Pentecostals have always had a soft spot for Luke-Acts. Some have called it a canon-within-a-canon. It’s the place where our narrative centre—the Pentecost event—is described. Roger Stronstad has spent a career developing a theological understanding of Luke-Acts. Stronstad’s collection of reworked lectures and essays, Spirit, Scripture, and Theology, is an excellent entry point into his work.

Stronstad is most well known for his Charismatic Theology of St. Luke (1984), and The Prophethood of All Believers (2010). Spirit, Scripture, and Theology fits in between and following these works. It was first published in 1995, but was revised in 2018 with an added significant chapter on “The Rebirth of Prophecy,” which clearly develops the work he did in Prophethood.

All the classic themes you would expect from Stronstad are found here. He emphasizes the theological significance of biblical narrative—a point largely agreed with now. He explores the unique contribution pentecostals have to offer the field of hermeneutics, a perspective that values experience, Spirit, and rationality. He also summarizes the way that Luke, John, and Paul describe the work of the Spirit. Luke emphasizes the theme of service. The Spirit was given in order to empower pneumatic service. John includes the role of service but adds salvation to his pneumatology. Paul is the most complex theologian of the Spirit, emphasizing the Lukan and Johannine themes but also adding sanctification to the mix.

This is an important book for pentecostals to read. If you’ve read Stronstad in the past, this volume will bring his incisive work back to memory. I would even suggest that the 2018 volume is worth repurchasing for the final chapter.

Stronstad, Roger. Spirit, Scripture, and Theology: A Pentecostal Perspective. 1995. 2nd Edition. Baguio City, Philippines: Asia Pacific Theological Seminary Press, 2018.