Luke'. It is much more narrowly focused. It examines the data in Luke-Acts about Jesus, the fountainhead of Christianity, and about his disciples and their converts and their individual and corporate experience of the Holy Spirit. Many important and relevant data, such as those, for example, about Jesus as the royal Messiah, Jesus' teaching about the kingdom of God, and his radical ministry to the marginalized, are discussed only as they intersect the data about Jesus as the eschatological anointed prophet, and the disciples as a community of Spirit-baptized prophets. To discuss Luke's data about Jesus as the royal Messiah and other Lukan themes more fully would shift the focus of this study and, indeed, make it a very different kind of book." -- From introduction