For All Peoples
A Biblical Theology of Missions in the Gospels and Acts
Foreword by Wonsuk Ma
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
CRAIG S. KEENER (PhD, Duke University) is F.M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is author of thirty books, six of which have won awards in Christianity Today, plus other awards. He has also authored roughly one hundred academic articles; and more than one hundred fifty popular-level articles. More than a million copies of his books are in circulation; The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, which provides cultural background on each passage of the New Testament, alone has sold more than half a million copies. Craig is the New Testament editor for the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, which won the International Book Award for Christianity and Bible of the year in the Christian Book Awards. In 2020 Craig is president of the Evangelical Theological Society. He is married to Dr. Médine Moussounga Keener, who was a refugee in her home country of Congo for eighteen months; her experience and their romance appears in Impossible Love (Chosen, 2016). His blog site is http://www.craigkeener.com/.
Given this unique locus of today’s church, this book takes us back to the foundational teachings of Jesus on missions: the Great Commission (Gospel of Matthew) and the Messianic Commission (Gospel of John). Although these two passages are “universal” in grounding Christian mission, Professor Keener wants to assure that the role of the Holy Spirit is central to Christian living and acting as God’s witnesses.
Wonsuk Ma, PhD
Dean, Distinguished Professor of Global Christianity
College of Theology and Ministry, Oral Roberts University
“Craig Keener, one of the finest and most prolific NT scholars of our day, has produced another gem. For All Peoples: A Biblical Theology of Missions in the Gospels and Acts blends together rich scholarly insights, rooted in an unsurpassed knowledge of the first-century world, with an edifying and pastoral eye that is always focused on the radical nature of Jesus’ call to follow him in his redemptive mission. Successive chapters illuminate the seminal contributions that Matthew, Luke, John, and Paul make to a biblical theology of missions. The final chapter, rooted in the narrative of Acts, appropriately ties together these themes by describing Paul’s Macedonian vision as a call for the Church to take the gospel from its place of origin in Asia to the mission field of Europe. After almost two millennia, Keener reminds us just how relevant this call remains for the growing and vibrant churches of Asia today.”
Robert P. Menzies, PhD
Kunming, China
“This is Craig Keener at his best—thoroughly expositional and passionately missional.”
Dave Johnson, DMiss
Managing Editor
Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies
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