Martha Grace Weatherill
Martha Grace Weatherill
Methods of Reading the Bible
A Critical Reading of the Story of Ananias and Sapphira
Using
Historical and Theological Approaches
Acts 5:1-11
The story of Ananias and Sapphira and indeed, the book of Acts are of great importance because it informs the reader on the history of the primitive church at Jerusalem. Fee and Stuart point out that the author, Luke, is a Gentile whose narrative could be seen as a source of Hellenistic historiography, which is a type of history writing that has its roots in Thucydides (ca 460-400BC)[footnoteRef:1]. Such history was not written just for the sake of keeping records of the past, but it was written to encourage, inform, moralise and offer an apologetic to …show more content…
This means that no change can occur at one point without changes occurring before and after other points, therefore all events stand in a continuous, correlative interconnection and must follow a single flow by which each and all other events hang together in relation to others[footnoteRef:4]. Therefore, in the Old Testament and Jewish law, the punishment of God by death was recognised and feared with examples such as the punishment that occurred to Achan and his family. [4: Ernst Troeltsch, Historiography, in Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Vol. 6. Edited by James Hastings. (New York: Charles Scribner?s Sons, 1922) …show more content…
There is a need to allow for flexibility and mutual generosity. We shouldn?t be looking for ?the right answer? but should rather arrive at answers by which we can live and, in the end, by which we can stand before God?s throne of judgment[footnoteRef:14]. [14: Adam, A. K. M. Reading the Bible in a Sea of Signs, Reflections [Yale Divinity School] (Spring 2008), p. 57]
Bibliography:?
Adam, A. K. M. Reading the Bible in a Sea of Signs, Reflections [Yale Divinity School] (Spring 2008), 52-57
Augustine, St, On Christian Doctrine. Translated D.W.Robertson. Indianapolis: Bobbs ? Merrill, 1958. pp 87-88.
Ernst Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles, 1971, pp 237-241.
Ernst Troeltsch, Historiography, in Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Vol. 6. Edited by James Hastings. (New York: Charles Scribner?s Sons, 1922) 718-723
Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All It?s Worth, Zondervan 2003, pp 112-116.
Scott Spencer, Scared to Death: The Rhetoric of Fear in the ?Tragedy? of Ananias and Sapphira, T&T Clark, 2011, pp 63-80 in?Reading Acts Today.
S E Gillingham, One Bible, Many Voices: Different Approach to Biblical Studies, SPCK 1998.
Zhang Longxi, The Letter or the Spirit: The Song of Songs, Allegoresis, and the Book of Poetry, Comparative Literature, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Summer, 1987),
Martha Grace Weatherill
Methods of Reading the Bible
A Critical Reading of the Story of Ananias and Sapphira
Using
Historical and Theological Approaches
Acts 5:1-11
The story of Ananias and Sapphira and indeed, the book of Acts are of great importance because it informs the reader on the history of the primitive church at Jerusalem. Fee and Stuart point out that the author, Luke, is a Gentile whose narrative could be seen as a source of Hellenistic historiography, which is a type of history writing that has its roots in Thucydides (ca 460-400BC)[footnoteRef:1]. Such history was not written just for the sake of keeping records of the past, but it was written to encourage, inform, moralise and offer an apologetic to …show more content…
This means that no change can occur at one point without changes occurring before and after other points, therefore all events stand in a continuous, correlative interconnection and must follow a single flow by which each and all other events hang together in relation to others[footnoteRef:4]. Therefore, in the Old Testament and Jewish law, the punishment of God by death was recognised and feared with examples such as the punishment that occurred to Achan and his family. [4: Ernst Troeltsch, Historiography, in Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Vol. 6. Edited by James Hastings. (New York: Charles Scribner?s Sons, 1922) …show more content…
There is a need to allow for flexibility and mutual generosity. We shouldn?t be looking for ?the right answer? but should rather arrive at answers by which we can live and, in the end, by which we can stand before God?s throne of judgment[footnoteRef:14]. [14: Adam, A. K. M. Reading the Bible in a Sea of Signs, Reflections [Yale Divinity School] (Spring 2008), p. 57]
Bibliography:?
Adam, A. K. M. Reading the Bible in a Sea of Signs, Reflections [Yale Divinity School] (Spring 2008), 52-57
Augustine, St, On Christian Doctrine. Translated D.W.Robertson. Indianapolis: Bobbs ? Merrill, 1958. pp 87-88.
Ernst Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles, 1971, pp 237-241.
Ernst Troeltsch, Historiography, in Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Vol. 6. Edited by James Hastings. (New York: Charles Scribner?s Sons, 1922) 718-723
Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All It?s Worth, Zondervan 2003, pp 112-116.
Scott Spencer, Scared to Death: The Rhetoric of Fear in the ?Tragedy? of Ananias and Sapphira, T&T Clark, 2011, pp 63-80 in?Reading Acts Today.
S E Gillingham, One Bible, Many Voices: Different Approach to Biblical Studies, SPCK 1998.
Zhang Longxi, The Letter or the Spirit: The Song of Songs, Allegoresis, and the Book of Poetry, Comparative Literature, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Summer, 1987),