Luke the Priest The Authority of the Author of the Third Gospel

This book focuses on the authority and status of the author of Luke-Acts. What authority did he have to write a Gospel, to interpret the Jewish Scriptures and traditions of Israel, to interpret the Jesus traditions, and to update the narrative with a second volume with its interpretation of Paul and the other apostles who appear in the Acts narrative? Rick Strelan constructs the author as a Jewish Priest, examining such issues as writing and orality, authority and tradition, and the status and role of priests. The analysis is set within the context of scholarly opinion about the author, the intended audience and other related issues.

Contents: Preface; Introduction; Who were the Gospel writers?; Gospels, authors and authority; The status of Luke in scholarship; Why write another Gospel?; Owning, controlling, guarding the traditions; The oral and the written; Luke in the tradition; Luke among the scholars; Luke the priest; Luke as authoritative interpreter of Scripture; Luke as interpreter of the Jesus tradtions; Luke as interpreter of Paul; Conclusion; Bibliography; Indexes.

Rick Strelan is an ordained Lutheran who, on the completion of his PhD dissertation on Paul, Artemis and Jews in Ephesus (1995), took up a lecturing position at the University of Queensland. In addition to the publication of his thesis (1996), he has published Crossing the Boundaries: A commentary on Mark (1991), and Strange Acts: Studies in the cultural world of the Acts of the Apostles (2004). He has also published in many of the leading New Testament journals. Rick is currently Head of the Studies in Religion department and Senior Lecturer in New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Queensland, Australia.