Will LOESCHER. Transformation by the Spirit and the Word. A Literary Exploration of Acts. Foreword by Steve Walton. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, ©2023. Pp. xviii + 196. $29.50 pb or eBook. ISBN 978-1-6667-5349-3. Reviewed by Linda M. MALONEY, Cameron Park, CA 95682.

Using the techniques of literary analysis, explained and applied in Section 1, Will Loescher moves in Section 2, “Transformation,” to apply those techniques to explore the church and salvation, mission, and the kingdom of God in Acts. In Section 3, “The Spirit,” the author develops, through literary analysis, his conviction that “the distinctive literary function of the Spirit within Acts is related to mission” (p. 91). Section 4, “The Word,” explores the application of “the word” as written, living, saving, and spoken in the text of Acts.

The author’s Calvinist convictions and belief in verbal plenary inspiration (see p. 13) may limit the book’s usefulness for students and scholars in the catholic tradition. I myself have grave doubts about assertions that extra-biblical historical evidence is of no value because it “[puts into the text] things God intended to leave out” (p. 8), as if divine inspiration involved concealment rather than revelation. Likewise, the assertion that “the original Greek text contains no errors (inerrancy), is complete for its purpose (sufficiency), is clear and plain (perspicuity), and is to be obeyed (authority)” (p. 13) belies much that we know—as a mere glance at the apparatus of any Bible will show.

Still, Loescher’s overall conviction that “Acts presents the theology of mission in the form of a literary journey that in turn shapes our own part in God’s unfolding mission today” (p. 11) and his proposal that the purpose of Acts is “getting the gospel out of the church into the world” (p. 39) are welcome and highly useful. His treatment of Paul as one of many flawed people God has used to extend the reign of God and as seeming in Acts to be ambivalent about the Gentile mission is worthy of further development. Loescher is also insistent that Israel is God’s chosen instrument for initiating mission to the whole world. He sees a “decline in the gospel mission” in Paul’s return to Jerusalem, where he will be arrested; in a chapter entitled “The Disappearing Spirit” he suggests “that Acts is as much about the potential of the Spirit as it is about the realization,” a distinct blow at triumphalism in any form. Still, the assertion that “the Septuagint becomes inspired and authoritative when quoted in the New Testament” (p. 152) is bizarre and demeaning of Judaism.

            Transformation by the Spirit and the Word is very well organized and is equipped with eleven detailed diagrams illustrating structure and movement within Acts. It is best suited for use in a seminary class in missiology in schools with an Evangelical orientation, where it will surely inspire discussion and, one hopes, a renewal of enthusiasm for the kind of mission that the author of Acts envisioned.