The Preface to Luke's Gospel (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780521018814)

Luke's two-volume work begins with a formal preface unlike anything else in the New Testament, and it has long been academic orthodoxy that Luke's choice of style, vocabulary, and content in this short passage reveal a desire to present his work to contemporary readers as 'History' in the great tradition of Thucydides and Polybius. This study challenges that assumption: far from aping the classical historians, Dr Alexander argues, Luke was simply introducing his book in a style that would have been familiar to readers of the scientific and technical manuals which proliferated in the hellenistic world. The book contains a detailed study of these Greek 'scientific' prefaces as well as a word-by-word commentary on the Lucan texts. In her concluding chapters, Alexander seeks to explore the consequences of this alignment both for the literary genre of Luke-Acts (is it meant to be read as 'history'?) and for the social background of the author and the book's first readers.

Author: Loveday Alexander
ISBN-10: 0521018811
ISBN-13: 9780521018814
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 10/13/2005
Pages: 268
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.76lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.61d