Willie James Jennings’ stirring commentary on the Acts of the Apostles is the most recent publication in the innovative Belief series. The goal of the series is to amend the disciplinary chasm between theology and biblical studies by offering fresh retrievals of biblical texts in light of contemporary currents in theology and ethics. In Acts, Jennings approaches the biblical account of the early Christian community through the wound of racial segregation. At the heart of Jennings’ retrieval of Acts is his contention that the text can be read as the unfolding of what he terms a “revolution of intimacy.” For Jennings, the surest gift of the Holy Spirit is the desire for what God desires: the joining together of persons long separated by boundaries of fear, hatred, and history. Acts, then, is the story of the Holy Spirit broadening ever wider the boundaries of the people of God and of the human response to this risky, revolutionary broadening. As he moves through the text, Jennings’ attention is on these moments of boundary transgression and surprising intimacy in the midst of empire.
The commentary is divided into five sections. The first, “The Revolution of Intimacy” (1:1–4:37), contrasts what Jennings terms the nationalist fantasy—the segregating desire for security—with the Pentecost event. At Pentecost, the “epicenter of the revolution” (27), the Spirit's descent ushers in a linguistic joining that foregrounds the events that follow. In the second section, “The Struggle of Diaspora” (5:1–9:43), Jennings’ interpretation of Philip's encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch (8:26-40) evinces gentle attentiveness to that moment's intimate joy. It also nuances the notion of boundary transgression so central to the work. The eunuch is loved not in spite of his difference but because of it. Thus, the Spirit's transgression of borders is not to be understood as an act of assimilating dominance or divine annexation, but rather as the holy desire for communion, for subversive intimacy in and across difference.
In the third section, “The Desire of God Exposed” (10:1–15:41), of particular note is Jennings’ examination of Peter and Cornelius (10:1–11:18). He draws readers’ attention beyond the Spirit's descent upon the Gentiles—ostensibly the climax of the narrative—to the hidden moment afterward, when Cornelius and his household “‘invited [Peter] to stay on for several days’ (v. 49).” For Jennings, the work of the Spirit is the conversion of human desire. What is most remarkable about this moment, he argues, is that Peter and Cornelius want to remain together; once separated by religio-cultural boundaries, they now desire one another's fellowship. The fourth section, “The Spirit and the End of Segregation” (16:1–21:40), sharpens the commentary's focus on embodiment, while the fifth section, “The Disciple-Citizen” (22:1–28:31), examines the implications of Christian intimacy in the context of empire.
In addition to a passage-by-passage treatment of the text, several additional features serve as an asset to those referring to the commentary for preaching or teaching. Each section includes one or more “Further Reflections,” helpfully offset in different font, about pastorally relevant topics such as “Marriage, Money, and Discipleship” (57–61) and “Citizenship and Struggle” (223–26). The text is also interspersed with quotations from theologians, writers, and civil rights leaders, set apart in boxes.
Jennings’ prose is musical and aesthetically charged; this is a text that preaches. As such, it is better served by patient meditation than quick reference. Unlike traditional biblical commentaries, the volume is most meaningfully approached as a whole rather than utilized as a reference. Readers seeking to focus attention on a particular passage are advised to read the introduction, which offers a compelling entrée into Jennings’ key hermeneutical categories and themes.
While the most obvious audience for this commentary is those preaching, teaching, or studying Acts, it is equally valuable for those engaging theological questions of place, race, (post)colonialism, or ecclesiology. Acts also serves as an illuminating companion volume to Jennings’ acclaimed The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race (2011). In it, Jennings traces the spatial, economic, political, bodily, and narrative roots of what he terms Western Christianity's diseased social imagination. The final chapter offers a compelling reimagining of what Christian communities might become—indeed, must become—if the inertia of racial-spatial segregation is to be overcome by love. Jennings describes this vision as one of “joining and communion,” a theme that similarly permeates his reading of Acts. Acts thus offers a stirring biblical foundation for the radically inclusive and subversive hope that is the heart of Jennings’ theological vision.
