The Ascension of Christ and Pentecost

Abstract

D LUKE invent the ascension? Why is the Christian feast of Pentecost referred to only by Luke in the NT? How are these two early Christian events recounted by him to be understood in relation to the resurrection of Christ? These modern questions are occasioned by the annual liturgical celebration of the Ascension between two feasts inherited by the Christian community from the Palestinian Jewish calendar and baptized: Passover celebrated as paschal Easter and Weeks celebrated as Pentecost. The article of the Creed of Nicaea and Constantinople recited by Christians every Sunday includes the affirmation He ascended into heaven, but only rarely does one reflect on the implications of such an affirmation. Furthermore, the way in which modern Christians think about the ascension of Christ and about the Pentecostexperience often gives rise to problems in the understanding of the NT texts that treat of these two early Christian events. Hence it may be worthwhile to try once again to sort out what the NT itself has to say about the ascension of Christ and about Pentecost to deepen our theological understanding of them, for the two events are not only intimately connected but are also related to the resurrection, the heart of Christian faith.

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