What type of book is the gospel of Luke?

Answer 1

The Gospel of Luke is first of all a gospel, that is, a book written to tell us about the life of Jesus and its meaning for us. It is not an epistle (letter), or a novel (work of fiction) nor yet a footnoted history or autobiography.

In the opening of the gospel Luke claims to have carefully researched what he wrote and to base his account upon eyewitnesses and others who were contemporaries of Jesus. Therefore, it is a historical account, but as it also is intended to produce a belief in Jesus it has an evangelical component.