What method did the writer use in writing the Gospel of Luke?

Answer 1

A:The most important thing to do is to look at the sources the evangelist used in compiling the Gospel now known as the Gospel of Luke. It has been demonstrated that his primary sources were Mark's Gospel and the Synoptic Source Document, or 'Q' document. Material from these sources was interleaved more or less verbatim and in the same sequence as the author read from his source documents. He probably also used some material from the works of the Jewish historian, Josephus, as he is known to have done for Acts of the Apostles.

When writing his nativity account, he placed the birth of Jesus in the reign of Herod, but also at the time when Quirinius was governor of Syria, almost certainly learning of Quirinius from Josephus. He might not have realised that the reign of Herod does not overlap with the time of Quirinius, leading Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) to say the best explanation is that, although Luke likes to set his Christian drama in the context of well-known events from antiquity, sometimes he does so inaccurately.

The evangelist also wrote a genealogy of Jesus with great men occur in multiples of 7 generations starting from Adam, with: Enoch at 7; Abraham at 21; David at 35; Jesus at 77, as well as other people called Joseph at 42 and 70. To do this, he had to insert his own fictitious people into the Old Testament list: Kainan at 13; Admin at 28. Of course, the genealogy can never be checked for the period following King David. The number 7 and its multiples were important in numerology and Luke was proving that Jesus was destined for greatness, as did Matthew in a completely different genealogy ofr Jesus. Scholars do not believe that either genealogy is strictly historical.

The author of Luke realised that repetition was the best way of getting people to really believe that a story is true. Throughout Luke and Acts, he repeated important themes three times in different contexts, thus ensuring their acceptance.

Answer 2

The Gospel of Luke was originally written anonymously, around the end of the first century or early in the second century and, later in the second century, attributed by the Church Fathers to the apostle whose name it now bears.

Luke was written in Greek Koine, using two main sources: Mark's Gospel and the hypothetical 'Q' document. The opening address to Theophilus was typical of major works written for a rich patron, but is unusual for a work of this size. Many scholars see the reference to Theophilus as a flag indicating credit to the works of Josephus, a technique of attribution often used before the modern technique of providing citations was developed. Josephus had addressed his Antiquities of the Jews (published 93 CE) to Epaphroditus ("Touched by Aphrodite"), so Theophilus ("Friend of God") would be a Christian reversal of that. Certainly, there is textual evidence that the author made use of the works of Josephus to provide historical background for both the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles.

The author of Luke was skilled in the methods of Greek rhetoric and well understood the value of repetition in having readers believe what he had written.