Editing Gospel of Luke (section)

==={{anchor|Authorship}}Luke–Acts: unity, authorship and date===
{{see also|Authorship of Luke–Acts}}
{{stack|[[File:Codex Macedoniensis, subscriptio to Luke.jpg|thumb|200px|''Subscriptio'' to the Gospel of Luke in Codex Macedoniensis 034 (Gregory-Aland), 9th century.]]}}
The gospel of Luke and the [[Acts of the Apostles]] make up a two-volume work which scholars call [[Luke–Acts]].{{sfn|Burkett|2002|p=195}} Together they account for 27.5% of the [[New Testament]], the largest contribution by a single author, providing the framework for both the Church's liturgical calendar and the historical outline into which later generations have fitted their idea of the story of [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]].{{sfn|Boring|2012|p=556}}

The author is not named in either volume,{{sfn|Burkett|2002|p=196}} but he was educated, a man of means, probably urban, and someone who respected manual work, although not a worker himself; this is significant, because more [[highbrow]] writers of the time looked down on the artisans and small business-people who made up the early church of Paul and who were presumably Luke's audience.{{sfn|Green|1997|p=35}} According to a Church tradition first recorded by [[Irenaeus]] ({{c.|AD 130|AD 202}}) he was the [[Luke the Evangelist|Luke]] named as a companion of [[Apostle Paul|Paul]] in three of the Pauline letters, but "a critical consensus emphasizes the countless contradictions between the account in Acts and the authentic Pauline letters":{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|p=32}} an example can be seen by comparing Acts' accounts of Paul's conversion (Acts 9:1–31,<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts|9:1–31}}</ref> Acts 22:6–21,<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts|22:6–21}}</ref> and Acts 26:9–23)<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts|26:9–23}}</ref> with Paul's own statement that he remained unknown to Christians in Judea after that event in Galatians 1:17–24,<ref>{{bibleverse|Galatians|1:17–24}}</ref>{{sfn|Perkins|1998|p=253}}), and while the author of the Gospel of Luke clearly admired Paul, his theology differs significantly from Paul's on key points and he does not represent Paul's views accurately.{{sfn|Boring|2012|p=590}} Many modern scholars have therefore expressed doubt that the author of Luke-Acts was the physician Luke, and critical opinion on the subject was assessed to be roughly evenly divided near the end of the 20th century.<ref name="Brown 1997 267–8">{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Raymond E. |author-link=Raymond E. Brown |title=Introduction to the New Testament |year=1997 |publisher=Anchor Bible |location=New York |isbn=0-385-24767-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontone00brow_0/page/267 267–8] |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontone00brow_0/page/267 }}</ref> Most scholars maintain that the author of [[Luke-Acts]], whether named Luke or not, met Paul.<ref>{{cite book |last= Keener |first= Craig |author-link=Craig Keener |year=2015 |title=Acts: An Exegetical Commentary (Volume 1) |publisher= Baker Academic |page=402 |isbn=978-0801039898}}</ref>

The interpretation of the "we" passages in Acts as indicative that the writer relied on a historical eyewitness (whether Luke the evangelist or not), remains the most influential in current biblical studies.<ref>"A glance at recent extended treatments of the "we" passages and commentaries demonstrates that, within biblical scholarship, solutions in the historical eyewitness traditions continue to be the most influential explanations for the first-person plural style in Acts. Of the two latest full-length studies on the "we" passages, for example, one argues that the first-person accounts came from Silas, a companion of Paul but not the author, and the other proposes that first-person narration was Luke's (Paul's companion and the author of Acts) method of communicating his participation in the events narrated.17

17. Jurgen Wehnert, Die Wir-Passegen der Apostelgeschitchte: Ein lukanisches Stilmittel aus judischer Tradition (GTA 40; Gottingen: Vanderhoeck & Ruprecht, 1989); Claus-Jurgen Thornton, Der Zeuge des Zeugen: Lukas als Historiker der Paulus reisen (WUNT 56; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1991). See also, Barrett, Acts of the Apostles, and Fitzmyer, Acts of the Apostles.", Campbell, "The "we" passages in the Acts of the Apostles: the narrator as narrative", p. 8 (2007). Society of Biblical Literature.</ref> Objections to this viewpoint, among others, include the claim that Luke-Acts contains differences in theology and historical narrative which are irreconcilable with the authentic letters of [[Paul the Apostle]].<ref>"The principle essay in this regard is P. Vielhauer, 'On the "Paulinism" of Acts', in L.E. Keck and J. L. Martyn (eds.), Studies in Luke-Acts (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975), 33-50, who suggests that Luke's presentation of Paul was, on several fronts, a contradiction of Paul's own letters (e.g. attitudes on natural theology, Jewish law, christology, eschatology). This has become the standard position in German scholarship, e.g., Conzelmann, Acts; J. Roloff, Die Apostelgeschichte (NTD; Berlin: Evangelische, 1981) 2-5; Schille, Apostelgeschichte des Lukas, 48-52. This position has been challenged most recently by Porter, "The Paul of Acts and the Paul of the Letters: Some Common Misconceptions', in his Paul of Acts, 187-206. See also I.H. Marshall, The Acts of the Apostles (TNTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; Leister: InterVarsity Press, 1980) 42-44; E.E. Ellis, The Gospel of Luke (NCB; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 2nd edn, 1974) 45-47.", Pearson, "Corresponding sense: Paul, dialectic, and Gadamer", Biblical Interpretation Series, p. 101 (2001). Brill.</ref>

The eclipse of the traditional attribution to Luke the companion of Paul has meant that an early date for the gospel is now rarely put forward.{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|p=32}} Most scholars date the composition of the combined work to around AD 80–90, and there is textual evidence (the conflicts between Western and Alexandrian manuscript families) that Luke–Acts was still being substantially revised well into the 2nd century.{{sfn|Perkins|2009|pp=250–53}}<ref>{{Cite book
|last = Charlesworth
|first = James H.
|title = The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide
|publisher = Abingdon Press
|year = 2008
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YTIGy5t45WgC&pg=PT64
|isbn = 978-1-4267-2475-6
}}</ref>