Jesaja 53 als theologische Mitte der Apostelgeschichte

Rouven Genz presents a new approach to the research of the Acts of the Apostles. He states that the book of Acts qualifies not as a primarily historically but rather theologically motivated corpus and its author is appreciated as an exegete of scripture. Genz's main emphasis is on the examination of the reception of texts from the book of Isaiah. The focal point is the story of Philip and the Ethiopian treasurer in Acts 8, which manifests exemplarily Luke's interest with recourse to Isaiah 53. Beyond that, the Isaianic tradition in general, as well as the concept of the Servant of God in particular, also prove to be the hermeneutical key for the Lucan christology and ecclesiology: Luke regards Jesus as the Servant of God in the Isaianic sense and his followers as servants of the Servant. Moreover, Luke acquires his soteriological premises from the Isaianic texts as well: He conceives of Jesus' death as an atoning death.