Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus

Pao seeks to make corrections to historical, theological and literary approaches that "fail to provide a satisfying account of the connections between the "travel narrative" and the earlier chapters in Acts" (pg. 4). He argues that "the scriptural story which provides the hermeneutical framework for Acts is none other than the foundation story of Exodus as developed and transformed through the Isaianic corpus" (pg. 5). The story of Exodus provides an "identity" for the "rebuilding of the community of God's people" (pg. 5). This in turn, acts as a hermeneutical framework (pg. 10). Pao's thesis essentially challenges Strauss's thesis that the Isaianic New Exodus is only "one of the metaphors." Pao asserts that it should be seen as the dominating or controlling metaphor (pg. 13). Pao's thesis is backed up by three analyses: 1) explicit Isaianic citations, 2) the Isaianic influence on the Lukan narrative framework, and 3) the broad Isaianic themes developed in Acts (pg. 18).Pao uses a literary-critical methodology in his approach. This focuses on the assumption that the author is not merely a "collator of sources but also a skilled writer" (pg. 17).The writing style is not terribly difficult but it is a re-worked dissertation. It would be great to see a layman's version of this book by the same author. The book includes some Greek and some Hebrew, most of which is translated for the reader.Timothy Porter has a relatively neutral and brief review of this book in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (JETS) vol 45 pg. 364-5.Here are some positions and assumptions that Pao takes (they are generally conservative):1. Luke contains midrash techniques but does not fall under that generic genre (pg. 9).2. He does not use first-, second-, third- Isaiah designations (pg. 19).3. The unity of Luke-Acts is assumed and affirmed (pg. 19).4. The "we" passages are inclusive of the author himself and Paul (pg 22).5. Acts was written "towards AD 70" (pg 29).6. Quotations from Isaiah by Luke do justice to the context (pg. 31).7. He acknowledges the possibility of Q (pg. 38).

This is an excellent and remarkable book which makes clear and understandable the theological purpose and structure of the book of Acts. The author has unravelled a complex web of confusion surrounding the book of Acts in demonstrating its connectedness to the prophecies of Isaiah and its relation to the various first century movements claiming to be the true people of God. In so doing he helps to show that the Book of Acts is not the work of an author who was 'out to lunch', and who cobbled together a collection of random missionary stories but rather shows that Luke and Acts are one comprehensive work written by a thoughtful, disciplined and visionary evangelist.

the book arrived in good shape.Both the cover and the inside cover are clean. A small defect is that the font size is a little bit too small.

While I am yet to finish this volume, what I have read so far has been genuinely superb. This is a book that is helping push and expand the boundaries of what we've believed about the OT influence (esp. Isaiah) on the book of Acts. So many compelling insights are littered throughout these pages.

DAVID PAO DOES NOT QUITE CONVINCE THAT THE NEW EXODUS FROM ISAIAH IS THE ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE IN THE BOOK OF ACTS, BUT HE CERTAINLY SHOWS THAT IT IS A POWERFUL INFLUENCE. HOW THE OLD TESTAMENT INFLUENCES THE NEW IS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING AREAS OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES, AND THIS STUDY IS RIGHT UP THERE WITH THE BEST. THANKS DR PAO.