Thomas Lyons

The Holy Spirit served a central role within Pauline thought and the Holy Spirit’s activity was understood to be a cornerstone of ecclesial experience within Pauline communities. While Paul was certainly influenced by conceptions of the Spirit from the Old Testament and the writings of intertestamental Judaism, the contemporary experience of the Holy Spirit by Paul and within the communities he participated was likewise formative. For Paul, the Holy Spirit was to be equated with God and the activity of Jesus and yet also differentiated in some way. The Spirit played a foundational role in the life of a Jesus follower for Paul, both birthing new life and empowering believers in the present and also serving as a down payment for the eschatological fulfillment that is yet to come. This activity of and life in the Spirit for Paul is intimately related with the kingdom of God and the experience of kingdom life in present Christian experience.

Christian views on hell and final judgement have ranged greatly over the millennia and recent contributions are no different. In recent biblical literature, views of hell portrayed in nontraditional language and images have been espoused by a variety of significant theological voices, such as Karl Barth, C.S. Lewis, John Stott, and N.T. Wright. Such debate and division on these issues is simply not a modern issue either, for there were a diversity of views amongst the early church as well. The goal of this research project is straightforward: to summarize and synthesize the biblical perspectives reflected in the New Testament scriptures on this topic and survey the resulting interpretive positions around the issues of hell and final judgement. The purpose is thus to equip the reader to hear the range of textual voices, enable them to make an informed evaluation of the text for themselves, and to understand how others arrive at their own positions on this contentious topic.

Scholars have broadly accepted Luke’s use of rhetorical techniques at the macro-level of composition but have been reluctant to analyze his rhetorical shaping on a pericope level. Following Mikeal C. Parson’s study of Luke’s composition according to Theon’s Progymnasmata, this study does a rhetorical analysis of Luke’s redactional shaping of Luke 8:40–56 according to the three virtues of narrative espoused by Theon in his Progymnasmata. This is followed by an exploration of the ancient rhetorical technique of syncrisis with an eye toward how such a rhetorical compositional technique should inform our understanding of this pericope.

At the center of pneumatological Luke-Acts discussions is the function and purpose of Holy Spirit Baptism. Central to these debates is the relationship of water baptism, the laying on of hands, and glossolalia to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This study will explore each of these elements in the Holy Spirit reception accounts of Acts 2, 8, 10, and 19 by considering each element in their historical and literary context before surveying scholarship on the relationship between these elements and Spirit reception. The study concludes by evaluating to what degree any of the elements may appropriately be considered normative. Thomas Lyons is a Biblical Studies Ph.D. candidate at Asbury Theological Seminary. His research interests include the rhetoric and theology of Luke-Acts, the Kingdom of God, and the hermeneutical methodology of Inductive Bible Study.

Despite renewed interest in the book of Joel and its relationship to the “Book of the Twelve,” scholarly opinions still significantly diverge on the structure of the book of Joel itself. This article surveys recent significant and representative proposals for Joel’s structure before arguing for an alternative unified structure based upon grammar, literary markers or “catchwords,” and structural relationships (as described by David R. Bauer and Robert A. Traina in Inductive Bible Study).

Investigations concerning the Holy Spirit have been a central feature of Luke-Acts scholarship throughout the last century and Luke-Acts has long served as the central battleground for a biblical pneumatology. Just as there was confusion among the crowds in interpreting the events of Pentecost in Acts 2, there has long been confusion on how we understand what people have long called the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’ or Spirit reception. People have long asked “What is this thing?” — “Are these people drunk?”

Claims to normativity or exceptionality of any particular account in Acts riddle biblical scholarship, and this is particularly problematic in Acts 8, dubbed the “Riddle in Samaria” by J.D.G. Dunn. This investigation will use social-scientific comparative methodology in order to untangle Dunn’s Samaritan riddle. Through comparison with four historically analogous revival events, the range of reported experience, phenomenon and praxis of the Acts accounts will be shown to be representative of the internal ranges of continuity and diversity found within analogous historical events. Thus, rather than the delay of the Spirit being a key to interpretation in Acts 8 as Dunn and so many others assert, it will be shown that Dunn’s riddle is in fact no riddle at all.

In his recent Paul and the Faithfulness of God, N.T. Wright suggests in a discussion of 1 Corinthians that the church’s disciplinary practices are intimately connected with its eschatology, such that when “faced with flagrant scandal, the church must do in the present among its own membership what the one God will do in the future in relation to the rest of the world.”  For Wright, the same inaugurated eschatology that suggests the church is to be a foretaste of the life to come also suggests the future judgment by the saints  is worked out through church discipline in the present by the power of the Spirit. 

This paper will survey New Testament passages on church discipline by examining them in their literary and socio-historical contexts in order to assess to what degree eschatology is linked to exclusionary practices of church discipline so that the appropriateness of N.T. Wright’s claim may be evaluated.  Finally, the paper will conclude with a brief hermeneutical discussion evaluating how these insights may apply to compassionately ministering and serving within the contemporary church.

In a discussion on discernment, defining the sources of authority that serve as guideposts for the believer are essential for the discernment process. One such theological model is the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. First coined by Albert Outler, this constructed paradigm is said to describe how John Wesley conceived the task of theology. The four points of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral (Scripture, tradition, reason and experience) are said to operate as authorities in the life of the believer for discernment and practice. It is my contention that a paradigm similar to the Wesleyan Quadrilateral was operational in John Wimber’s own ministry. This paper explores John Wesley's influence on John Wimber as well as the points of the Quadrilateral as manifested in each of their lives and ministries.

The Vineyard movement stormed onto the American stage in the early 1980's preaching the good news of Christ and healing the sick. This association of churches, founded by the late John Wimber, galvanized the evangelical world with its contemporary worship, empowered "ministry time," and Kingdom message. Joseph Zichterman, in his recent doctoral dissertation, thoroughly explores the theology and practice of John Wimber and the Vineyard in their contemporary context but does so without exploring earlier historic influences, particularly the evangelistic revivals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is this author's contention that these movements had an essential formational influence on the theology and practice of Wimber and the Vineyard movement. The purpose of this paper is to explore these earlier influences on Wimber and the Vineyard movement. The scope of this exploration will be predominantly restricted to the American Holiness Movement of the Nineteenth century and its earlier Wesleyan influences. In the first section, the literature, history, and theology of the Vineyard movement will be surveyed. In the second section, the formational factors that gave shape to the American Holiness Movement will be identified and the influence of these factors on the genesis of the Vineyard will be explored. In the third and final section, some unique contributions and correctives of the Vineyard to the Holiness Movement will be briefly considered.

At the center of pneumatological Luke-Acts discussions is the function and purpose of Holy Spirit Baptism. Central to these debates is the relationship of water baptism, the laying on of hands, and glossolalia to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This study will explore each of these elements in the Holy Spirit reception accounts of Acts 2, 8, 10, and 19 by considering each element in their historical and literary context before surveying scholarship on the relationship between these elements and Spirit reception. The study concludes by evaluating to what degree any of the elements may appropriately be considered normative.