Fr. Charles with a review on Powell's book about Luke

WHAT ARE THEY SAYING ABOUT LUKE? 

     There is much written by the scholars of the Gospels and one could spend years reviewing literature searches and find any number of pros and cons to the prevailing thoughts about Luke, his Christology, his community and his theology.  In an effort to help the casual student of scripture, I have chosen to write about one particular review which I find comprenhensive.

     This is a review of Mark Allan Powell's book entitled, What Are They Saying About Luke? published by Paulist Press, New York and Mahwah in 1989. Although this book was written over twenty years ago, the researched contained within its covers has not significantly changed over the twenty years. In his book, Powell discusses Luke as the Historian, the Theologian, Artist, and finally he discusses Luke as the Pastor. The book also reviews theories about the composition of the Gospel and Acts, why both were written, the Christology eschatology and salvation history contained within the Gospel, and finally the Gospel understanding of discipleship and Christian life (Powell, pg. 2).

     Powell begins his work by looking at Luke as historian, theologian, and artist. As historian, Luke's work does not follow actual history and therefore scholars call into question Luke's knowledge of particular events and/or the sequence of events that took place prior to his writing the Gospel. Powell gives two examples of this. First, Luke's account of the events of the Jerusalem Council as described in Acts 15 differs greatly with the account of an eyewitness. Second, Luke's knowledge of geography was badly distorted. Powell writes that one scholar wrote, "Jesus' route cannot be reconstructed" (Powell, pg 6).
In defense of Luke, it may be that his intent was not to be an accurate historian but rather to be a Theologian because Paul strongly tied faith to history. Powell quotes I.H. Marshall's work entitled, Luke: Historian and Theologian, "For Luke, faith must be rooted in history, even though it involves more than mere historical facts" and for Powell this means that Luke did not intend himself to be seen as serious historian (Powell, pg 7).

     As a theologian, Luke divides salvation history into three time periods, the time of Israel, the time of Jesus, and the time of the church which combine to cover the entire timeframe from creation to the end of the world (Powell, pg 8). Luke uses these timeframes to show the readers how the Church fits into history and how Jesus relates to the time of Israel and to the present day Church. Powell sites Hans Conzelmann's work entitled The Theology of St. Luke, as evidence that Luke was not a historian but was a theologian (Powell, pg 10).
    

     Luke, the artist, wrote the Gospel weaving a number of themes including faithfulness, justice, and food throughout the text. He also intertwined clarifying meanings to his work and used preview statements that move the reader along to the next message or thought. Powell provides examples of this writing style by sighting the three stories about Jesus eating with sinners and the three stories of Jesus healing on the Sabbath. Each of these stories alone provides a message but together, they provide a deeper understanding of the message being conveyed.

     Powell and others believe that "more than anything else, it is Luke's concept of divine purpose that makes his two-volume work a ‘narrative unity'" (Powell, pg 13). Powell points out that the God's purpose is disclosed in key points throughout the Gospel and Acts including the Annunciation (Luke 1:24-38), the prophetic predictions contained in chapter one, and the quotations from Scripture found in chapters three and four. (Powell, pg 13). However, despite God's joyful revelation to his people and Jesus walking among his people, the Gospel story is really a tragic story about the people's rejection of God's purpose and plan.
    

    When reviewing the composition and authorship of Luke's Gospel, Powell clearly states "Luke's Gospel is anonymous" (Powell, pg. 16) despite the Church attributing the work to Luke, the physician who was Paul's companion. It is universally understood that the work is anonymous which is supported by the fact that the writer of the Gospel did not know Paul or have a clear understanding of Paul's theology. If the author were Luke the companion of Paul then one would expect a more comprehensive understanding of his mentor. As to the sources of the material used by the author, it is generally accepted that much of the work was taken from Mark and from other unnamed sources which most likely including the use of the Q source. Powell points out challenges in identifying what sources were used by Luke and which were not and why. An entire paper would be written about his one subject but for this writing it is suffice to state Luke's writing about his understanding of salvation history and the tragic rejection of God's purpose contribute to scholars identifying Luke as a theologian.
Like the author of the Gospel, the location of Luke's community is unknown but the concerns of the community were known. The community itself was most likely a Jewish-Christian community who were familiar with trials and tribulation of being Jewish and Christian. One of the greatest issues the community faced was how to deal with the parousia which was thought to be imminent. It was from this concern that in Luke's theology emerges the philosophy that parousia is always imminent. Luke sees the future is indefinite and therefore the Church and the community will not know when Christ will return so they must live indefinitely in anticipation of parousia which, according to Luke, could occur at any moment (Powell, pg 44). In addition to the issue of parousia, Luke had to deal with the more immediate issue of false teaching.

     Luke's Gospel actively defends against false teaching especially against those who preached against Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Luke takes pains in explaining how the apostles witnessed Jesus' life, death and resurrection and because they were eyewitnesses to Jesus, they are the legitimate interpreters of Holy Scripture (Powell, pg. 46). If the reader of the Gospel understands Luke's battle with the Gnostics over Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, the reader may achieve a deeper understanding to the meaning of the Gospel and its importance of understanding the humanness of Jesus.

     Within the Gospel justification is given to support Luke's claim that Gentiles are part of God's plan for salvation. Luke points out that Jesus commissioned his disciples to preach the word to "all nations" (Luke 24:46-49) and to further support his understanding of God's message, Luke references the Old Testament concerning Jesus being the "light to all nations" (Luke 2:22). This means that his mission has to include Gentiles so they become Christian. However, for Luke being Christian meant that the Gentiles needed to become part of the Jewish community, at least this is the theory proposed by Jacob Jervell in his book Luke and the People of God. According to Jervell, Luke believed that "outside the Jewish community there is no salvation" (Powell, pg 57).

     The Christology within Luke's Gospel has been gleamed from the titles he uses of Jesus. Luke uses the tiles of Christ of God, King, Lord, Master, Prophet, Savior, Servant, Son of David, Son of God, Son of Man and teacher, however his favorite or most often use titles are Christ and Lord. Yet for Luke the title, Christ of God is most important title given to Jesus because it the title given by God (Powell, pgs 61-62). It signifies the sonship of Jesus to the Father.

     Another important point in Luke's Christology is the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Luke presents the risen Jesus not through historical facts of an empty tomb or Jesus appearance to his disciples after his resurrection but through the words of the resurrected Jesus. Jesus opens the eyes of his disciples through his words with them after the resurrection (Powell, pg 72) which in turn transforms the disciples and dispels any doubt about Jesus and God's message.
The political issues in Luke's Gospel are seen by some scholars as an apology for the delayed in parousia and an attempt at defining how the community will co-exist with the rest of world until Christ returns (Powell, pg 83). Thus, according to Powell, Philip Esler sees the Gospel written to reassure the Roman Christians of the "possibility of joint allegiance to the empire and the faith" (Powell, Pg 84). By doing this, Luke provides the Roman Christians legitimacy within the Christian Roman world (Powell, pg 85). Also, Luke provides the community with rules for living peacefully by following the way of Jesus. He shows Jesus as the one who does not condemn the enemy but dines with them nor he does not reject the outcasts of society but dines with them as a means to demonstrate how they should conduct their lives. This message of loving one's enemy is even demonstrated in Luke's passion narrative where Jesus forgives the men who crucified him.

     In Luke's Gospel, he writes about the role of women and their importance within the community. The message although challenged by some scholars, is to emphasize Christ inclusive ministry as evidence by Jesus placing the importance women being equal to men. Yet, some believe that Luke's intent was not to promote women's equality but rather to challenge any women's role outside that of providing material support to men (Powell, pgs 94-95). Again, this is another subject that an entire paper could be written about but would not resolve or sway scholars one way or another in their interpretations of what Luke's purpose was on this matter.

     Finally, Powell presents Luke as pastor. It is, according to Powell and others that Luke's intent was to teach the community to live using Jesus as their model. That is that they need take up their mission as witnesses to Jesus' life, death and resurrection (Powell, pg 105). For Luke the Christian life should not focus on just the cross or on parousia but on the "entire life of Jesus including his birth, ministry, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension and parousia" (Powell, pg 106). If the community focused on the entire life of Jesus, they would do so through fellowship, worship and prayer, teaching and mission. Fellowship in the early church centered on meals and as Powell quotes Robert Karris "food is life and the sharing of food is the sharing of life" which may the greatest definition of early church fellowship.
 

     Along with fellowship comes worship and prayer. It is in Luke's Gospel that Jesus' disciples ask him to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1) and it is the prayers of praise that occurs more often in Luke's Gospels than in the other Gospels (Powell, pg. 115). Examples of praise prayers can be found in Luke 2:14, 2:20, 17:11, and 23:47. It is the prayers of praise which scholars have labeled Luke's theology as the "theology of joy". It is precisely this joy that is the goal of Christians to live joyfully while alive and to look forward to a joyful existence after death with the fulfillment of salvation.

     What are they saying about Luke? Lots, and as Powell points out, over the next twenty-five years more will be revealed and more will be understood about the writings of Luke.