Pentecost and the World: The revelation of the Holy Spirit in the 'Acts of the Apostles'

Roland Allen (1868 – 1947) was an English missionary to China and theologian of missions, remembered for his books "Missionary Methods: St Paul's or Ours", "The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church", and "Pentecost and the World," first published in 1917.

"Tthe fact that it was possible to call the Acts of the Apostles the ‘Acts of the Holy Spirit’," Allen begins, "reveals at once the truth that men have found in this book not merely the record of the acts of men, but the revelation of a Spirit governing, guiding, controlling, directing men in the acts here recorded. And this is no delusion. In this book it is the guidance and government of the Spirit which is constantly recalled to mind. That the men of whom St Luke writes were men liable to the errors and passions of men is clear enough; what is insisted upon is that they were the recipients of a gift of the Holy Spirit sent upon them by Christ, and that all the labours and successes of their lives were due to the influence of that Spirit."