Summary

This study has aimed to respatialise discourse concerning Acts and the ascension. This goal has been addressed in two parts: an overall review of the problem of narrative spatiality within Acts, focalised on Jesus' ascension, and an exegetical application of one geographical theory – that of thirdspace – to a reading of Acts 1:1–11:18.

The argument has been cumulative, with concluding summaries presenting findings of each chapter. Chapters 1 and 2 provided a general survey and evaluation of attempts to conceptualise the ‘space’ of the ascension (in both narrative and Christological terms) and the ‘geography’ of Acts. Various reductionistic readings of space in Acts scholarship were deduced, leading to the evaluation that insufficient attention had been paid to recent developments in geographical theory. It was suggested that Soja's concept of thirdspace would succeed in overcoming these reductions and would link three concerns whose interconnections have been neglected by Acts studies: Christ's ascension, narrative readings of Acts, and the production of space. Chapters 3–7 have applied Soja's theory to a reading of Acts 1:1–11:18.

Such a broad-ranging project extends beyond the present work, and justifies some wider reflection beyond its bounds. Finally, therefore, this chapter provides some retrospective and prospective reflections concerning the spatiality of Acts.