Gert J. Steyn, Septuagint Quotations in the Context of the Petrine and Pauline Speeches of the Acta Apostolorum

Since this is one of the best organised and systematically presented books I have read, I decided to structure my review in a similar systematic way. Relevance of the Research Topic2. The author has written on a research area that has remained relatively fallow, namely, the use of the Septuagint in the New Testament.He has also chosen a neatly demarcated theme, concentrating on the Acta Apostolorum, and for that matter only on the Petrine and Pauline Speeches.3. The monograph presents research which has not been executed in this specific way before.Many studies have been prepared on the use of the OT in the NT, but few in as focused a manner as has been done by Steyn.The novel aspect of his work lies in the materials which he chooses to analyse, as well as in the way in which he actually goes about doing this.This immediately brings me to his method. Methodology 4.The author has adopted a clearly demarcated and nuanced methodology.He focuses on explicit LXX quotations, but from a specific theoretical angle.This entails, in his own words, "a threefold problem which can best be described as texthistorical, methodological and hermeneutical in nature" (31).In the process he stresses the immediate context in which a quotation is found.He also addresses the text-critical issue attending the question whether a different Textvorlage can be identified.He furthermore deals with the question of how Luke quoted from the scriptures, and finally he endeavours to understand why specific changes were introduced by the author. 5.From the discussions it is evident that Steyn is well aware of the complexity of the problem he is researching.On the one hand, he takes seriously the fact that one can not too readily refer to the LXX and that the authors of the NT did not have available a or the Bible in the sense that we have it today.