SAC 2 Flashcards
(18 cards)
{What were the social, cultural, religious, political, and historical conditions that impacted on the writing of Luke’s Gospel?}
When and where did Luke write? What was going on at the time?
Luke wrote in a thoroughly Hellenistic environment, at a time when Jews lived under Roman rule, and when the early followers of Jesus (Christians) expected his imminent return. During the time, a rift began to form between the Christians and the Jews, which was fully present by the end of the first century CE.
{What were the social, cultural, religious, political, and historical conditions that impacted on the writing of Luke’s Gospel?}
Explain the Jewish concept of Messianism.
Messianism was originally a Jewish concept. The Jews believed the messiah would be a warrior king born of Davidican descent, who would free the Jews from their current oppressors, and restore Jerusalem to its former glory. Jesus was obviously not a warrior king, therefore, Jews do not consider Jesus to be a messiah. Christians, on the other hand, believe that “He will come again to judge the living and the dead” (Nicene Creed).
{Offer an overview of the major themes in Luke.}
Discuss discipleship.
- Jesus uses the religious authorities to demonstrate what disciples shouldn’t be like. The authorities were rich, greed, hypocritical, and self-righteous.
- Jesus teaches that disciples must have faith in himself and in God, and that engaging in prayer is a good way to both exercise, and strengthen this faith. To this end, Jesus is sometimes depicted praying in Luke, and even teaches his disciples to pray. This is the only Gospel in which Jesus teaches his disciples to pray.
- Luke’s instruction to his disciples is that they share their possessions with the needy, without expecting repayment. Humility while doing so is preferred, to separate oneself from those who donate for their reputation.
- Luke shows that Christians should take Jesus as their role-model. This is shown in the Luke-Acts duology, as what the disciples say and do in Acts, mirrors what Jesus said and does in Luke.
{Offer an overview of the major themes in Luke.}
What are the three defects of the disciples in Luke?
- The disciples engage in rivalry over rank
- They expect to receive salvation immediately. They believe the Kingdom of God will appear as soon as Jesus reaches Jerusalem.
- They are unwilling to face death for their beliefs. See Peter: Luke 22
All of these failures can be easily attributed to the disciples’ failure to understand that “whoever is least is great”. [Luke 9:48]
{Offer an overview of the major themes in Luke.}
Discuss exhalation and resurrection.
• Disciples are doubtful of Jesus’ resurrection throughout Luke 24. The women who visit his tomb, and the men on the road to Emmaus are surprised when they realize his resurrection.
• Jesus teaches that his death was necessary, so that Repentance and forgiveness may be preached in his name.
• For Luke, scholars believe that the rejection and murder of Jesus shows not the perversity of humanity, but the persistence of divine forgiveness.
• Luke is the only Gospel that specifically states that Jesus ascends to Heaven. Many scholars believe that this event was intended to tie both Luke and Acts together, as one starts with the same event the other ended with. This event also serves to symbolize how the end of Jesus’ story, began the story of the church.
– Many scholars debate whether both accounts of the ascension are the same event, as in Acts, the ascension occurred forty days after his resurrection.
{Offer an overview of the major themes in Luke.}
The identity of Jesus.
- Most often called “Christ” and “Lord” but also called “Teacher” and “Master”.
- Lukan Jesus depicted as powerful, but also must gradually come to an understanding of his mission.
- “Jesus”[Greek] = “Joshua”[Hebrew] = “Yahweh saves”. This was a common name at the time, so “Nazareth” was used to identify him.
- Was the Messiah, but not the Messiah of Jewish belief.
- In writing his Gospel, Luke tried to portray Jesus as unique, and didn’t care about his conformity to special titles.
- Known by many names throughout Luke’s Gospel.
- Dies a martyr’s death
- Born in Bethlehem, so people know he’s supposed to be the Messiah.
- 100% a Jew.
{Offer an overview of the major themes in Luke.}
The Kingdom of God
- Best described as the divine saving presence which is active in our midst, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
- IMMATERIAL! Not like the Roman Empire.
- In Luke, Jesus taught the Kingdom of God was imminent, and does not form as the result of human effort.
- Many of Jesus’ parables focus on the Kingdom of God.
- The Jews had a self-centered view of the Kingdom of God. This served to fuel their dislike of Jesus.
- Luke relates the Kingdom of God to his theme of the Great Reversal. “Tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the Kingdom of God before the chief priests,” because the lowly are generally humble, while the wealthy are generally self-righteous.
{Offer an overview of the major themes in Luke.}
Prophets and Prophecy
- A prophet is one called on by God, who speaks on his behalf. They were profoundly religious people who had an immediate experience with God, and used symbols and imagery to describe it. Because of their experience, prophets were able to describe what God wanted in detail.
- The commonality of prophets gradually decreased after the Babylonian Exile.
- The most important prophets mentioned in Luke are John the Baptist, Moses, and Elija.
- In Luke, people began to confuse Jesus with the foretold prophetic precursor to the Messiah. At one point, Jesus strongly hints that this person was actually John the Baptist.
{Offer an overview of the major themes in Luke.}
What is the pattern of repentance common in Luke?
- Believe the word of God
- Repent
- Baptism
- Receive forgiveness
- Receive the Holy Spirit
• Step 3 is pointless, if steps 4 and 5 are not carried out.
{Offer an overview of the major themes in Luke.}
Universal Salvation
- Several of Jesus’ parables in Luke revolve around the inclusion of the marginalized, such as the parable of the Good Samaritan, The rich Man and Lazarus, and The Parable of the Lost Sheep.
- The beatitudes are rich with the theme of Universal Salvation.
{Offer an overview of the major themes in Luke.}
Women
- The three stories about Mary, a Elizabeth, and Anna are unique to Luke’s Gospel.
- Luke’s Gospel opens from the perspective of women.
- All gospels attest to the fact that a group of women journeyed with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem. Luke’s Gospel describes these female disciples in the most detail.
- Female characters are more prominent in Luke’s Gospel than in any of the other three. The reasons for this are unknown. “Is Luke the Great champion of women, or does he patronize them and subtly, but firmly, put them in what he believed ought to be their place?” (Byrne)
{Outline the literary structure of the set text.}
[Lk1:1–4] Preface/Prologue [Lk1:5 – 2:52] Infancy Narrative [Lk 3 – 4:13] Preparation for the Public Ministry [Lk 4:14 – 9:50] Galilean Ministry [Lk 9:51 – 19:27] Journey to Jerusalem [Lk 19:28 – 21:38] Jerusalem Ministry [Lk 22 – 23:56] Passion Narrative [Lk 24] Resurrection Narrative
{Offer a brief outline of the literary forms and techniques used by the writer of Luke.}
Miracle Stories
- Any narrative that contains a description of a miraculous event.
- Types of miracle stories include exorcisms, controversy stories containing a miracle, stories of healing, provision “gift” miracles, rescue stories, and epiphanies.
- Miracle stories tend to be quite varied and original in their telling. Their classification can make them hard to categorize, and provides near-limitless narrative flexibility.
- An example of a miracle story is Jesus Raises the Widow’s Son at Nain
{Offer a brief outline of the literary forms and techniques used by the writer of Luke.}
Parables
- Parables are a form of figurative speech, much like a metaphor, or simile, but are typically as long as a short story. They always have a deeper meaning, conveying lessons on how to live one’s life, to those who analyze them.
- In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ audience is mainly comprised of pastoral villagers — a possible reason for the abundance of agriculturally-based parables.
- The Lukan Jesus commonly uses parables in intellectual discussion, and they often depict something about God or the Kingdom of God.
- Parables are designed to invoice careful reflection from the listener/reader.
- An example of a parable is the Good Samaritan
{How does Luke use literary forms/techniques to persuade his audience?}
- Luke often creates narrative echoes, where events from the Old Testament are mirrored in the New Testament. For example, Jesus’ conception involved divine intervention, much like Isaac’s. He even goes so far as to bring back characters from the Old Testament, such as Moses and Elijah, who meet and speak with Jesus on a mountaintop.
- Luke also creates narrative echoes from earlier parts of his own Gospel. In Luke 3, John the Baptist scolds people for appeal to Abraham for repentance, but in chapter 16’s The Rich Man and Lazarus, the rich man does exactly that.
- Scholars believe that Luke used the Q (short for the German word for source: Quelle) source in writing his Gospel, and also had access to a copy of Mathew’s Gospel. Most scholars also believe Luke had his own L source, which no other Gospel-writer possessed.
{Who wrote Luke? Why did he write the Gospel? For whom did he write the Gospel?}
Who wrote Luke?
- Luke was probably a non-Jewish Semite. (He is believed to be non-Jewish because of some errors in recounting certain Jewish rituals.) He was very likely a companion of Paul, as their relationship is mentioned in Luke-Acts, Timothy, ad Colossians. The belief that he was a scholar is largely accepted.
- Luke was not alive during Jesus’ time — he confirms this in 1:3, as he mentions speaking to eyewitnesses to gather an accurate depiction of Jesus. Scholars do believe, whoever, that Luke was alive during and eyewitness to some of the events in Acts.
- Judging by the way Luke writes, he may have been interested in writing a book that would conform to the standards of Hellenistic historiography.
- Some scholars date Luke very late in the first century CE, and some scholars, such as Darrell Bock date Luke in the 60s CE. Most scholars, however, date Luke’s Gospel as being written sometime just before or just after 75 CE.
{Who wrote Luke? Why did he write the Gospel? For whom did he write the Gospel?}
Why did he write the Gospel?
• “Luke’s [the Gospel’s] purpose is theological, pedagogical, and apologetic.” (Henry Greene)
– Luke’s Gospel serves to study the nature of God, helps to teach others about Jesus, and provides a formal recount and justification of Jesus’ actions.
• In writing his Gospel, Luke focuses on certain themes in an attempt to change the mind and attitude of the people at the time. In this respect, Luke’s Gospel can be seen and somewhat of a persuasive text.
• Major recurring themes that Luke writes about include:
– The Great Reversal (A significant portion of the Gospel focuses on the poor being rewarded, and the rich suffering.)
– Gentile Inclusion (It was a Gentile who said “Truly, this man was the son of God.”)
– Christian Community (Only in Luke do the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. There are 19 meals that occur in Luke, 13 of which are unique to his Gospel.)
{Who wrote Luke? Why did he write the Gospel? For whom did he write the Gospel?}
For whom did he write the Gospel?
• Gospel dedicated to Theophilus (“a God lover”)
• Some debate around whether it was written for Jews or Gentile. Some believe one or the other exclusively, while others believe it was written for both.
• Luke is writing for an audience of pastoral villagers — another possible reason for the focus on agricultural parables.
• In the context of Luke’s Gospel, the specific believes of God that Luke is targeting meet the following criteria:
– They are gentiles caught up in a Jewish movement — what would later become Christianity. This movement is under intense pressure from non-participating Jews.
– They are wondering “Do I belong here? Is this new Community really of God?” Luke’s Gospel is an attempt at reassurance,
