The Gospel Of Luke: Source Analysis

Historical, critical scholarship is used in the Gospels to understand how the author planned to influence the original audience based on the text. There are 6 concepts of historical, critical scholarship which includes; form, audience, text, source, redaction, and canon criticism. Form criticism identifies the type and function of the literature. Audience criticism identifies the audience that the text is intended for and how it should affect the audience. Text criticism recognizes the original or oldest copy of the text. Source criticism identifies where the author got their information from. Redaction criticism looks at how the author may have changed the original text. Canon criticism analyzes how the text became sacred. It is important to understand the historical, critical scholarship, to better understand each Gospel’s characteristics.

Luke wrote to a Greco-Roman audience with an appeal for peasants and slaves, to claim the universality of Christianity and persuade that Jesus is the messiah. In Luke, Jesus is represented as one who forgives sinners, disregards the social order, and overturns conventional beliefs. The author of the Gospel of Luke gives off the idea of being well-educated. It has also been recognized that Luke was not an eyewitness to the experiences he talks about, but he did go on missionary journeys with Paul. Luke’s original Gospel was in Greek and had an early reference of 200. Luke draws upon Mark, Q, and the Greek version of the Jewish Bible. About two thirds of Mark’s Gospel is used in Luke. However, Luke does add stories of infancy and post resurrection appearance. Redaction criticism is recognized when you see the emphasis Luke places on praying and the Holy