Luke Was Not A Christian: Reading the Third Gospel and Acts within Judaism

Joshua Paul Smith, Ph.D. (2021), University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology, is an adjunct instructor of New Testament and religious studies at several institutions including Central Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas, and Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Contents


Acknowledgements


Abbreviations





1 Introduction


 1 On Method


 2 A Note on Ἰουδαῖοι: Translation and Categorical Criteria


 3 Chapter Summary





2 “As One Zealous for the Law”: Lukan Authorship in Early Christian Memory


 1 The Early Reception of Lukan Authorship


 2 Λουκας in the New Testament


 3 Luke the Evangelist in the Patristic Imagination


 4 Why Was Luke So Variously Remembered?


 5 Conclusion





3 Resurrecting Luke the Author


 1 The Author Is Dead, and We Have Killed Him


 2 Reports of the Author’s Death Were an Exaggeration


 3 “Consulting the Oracle”: Authorship and Luke/Acts


 4 Cultural Intertext


 5 Luke’s Interpretation of Israel’s Scriptures


 6 Social and Cognitive Linguistics


 7 Summary and Conclusion





4 “Beginning with Moses and All the Prophets …”: Luke’s Jewish Interpretation of Israel’s Scriptures


 1 On “Israel’s Scriptures”


 2 On “Jewish Interpretation” and “Christian Interpretation”


 3 Luke’s Interpretation of Israel’s Scriptures: A Brief Overview


 4 “Do You Understand What You Are Reading?”


 5 “Echoes of Luke/Acts in Luke/Acts”: An Exegetical Interlude


 6 A Gentile Proselyte?


 7 A Matter of Time: Luke vs. Justin Martyr


 8 Conclusion





5 “Keeping Yourselves from These Things, You Will Do Well” (Acts 15:29): Luke and Jewish Law


 1 Torah Praxis and Halakha in Luke and Acts


 2 The Apostolic Decree and Moral Impurity


 3 Jewish Festival Observance in Luke and Acts


 4 Conclusion





6 Τὰ Ἔθνη and the Authorship of Luke/Acts: A Socio-Cognitive Perspective


 1 Cognitive Linguistics and Social Identity


 2 Preliminary Considerations


 3 τὰ ἔθνη in Luke and Acts: Mapping an Idealized Cognitive Model


 4 τὰ ἔθνη in Other Early Christian Writings


 5 Conclusion





Summary and Conclusion


 1 Reading Luke and Acts after the Shoah


 2 Conclusion


Appendix: Insider/Outsider Language in Luke and Acts


Bibliography


Index