The Preface to Luke's Gospel

Bibliographic Data

ID23802146
AuthorsLoveday Alexander (corresponding author)
Year1993
Publication date1993-05-27
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenuePreface to Luke's Gospel (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9780511554827
OpenAlexW605874049
ISBN9780511554827
LanguageEN
Citations received27

Luke's two-volume work begins with a formal preface unlike anything else in the New Testament, and it has long been academic orthodoxy that Luke's choice of style, vocabulary, and content in this short passage reveal a desire to present his work to contemporary readers as 'History' in the great tradition of Thucydides and Polybius. This study challenges that assumption: far from aping the classical historians, Dr Alexander argues, Luke was simply introducing his book in a style that would have been familiar to readers of the scientific and technical manuals which proliferated in the hellenistic world. The book contains a detailed study of these Greek 'scientific' prefaces as well as a word-by-word commentary on the Lucan texts. In her concluding chapters, Alexander seeks to explore the consequences of this alignment both for the literary genre of Luke-Acts (is it meant to be read as 'history'?) and for the social background of the author and the book's first readers.

Art · Gospel · Linguistics · Literature · New Testament · Orthodoxy · Style (visual arts) · Theology · Vocabulary · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classics · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Philosophy

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