In case you missed it: Nik Ripken, “Trauma and Tragedy on the Mission Field” NikRipken.com (September 19, 2023).

“In this deeply personal episode, Nik Ripken reflects on his journey through trauma, health crises, and confronting deeply ingrained racism in his life and ministry. From growing up in a broken home to battling malaria on the mission field and dismantling racial prejudice, Nik shares how God has redeemed his struggles, transforming them into opportunities for reconciliation, humility, and Kingdom work.”

Dhimas Anugrah, “Schadenfreude: A Misplaced Joy” Our Daily Bread Ministries.

Dhimas Anugrah, “Freudenfreude: Finding Joy Even When the Good News Isn’t Mine” Our Daily Bread Ministries.

“Should We Bring AI into the Church?: Interview by Bonnie Kristian” ChristianityToday.com (May 28. 2025).

The tagline for this interview is: “A church-tech skeptic talks values with technologists from faith-aligned AI company Gloo.”

Craig Keener, “Video course on Acts” CraigKeener.com (July 9, 2025).

Dr. Craig Keener writes: “Although I have 23 hours of free lectures on Acts on my YouTube channel, a newer, more official course with Seminary Now is launching with much better video graphics, based on my 4-volume Acts commentary.”

Andrew Gabriel, “Tales of my First Visit to a Church of God (Cleveland) Pentecostal Church” AndrewKGabriel.com (March 17, 2025).

“Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi on genocide against Christians in northern Nigeria” CraigKeener.com (July 30, 2025).

“Craig interviews retired Anglican Archbishop Ben Kwashi on his experience and on the massacres of Christians in northern Nigeria. Archbishop Kwashi has long worked for peace, reconciliation, justice, truth and is always centered in the gospel of Christ. He and his wife Gloria have adopted more than seventy children, many of them orphans because of the massacres in the north. Archbishop Kwashi also is current on both the events in the north of Nigeria and their wider global context.”

“Cultural Intelligence vs. Personality: What’s the Difference” Cultural Intelligence Center.

A white paper from the Cultural Intelligence Center. How is personality different from cultural intelligence? CQ is a skillset.

Image: Anastasia Zolotukhina

“Interview with the Author—Michelle Van Loon” Eerdword (August 4, 2025).

Eerdmans Publishing interviews the author of Downsizing: Letting Go of Evangelicalism’s Nonessentials.

In case you missed it: Keith Simon, “When My Sermon Riled Our City: Preaching on sex and gender led to local uproar and national headlines. Here are seven things I learned” Christianity Today (June 25, 2024).

“The Forgotten Etowah Revival” Cup & Cross Ministries (August 20, 2025).

PR

Glen Menzies, Commentary on Romans

First, my brother has produced an exceptional commentary on Romans (of course, I’m entirely objective here). This book is a member of the “Pentecostal Commentary Series” and I am confident that it will serve the church well by stimulating reflection and discussion on a host of important theological themes.

To order, click on this link: https://amzn.to/4mmOP20

Publisher’s page: https://wipfandstock.com/9781532610240/a-pentecostal-commentary-on-romans/

Timothy Dresselhaus, The Crimson Thread

Second, Dr. Timothy Dresselhaus, a gifted medical doctor (Professor Emeritus at the UCSD School of Medicine) and a dedicated teaching elder of the church, has produced a wonderful resource for Christians at every stage of their spiritual development. This book, The Crimson Thread: Tracing the Story of Jesus from Genesis to Revelation, offers a sweeping overview of the biblical narrative.

To order, click on this link: https://amzn.to/4of4u5a

Robert Menzies and Craig Keener, Commentary on Acts

Finally, the commentary on Acts that Craig Keener and I have written for Baker’s “Word and Spirit” NT Commentary Series is now available! This commentary uniquely highlights Luke’s missiological purpose, his understanding of the church as a community of prophets called to be “a light for the nations” (Isa 49:6), and his invitation for every disciple of Jesus to minister in the power of the Spirit (Luke 11:13; Acts 1:8).

To order, click on this link: https://amzn.to/3HcvWjk

Publisher’s page: https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/acts/417270

Bob with the Acts commentary he and Craig Keener have produced.

See the announcement from CraigKeener.com.

Acts: The Gospel of the Spirit is a translation and update of González’s Hechos in the Comentario Biblico Hispanoamericano (Miami, Fla.: Editorial Caribe, 1992). González‘s discussion for each section in Acts is divided into two parts distinguished by two different typefaces. First, González makes academic comments, the text in our context (xiii). Next, he addresses issues confronting the Church both north and south, Hispanic and Anglo. Often González addresses topics at the heart of classical Pentecostalism and even of the faith movement. Although he often speaks from a Protestant-Hispanic perspective, his hard-hitting observations address both the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant English speaking churches.

The academic sections are helpful to all expressions of the academy and ecclesial communities. González addresses traditional questions raised by scholars and maintains openness to the claims of the text. For example, after a discussion of the we passages, he concludes that the most simple and probable notion is to accept that the we refers, as the text would like us to think, to one of Paul’s companions, who is also the author of the book (4). He also discusses the chronology and theology of Paul as presented in the Acts and the epistles and concludes that, though they are different, they are not irreconcilable. Throughout the commentary he interacts with both English- and Spanish-speaking academicians on significant issues. This provides a wider exposure to scholars working in spheres that are often unavailable to many readers.

Although he does not address in detail questions of Luke’s pneumatology normally raised by Pentecostals and Charismatics, González does address the issue of speaking in tongues and Spirit-inspired witness. He also acknowledges the miraculous activity of the spirit. He concentrates on the social issues that the Gospel addresses such as wealth and poverty, power and allegiance to the Church and state, and polity. His is a healthy restatement of the goals of the gospel of the Holy Spirit. Pentecostals and Charismatics are well advised to pay González rapt attention lest we neglect the weightier matters of the spirit.

The application sections identify the major practical issues which confronted the ancient community and challenge the present Church. Notably González accepts much of the first-century worldview. For example he cites Bultmann’s insistence that it is impossible to use modern scientific wonders and medicine and at the same time believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles. González objects that much of the Spanish-speaking community of faith does not agree; the truth is, however, that what Bultmann declares to be impossible is not just possible, but even frequent (84).

Justo L. González

Many of González‘s applications are quite prophetic and insightful. For example, in the section, Beware of Gamaliel! he warns that the Church often opts for fatalism and inaction by hiding behind the words, If it is a matter of God, we cannot really oppose it, and if it is a human matter, it will fail With that excuse, we allow injustice to continue rampant in our society (85). Other thought-provoking subheadings are, When the enemy Calls Us to Obedience, Between Simon Magus and Simon Peter, When Evil Produces Good, and Good Produces Evil, A Subversive Message, and Beware of Cheap theology! (which is rather expensive). González grapples with issues which confront the Church of all cultures and languages. He warns that Bible interpreters must not be carried by their own ideologies The text says what it says, whether we like it or not. The function of the interpreter is not to take the sting out of the text (76-77). González says Acts is about a strange kingdom which operates differently from all the present kingdoms. Its smallness and insignificance, like the mustard seed and the leaven, turns the world upside down in a reversal of values.

The story here is about the acts of a Spirit who makes it possible for believers to live, even amidst the kingdoms of this world, as the citizens of that other kingdom (21).

For the Hispanic Church, Acts steers her between the Scylla of mere political revolution and the Charybdis of compromise with worldly authority. González‘s commentary provides a warning to the affluent Anglo faith community that indifference to their brethren in Christ to the south and in their midst may well assure that they in the north share the fate of the rich man who gave Lazarus no aid or comfort (Lk. 16:19-31). The problem of materialism is solved by helping those who have not (Lk. 3:1-14). González‘s work is not a mere Hispanic curiosity. This commentary can be ignored by the north only at its own peril.

Those familiar with Craig Keener’s works will understand when I characterize his third volume on Acts as an encyclopedia of background, history, and solid exegesis all from a conservative evangelical stance. This mammoth tome runs from p. 2193-3348, with an additional 26 two column pages of the abbreviations used! This volume by the Asbury Theological Seminary professor covers Acts 15-23.

Keener argues that the Jerusalem Council met in 48 C.E. and should be paired with Gal 2:1-10. He thoroughly covers the Council’s meeting and its conclusions on the issues in just over 100 pages. Keener comments extensively on Jewish-Gentile marriage as seen in Timothy’s parents in Acts 16:1.

The Holy Spirit’s guidance in Acts 16:6 was primarily negative awaiting the vision of the Macedonian man in 16:9. Keener asserts that the Spirit forbade Paul’s movement into Asia to allow Paul to gain experience in Macedonia and Achaia against political and philosophic foes that would strengthen him for battle later on in Ephesus. He notes that the phrase “the Holy Spirit,” used only twice in the OT is now the standard nomenclature for God’s Spirit in 16:6 and that the next verse identifies the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of Jesus” in the UBS Greek text. This title for the Holy Spirit is unique to the NT.

Luke’s use of the first person plural “we” in his factual narratives identifies Luke as an eye witness in a group setting while keeping the focus on Paul and Silas and their larger mission. Keener discusses this “first person” issue and numerous other historical examples of it from other ancient writers. Keener points out the propriety of Paul’s company accepting the hospitality of Lydia and has excursuses on hospitality and inns in the ancient world.

Keener gives many pages to explaining “Pythoness Spirit” and “Demons and Spirit Possession” (pp. 2422-2456). Paul’s expulsion of the slave girl’s false spirit (16:18) is the first miracle Luke records on Paul’s second journey. Acting in Jesus’ name ties Paul to Jesus’ ministry in Luke’s Gospel (Lk 10:17).

Various ancient views on suicide accompany Keener’s treatment of the Philippian jailor who almost took his own life. The salvation of the jailor and his family was purely by faith in Christ.

Keener carefully notes how Luke chronicles Paul’s movements, for example, escaping from Thessalonica at night. Keener sees this as courageous and at the behest of the new Christian leaders of that city. Though Paul was willing to die for Christ, to stay in Thessalonica may have caused his death for a charge of treason, and may have jeopardized the new church’s continuance. Instead, both prospered.

The Epicureans and the Stoics are covered with extensive excursuses as background for Paul’s visit to Athens. Paul’s speech on Mar’s Hill also receives attention for its rhetoric and use by Luke in reporting speeches.

Craig Keener is in the midst of delivering the most ambitious commentary on Acts ever attempted. The volume under review is the second of four – each volume a sprawling treatment in its own right. Each volume’s pages pick up where the previous one left off. The final page of volume two, the halfway point for the entire commentary, is numbered 2191 (As volume four had not yet appeared at the time of this writing, it is unclear how much of the final volume will be taken up by a bibliography for the complete commentary. Volume 2 includes a CD-Rom of “Works cited and indexes for volumes 1-2”).

Anyone with time and an attention span can write a sprawling work, but few can write a work so sprawling and yet so efficient. Keener has mastered the craft of writing a commentary, and he does it better than perhaps anyone since C. K. Barrett. Obviously few people will sit down to read a commentary from beginning to end – they’re not meant to be read that way – but there is no better place to begin a foray into the world of Acts than to consult Keener’s word on a particular passage.

One other aspect of this work should be noted: although Keener never skimps in his use of secondary works, he always allows primary works (that is, the original sources from the ancient world) to guide the discussion. His knowledge of many different categories of primary works is impressive, and his handling of these works adds a great deal to the value of this commentary.

This review is supposed to be primarily about Volume Two, but everything I’ve said relates to the work as a whole. In that vein, it is worth pointing out that the reader is better off, of course, beginning with Volume One (which includes a number of introductory essays for Acts in general). Numerous centrally important events in the spread of Christianity are recorded in Acts chaps. 3–14, however, and those who move on to Keener’s Volume Two will almost certainly gain a clearer understanding of how the earliest readers of Acts understood what Luke was saying.

Reviewed by John C. Poirier

Publisher’s page: http://www.bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/acts-an-exegetical-commentary-volume-2/335571

Craig S. Keener discusses volume one of his new commentary, Acts: An Exegetical Commentary: Introduction and 1:1-2:47 (Baker Academic, 2102). Part of the Seedbed series from Asbury Theological Seminary.

Craig S. Keener discussing his commentary on Acts at the 2014 Society for Pentecostal Studies symposium.

From the Fall 2013 issue of Pneuma Review.

Amos Yong, Who is the Holy Spirit? A Walk with the Apostles, a Paraclete Guide (Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2011), 215 pages, ISBN 9781557256355.

Amos Yong has written a fresh and comprehensive guide concerning the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. This work has profound implications for contemporary audiences regarding the topic of the Spirit in the Acts narrative. Who is the Holy Spirit will resonate with anyone wishing to discern the winds of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.

This book is divided into eight parts and thirty-nine chapters. The first part illuminates the ramifications of the Spirit’s outpouring, as well as the kingdom promise and the Spirit’s outpouring. This is followed by an overview of the economy of salvation, including the gifts, fellowship, mission, politics, and charismatic dimensions of the Spirit (part two). Part three underscores the economics of the Spirit in Judea, and part four examines the theological work of the Spirit in light of the story of the people of Israel. The fifth part addresses the movement of the Spirit into Samaria and the highways of Palestine. Part six enumerates the relationship between the Spirit and the Gentiles. Part seven, the prophetic and political overtures of the Kingdom-empire, in addition to the relationship of the Spirit to the world. The final part explores the witness, resurrection, nature, and sacramental dimensions of the Spirit.

According to Yong, the empowering witness of the Spirit outlines how to live faithfully in a pluralistic world. Whether government, society, or the global economy, the demands on our lives will consume us if we are not equipped with the power of Spirit. As Yong proposes, following Zaccheus, our response might also extend “the new economy of salvation so as to reconcile people, opposing and correcting the unjust structures of our world” (p 28). Yet as he explains, there is fellowship, warmth, and healing in the Spirit. This indeed is a sign of the messianic promise and “the redemption, reconciliation, and release long associated with the year of the Lord’s favor” (p 44). Whither the economics of the Spirit? If we fully embrace the Spirit’s power, and overcome our self-centeredness, then we will have the full embodiment of the Holy Spirit upon our lives. Above all, the Spirit filled life in the Acts narrative is about spiritual formation, or perhaps even better, transformation. There is resurrection power in the Spirit and in the Spirit the ability to traverse foes and powers of darkness.

Trajectories in the Book of Acts is an anthology of fifteen essays by fifteen different writers in honor of John Wesley Wyckoff, who in 2010, completed thirty-four years as Professor of Bible and Theology at Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, where he is still actively teaching. Wyckoff re-introduced biblical hermeneutics into the curriculum in 1978 and laid great emphasis upon the teaching of Biblical Theology. During his tenure, Wyckoff has taught extensively on the New Testament book of Acts and it has became the subject of much of his work in biblical interpretation. It is by virtue of his great attention to Acts that the essayists chose their title. By the use of the term “trajectories” the different writers refer to the paths or “lines of development” that Wyckoff followed to make clear Luke’s intent when he wrote Acts of [the] Apostles.

The different contributors are both former students of Wyckoff and fellow academic colleagues both within and without the Assemblies of God affiliation of which Wyckoff is an ordained minister. Byron D. Klaus, the President of Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri, supplies a forward to the work edited by Alexander, May, and Reid, all former students of Wyckoff.

This reviewer does not know John W. Wyckoff personally, he is well familiar with his reputation as a skilled biblical interpreter and with his seminal work, Pneuma and Logos: The Holy Spirit in Biblical Hermeneutics (Wyckoff’s Ph.D. dissertation, originally). It is also difficult to ascertain which of the essays written by former students reflect Wyckoff’s own investigations and lectures in the area of biblical interpretation. There are statements honoring Wyckoff’s work but nothing said about his influence upon their own personal reflections. There is no question about the inspiration he left upon those writers.

Chapter one, written by Brue E. Rosdahl, furnishes a brief biography of Wyckoff and supplies a summary of Wyckoff’s subsequent ministry and theological “positions” leading to his eventual concentration in biblical theology and biblical hermeneutics. Wyckoff holds to basic “reformed” convictions: the unity of the Biblical witness, its covenantal theme, and the sovereignty of Christ Jesus along with the leading power of the Holy Spirit in faith and life.

In one way or another, all the essays explore avenues of biblical interpretation that Wyckoff opened up in understanding Luke’s intentions when he related the spread of the gospel in Acts of [the] Apostles. The one exception is the contribution by Roger Stronstad, a good friend of Wyckoff’s who has taught for many years at Regent College and Summit Pacific College, both in British Columbia. Stronstad reiterated his perception of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, as recorded by Luke in Acts, as having more of a vocational significance than a soteriological one. He first expressed this understanding in his 1984 book The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke (Hendrickson, 1984, pp. 1,12,83). Other essays opened some doors of understanding not before apparent to this reviewer and forcing this reviewer to re-read both Luke and Acts. A former student of Wyckoff’s, Mario Escabedo II, who, himself teaches at Southwestern Assembly of God University, explored Luke’s ecphrastic vocabulary and phraseology which has a visual effect as much as it has an acoustical or auditory one. Rob Starner, also a colleague of Wyckoff and Escabedo at SAGU, investigated passages in Luke, Acts, and Hebrews that were not just similar to each other but were triplicates of each other. Starner proposes that Luke and Paul were both co-laborers and collaborators.

Chris A. Miller, “Did Peter’s Vision in Acts 10 Pertain to Men or the Menu?” Bibliotheca Sacra 159 (July-Sept 2002), pages 302-17.

Over the years I have been interested in the various interpretations of Peter’s dream in the 10th chapter of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. It is interesting to take a glimpse at the range of theories and the support for those theories.

Admittedly as a Messianic believer, my opinions already lean in support of a “whole Bible” approach to shaping my theological beliefs. So it was with great delight that I encountered Chris Miller’s article as he allows the text to interpret itself, dispelling some of the popular but inaccurate applications of this pivotal passage in Peter’s life, and in the life of the community of the redeemed.

Chris A. Miller is Assistant Dean at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio.

Miller insightfully points out what we know about Peter and what we know about his hosts Simon the tanner and Cornelius the centurion. Each character study demonstrates that all appear to have been living a biblical lifestyle in every way, right down to what they ate. Verse 2 tells us that Cornelius was “a devout man, and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people, and prayed to God continually” (NASB). God-fearers were Gentiles that had attached themselves to the God of Israel and His people. Even in verse 3 we find him in prayer at the ninth hour, the hour of the afternoon sacrifices in the temple, and the time for corporate prayer.

As Miller points out, “It is hard to imagine that one so sympathetic toward the Jewish nation would be so insensitive as to offer unclean food to his guest, for whose arrival he had four days to prepare and at whose feet he fell at their first meetings” (p. 310).

It is this type of logic that flows throughout Miller’s well-documented and footnoted article. In his final analysis, “Luke’s formidable skills as a writer drew out the lesson of Peter’s vision to people. As the angel and Peter entered Cornelius’s house, so also Cornelius entered God’s ‘house.’ God has now granted the Gentiles not only repentance unto life, but also the fullness of the Holy Spirit and full acceptance into His house-hold as first-class citizens” (p. 316).

Regretfully, Miller (as well as many other commentators) does not address one of the issues at hand. As he writes, “Simply eating with Gentiles was a significant charge in itself . . .” (p. 309). This thought is based on Peter’s own words, “And he said to them, ‘You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him’” (Acts 10:28 NASB). Yet never does God’s Torah stipulate that a Hebrew and a Gentile may not associate nor share a meal! This is not the Torah the Law of the God of Israel. It is however, a part of the torah (small “t”) otherwise known as the oral tradition of the religious community. This torah created many rules and regulations prohibiting the interaction of Hebrews and Gentiles and became the middle wall of partition evident in synagogues and kosher restaurants today. The message to Peter may have been the same message Paul wrote for us in Ephesians 2:14, “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall” (NASB).