Luke the Historian of Israel's Legacy, Theologian of Israel's 'Christ': A New Reading of the 'Gospel Acts' of Luke

by David Paul Moessner

Overview

David Moessner proposes a new understanding of the relation of Luke’s second volume to his Gospel to open up a whole new reading of Luke’s foundational contribution to the New Testament. For postmodern readers who find Acts a ‘generic outlier,’ dangling tenuously somewhere between the ‘mainland’ of the evangelists and the ‘Peloponnese’ of Paul—diffused and confused and shunted to the backwaters of the New Testament by these signature corpora—Moessner plunges his readers into the hermeneutical atmosphere of Greek narrative poetics and elaboration of multi-volume works to inhale the rhetorical swells that animate Luke’s first readers in their engagement of his narrative. In this collection of twelve of his essays, re-contextualized and re-organized into five major topical movements, Moessner showcases multiple Hellenistic texts and rhetorical tropes to spotlight the various signals Luke provides his readers of the multiple ways his Acts will follow "all that Jesus began to do and to teach" (Acts 1:1) and, consequently, bring coherence to this dominant block of the New Testament that has long been split apart. By collapsing the world of Jesus into the words and deeds of his followers, Luke re-configures the significance of Israel’s "Christ" and the "Reign" of Israel’s God for all peoples and places to create a new account of ‘Gospel Acts,’ discrete and distinctively different than the "narrative" of the "many" (Luke 1:1). Luke the Historian of Israel’s Legacy combines what no analysis of the Lukan writings has previously accomplished, integrating seamlessly two ‘generically-estranged’ volumes into one new whole from the intent of the one composer. For Luke is the Hellenistic historian and simultaneously ‘biblical’ theologian who arranges the one "plan of God" read from the script of the Jewish scriptures—parts and whole, severally and together—as the saving ‘script’ for the whole world through Israel’s suffering and raised up "Christ," Jesus of Nazareth. In the introductions to each major theme of the essays, this noted scholar of the Lukan writings offers an epitome of the main features of Luke’s theological ‘thought,’ and, in a final Conclusions chapter, weaves together a comprehensive synthesis of this new reading of the whole.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783110391961
Publisher:	De Gruyter
Publication date:	07/25/2016
Series:	Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft , #182
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	385
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David P. Moessner, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Enigma in Two volumes 1

The 'Gospel Acts' of Luke: Hellenistic History as 'Biblical' Theology 1

The Luke-Acts Conundrum 1

Events, Fiction, and the Hermeneutics of Luke's Narrative Persuasion 3

Biblical Texts and Intertexts as Narrative 'Arranging' and Intratextual 'Sequencing' for Luke the Hellenistic Historian and 'Biblical' Theologian 7

Part I Luke's 'Gospel Acts' and the Genre of the Gospels 11

Chapter 1 How Luke Writes 13

Chapter 2 Re-Reading Talbert's Luke: The Bios of "Balance" or the "Bias" of History? 39

[Short Excursus: Richard Burridge's What are the Gospels?

A Comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography, Cambridge University Press, 1992] 64

Part II Luke's Prologues and Hellenistic Narrative Hermeneutics 67

Chapter 3 The Author 'Luke': "As One Who Has a Thoroughly Informed Familiarity with All the Events from the Top" (παρηκολουθηκοτι ανωθεν πασιν ακριβως, Luke 1:3a) 68

Chapter 4 The Meaning of ΚΑΘΕΞΗΣ in Luke's Two-Volume Narrative 108

Part III Luke among Hellenistic Historians 125

Chapter 5 'Listening Posts' Along the Way: 'Synchronisms' as Metaleptic Prompts to the 'Continuity of the Narrative' in Polybius's Histories and in Luke's 'Gospel Acts' 127

Chapter 6 'Managing' the Audience: Diodorus Siculus and Luke the Evangelist on Designing Authorial Intent 154

Chapter 7 A New Reading of Luke's 'Gospel Acts': Acts as the 'Metaleptic' Collapse of Luke and Dionysius of Halicarnassus's Narrative 'Arrangement' (οικονομια) as the Hermeneutical Keys to Luke's Re-Visioning of the "Many" 172

Part IV Luke's Theologia Cruets. The Suffering Servant(s) of the Lord: Moses, David, the Suffering Righteous, and Jesus and "All The Prophets" 201

Chapter 8 Luke 9:1-50: Luke's Preview of the Journey of the Prophet like Moses of Deuteronomy 205

Chapter 9 "The Christ Must Suffer": New Light On The Jesus - Peter, Stephen, Paul Parallels in Luke's'Gospel Acts' 238

Chapter 10 Luke's "Plan of God" from the Greek Psalter: The Rhetorical Thrust of 'The Prophets and the Psalms' in Peter's Speech at Pentecost 272

Part V Luke, the Church, and Israel's Legacy 289

Chapter 11 Paul in Acts: Preacher of Eschatological Repentance to Israel 292

Chapter 12 Das Doppelwerk des Lukas und Heil als Geschichte. Oscar Cullmanns auffälliges Schweigen bezüglich des stärksten Befürworters seiner Konzeption der Heilsgeschichte im Neuen Testament 302

Conclusion: Luke the Hellenistic Historian of Israel's Legacy, Theologian of Israel's 'Christ' 315

I Luke is a Configurer (ποιητης) of oral and written traditions concerning events and matters purporting to have taken place in the real world of the author. By 'arranging' a new narrative sequence different from a number of predecessors, Luke imparts a new cognitive and affective understanding of these happenings 315

1 Patterns of Recurrence from Authoritative Written and Oral Traditions 317

2 Patterns of Recurrence of 'First Person' Participation within the Described Events 328

3 Patterns of Recurrence Attributed to an Overarching Divine Will, Fate, or Necessity 330

II Luke is a Manager (οικονομος) of the Narrative 'Economy' (οικονομια). As rhetorical elaborator, Luke turns to various tropes of conventional poetics to effect the understanding of the events that he wishes his audience to attain. 332

1 Luke's'beginning' (η αρχη) for his two-volume work forecasts the plot and sets the tone for the whole: Israel's "Christ" of the scriptures "must suffer and rise up" and Jesus of Nazareth is that "Christ." 334

2 The metaleptic collapse within Luke's secondary prooimion pulls Paul into the 'continuity of the narrative' as central to the two-volume narrative 'arrangement' so that Paul emerges as chief "witness" of the Christ's "anointed" sending to Israel and the nations-"to the end of the earth." 336

Finale: Luke the Historian, Biblical Theologian of Israel's "Christ" 339

Bibliography 340

Index 358

Editorial Reviews

"The book is certainly worth recommending to every theological library."
Zdzislaw J. Kapera in: The Polish Journal of Biblical Research 16, 2017, pp. 102-103

"[...] I came away with a deeper understanding of Moessner’s significant contribution [...]"
Joshua W. Jipp in: Journal of Evangelical Theological Society (2018), 647-649

"We have here, in this important collection, the fruits of a life-time of informed reflection on Luke and Acts in their original literary setting. The exegetical proposals are argued with exceptional care, the comparisons with Hellenistic literature are uniformly insightful, and the attempt to read Luke-Acts through Greco-Roman historiography is convincing."
Dale C. Allison, Jr., Princeton Theological Seminary

"David Moessner’s collection of learned essays impressively synthesizes his sustained scholarly exploration of Luke-Acts as a coherent narrative. Moessner portrays Luke as simultaneously a Hellenistic historian embodying Greco-Roman literary theory and practice and a biblical theologian deeply engaged with interpretation of Israel’s Scripture. No other scholar has so carefully delineated the implications of reading Luke’s work as a fusion of these streams of tradition. This book is essential reading for interpreters of Luke’s Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles."
Richard B. Hays, George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament, The Divinity School, Duke University

"Professor Moessner has for many years made significant contributions to our understanding of Luke-Acts, contributions based in part on his deep learning in ancient literary theory, in part on his close exegesis of Luke's language, and in part on his firm grasp of the theological framework within which Luke works. The present volume of studies enables scholars — who may have been aware only of scattered essays — to appreciate the full range and depth of his scholarship."
Luke Timothy Johnson, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, Emory University

"David Moessner has devoted decades to puzzling out the narrative poetics and biblical theology of the double-work, Luke-Acts. These rich and insightful essays are filled with the important results of his research, both in Hellenistic historiography and in patient reading of the Lukan work itself, in conversation with scholarship on ancient historiography, rhetoric, and narrative poetics, contemporary narrative theory, and biblical theology. The present volume offers a fresh and comprehensive picture of the compositional praxis and results of the work of "the first biblical theologian" with which all New Testament scholars will want to contend."
Margaret M. Mitchell, Shailer Mathews Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature, The University of Chicago

"David Moessner setzt bei den Aporien des Zueinanders von Lukasevangelium und Apostelgeschichte an. Da er die Einheit der beiden als antiken Vorgaben folgende Erzählung ernst nimmt, gelingt es ihm, viele Aporien bisheriger Forschung einer Lösung zuzuführen. Moessner beschreibt Lukas konsequent als rhetorisch begabten Theologen, dessen Werk nicht als antike Biographie, sondern als historia zu deuten ist: Das lukanische Doppelwerk versteht Moessner als Erzählung über das Ziel der Schriften Israels, welches durch den Gesalbten Israels, Jesus von Nazaret, in Szene gesetzt wird. Der Text ist Schrift über den „Plan Gottes" mit Israel und der Welt. Moessner hat hier weit mehr als eine Sammlung von Aufsätzen vorgelegt, nämlich das gewichtige, hoch spannend zu lesende Resultat der Forschung vieler Jahre. Wer sich mit dem lukanischen Doppelwerk beschäftigt, sollte an diesem Buch nicht vorüber gehen."
Tobias Nicklas, Universität Regensburg

“This volume brings together previously published essays by David Moessner, a leading and distinctive voice in Lukan studies for over three decades. But this is more than a collection of disparate and occasional essays; by providing contextualizing introductions to each of the five parts and re-configuring each of the essays, Moessner offers an internally coherent and brilliantly compelling thesis: Luke the Hellenistic historian and biblical theologian has deployed various rhetorical conventions and a configuring and re-configuring of Israel’s scriptures and “things that have come to full flowering among us” to present the “plan of God” who intends to act salvifically through Israel’s suffering Christ for Israel and the world. This volume demands and deserves a hearing with every serious student of Luke and Acts.”
Mikeal C. Parsons, Professor and Macon Chair in Religion, Baylor University

"Moessner’s essays, spanning over 30 years of study of the Lukan writings, profoundly affect our understanding of Luke’s literary and theological achievements. The insistence on seeing Luke and Acts as a single whole (‘Gospel Acts’), the comparisons drawn between Luke and other historians of the time, especially those writing large-scale histories, and the analysis of the fundamental importance of Jewish scripture for Luke, are timely and compelling. The resulting picture of Luke as a ‘biblical theologian’, precisely as a ‘historian’, is hugely impressive in its scope and detail. Moessner’s work will be essential reading for all engaged in Lukan studies for many years to come."
Christopher Tuckett, Emeritus Professor of New Testament Studies, University of Oxford

"Die Arbeiten von David Moessner zum Lukasevangelium und zur Apostelgeschichte gehören seit vielen Jahren zu den wichtigsten Beiträgen, die zum Verständnis dieser beiden Bücher des Neuen Testaments geschrieben worden sind. Sie zeichnen sich samt und sonders durch exegetische Genauigkeit und theologisches Reflexionsvermögen aus, und darum haben sie unser exegetisches, literarisches und theologisches Verständnis des lukanischen Doppelwerks in herausragender Weise bereichert. In den vorliegenden Band haben die wichtigsten Arbeiten Moessners Eingang gefunden. Sie wurden für die neuerliche Publikation überarbeitet sowie durch neue Einleitungen und Zusammenfassungen aufeinander abgestimmt. Auf diese Weise ist ein Band entstanden, der sich durch außerordentliche Kohärenz auszeichnet und ein eindrucksvolles Gesamtbild der Theologie des auctors ad Theophilum entstehen lässt. Dafür schuldet die Lukasforschung David Moessner großen Dank. Man braucht nicht viel Phantasie, um voraussagen zu können, dass dieses Buch auf Grund der Einsichten, die es vermittelt, zu einem für die Lukasforschung unverzichtbaren Standardwerk wird."
Michael Wolter, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

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