Luke Timothy Johnson provides the Catholic perspective for the book “Four Views on the Apostle Paul.” What he has to say is that Acts, despite being indispensable for our understanding Paul’s life, was written by Luke, and therefore any search for Paul’s thought cannot be done in Acts. (Location 1034) Johnson then goes on to say that the reasons for rejecting six of Paul’s letters are “formally and materially flawed.” (Location 1062)
St. Luke was born a Gentile Greek, possibly in Syria. He is commonly attributed to writing the Gospel According to Luke and Acts of the Apostles. He was also called a physician by St. Paul, Eusebius, and St. Jerome (D). Luke’s evangelical symbol is the ox or calf, which represent Jesus’ sacrifice as Messiah. Luke is the patron saint of physicians and surgeons (D).
Luke stayed up one night and saw Jason on the phone, he had never seen a phone before, he said. As he was walking over to him trying to be as quiet as possible, he heard him talking to someone, and light shining on his face. So he walked up to Jason and listened to his conversation, he was on the phone with a man? He was indeed on the phone with the population police, telling them all about all the third children in the school and their real names. As he was telling the story, Luke was looking at his book he figured it would be the best idea to hit Jason in the back of the head with it, so he did.
1) The New Testament was written soon after Jesus died so the Bible writers could not lie. Many people who knew Jesus were still alive, and they would catch any lie in the Bible. 2) Other men (men with funny names like Tacitus, Josephus, and Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus) wrote history books soon after Jesus died.
Jesus and the Eye Witnesses The new-found knowledge on the eyewitnesses of the Gospels is crucial for many people who read the Bible seeking the word of God. Now more than ever, one can a comprehensive understanding of Jesus and his historical walk journey on this Earth. For a long time, the Gospels were believed to be based on word of mouth, passed along many years after the apostles and eyewitnesses walked the earth. However, it is now known that the Gospels were written in the 60s while eyewitness accounts were still alive and a lot earlier than it was always believed to have been written. The first Gospel (of Mark) for instance, was written in the 60s, during that time.
The book of Acts is one of my favorites in the New Testament! Though it is not known exactly when it was written, Luke "probably [wrote it] no later than the early 60's” (195). This book has had either the full attention or complete denial of the Church for centuries. I believe that Luke's primary purpose for writing this book was to teach the Church of the New Covenant how to use and to be led by the Holy Spirit. Without it, the Church today would not have a clear vision of what our ministry is intended to look like, nor would we have as much understanding of the value and power of walking with and in, and being filled with and baptized in, the Holy Spirit.
THE BOOK OF ACTS SPEAKS Who Wrote the Book of ACTS? Luke: The Physician, the Brother of Titus wrote The Book of Luke and The Book of Acts. Where Are We?
As I did research on the book of Acts, I found out that Luke actually wrote this book. Some say that the book of Acts is almost like a sequel or a continuation on the Gospel of Luke. Like the the book of Luke, it is also addressed to the same man which is Theophilus. Even though the author was not identified by name in either book, the opinion of the majority of early Christians and the supporting evidence from within the two books do in fact point to Luke. The Holy Spirit inspired Luke to write to Theophilus to fill a need in the church-- specifically to the first Gentile Christians throughout the middle-eastern and Mediterranean regions of the Roman Empire.
Luke wrote the book of Acts to someone named Theophilus. We do not know who Theophilus was, but it was someone who had much honor back in that time. The book of Acts is mostly all about the coming and works of the Holy Spirit in the building of the first church. Throughout the entire book, there is account after account of works and miracles of the disciples with the power of the Holy Spirit. Some of the disciples were persecuted because of what they were doing and under the name that they were doing them under, which is in the name of Jesus.
Luke had an amazing point of literary excellence and huge attention to historical detail. Luke was a physician and he loved and cared for people of all kinds, which is shown all the way throughout the entire
Luke is emphasizing that Jesus’s birth was foreseen. John the Baptist is also the one to baptize Jesus later in the Gospel. And this event of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist is told in both
Historical Context The Gospel of Luke has no explicitly specified time that is was written. Some say between 58 and 65 AD, while others say as late as 70 to 90 AD. While they may not agree on the time, Luke’s gospel is widely viewed as the most meticulous and detailed, including many facts that the other authors failed to include, as a result, it is also the longest. Luke collated his information from a variety of sources and tried to come to more logical, reasonable and accurate ways of personifying Jesus.
Luke reveals not only Mary’s unique greatness but portrays her as the first and most wonderful of all believers. This has led to speculation that Luke may derive from Mary’s own testimony (Hanh). This is particularly so with the Lucan infancy narrative (Lk 1-2), where she is at the centre of the story. Luke recounts the Annunciation (Lk 1:26-38), of Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth who pronounces her “blessed” (Lk 1:42), and of Jesus’ birth in a manager (Lk 2:5-7).
Most scholars believe that the letters to Timothy and Titus were not actually written by Paul, but instead are the work of one or more later writers attempting to appropriate Pauline authority. There are two common opinion about the nature of Pauline pseudonymity. The first argues that it was a deliberate attempt to hoodwink readers, trying to falsely acquire respect for a position by attributing it to an authoritative source. The second viewpoint is that in many ancient philosophical and religious contexts, followers would write what they thought were the ideas of a deceased leader under the name of that leader as a way of honoring him or her. In either case, [Paul] (or pseudo-Paul, sometimes abbreviated ps.-Paul) reflects not the early stage of Christianity of Paul 's life time, but instead a later evolution of the Church into something more convention and hierarchical.
In the Bible, and especially in Luke historical groups of people can be analyzed through different lenses of scripture. This can reveal truths on how Jesus thinks about people and social situations as well as teach what is expected of us as Christians. The Gospels, especially Luke, show God and Jesus in a different light, more so than many other books of the bible. The Gospel of Luke deals with many issues related to social groups, money, sin, and miracles.
