Luke: The Book and the Author

I. Authorship, date, and place

A. A two-volume work: Luke-Acts -- written around 85-90

1. Luke: the story of Jesus

2. Acts: The spread of the mission to Gentiles

3.  Admires Paul but seems unaware of his letters and teachings

4.  Place:  Possibly Ephesus

B. Style

1. Most accomplished Greek of the gospels

2. Omits all Aramaic words

3. Yet knowledgable of scripture too and alludes to it frequently

4.  Style:  an apology to show Christianity's legitimacy as a universal religion

C. Greco-Roman history

1. Formal beginning with dedication to Theophilus

2. Frequent allusions to Roman time (even if often wrong)

3. A patron: Theophilus

4. Christian convert or Roman judge?

5. Aim is to show that Christianity is the true Judaism

5. Division of world into 3 ages

a. Creation through John the Baptist

b. Jesus: inaugurator of a new age

c. the Christian era

D. Sources

1. Mark

2. Q (common material in Matthew and Luke but arranged differently)

3. L (material that only appears in Luke

4. chapters 1-2 show heavy Hebrew influence unlike the rest of the gospel (perhaps added later by someone else?)

5. Knows about and admires Paul but has no knowledge of his letters

6. So probably after Mark, possibly around the time of the first major Christian persecution (90)

II. Themes

A. Christianity is the fulfillment of Judaism, part of divine plan from the beginning

B. Jesus is the savior of the world (universalism)

1.No theory of atonement like Paul, Jesus's importance is the repentance knowledge of him will bring

C. Social justice

D. Women