The "summary" of the Christian life in the Acts of the Apostles: Biblical exegesis and Augustinian hermeneutics

Abstract

This article examines three texts in the Acts of the Apostles called “summaries” (Act 2,42-47; 4,32-35; 5,12-16). These texts illuminate one another, keeping each other internal and external connections, as well as relations with the Gospel according to Luke and the corpus paulinum. The analysis of the literary context of the summaries favors a more accurate view of its content, and a more comprehensive understanding of its message which moreover has repercussions on the patristic tradition not only as apologetic value, but as building the monastic community and paradigm to understand the Church (St. Augustine). The summaries are established as the fundamental reports, to which the Magisterium often uses in order to a variety of purposes.