Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T14:06:23.293Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Studies in Luke-Acts: Retrospect and Prospect*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

François Bovon
François Bovon
Affiliation:
University of Geneva
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Let me begin with a personal note. Three experiences in my work on Luke-Acts will explain both the selection of the topics I shall discuss in this article and my view of the present situation in the study of Luke-Acts.

(1) After ten years of reading the recent studies of Luke-Acts and then working on the text itself, I made the observation that the general understanding of the theology of the Gospel of Luke on the basis of its redactional elements was rarely helpful in my effort of writing a commentary on this Gospel. Just as contributors to the more recent volumes of the Theological Dictionary to the New Testament no longer propose interpretations generally applicable to all three synoptic Gospels, the exegete working with a particular pericope can no longer be satisfied with generalizations about Lukan theology. Indeed, such general assumptions may actually be impediments rather than useful tools for the understanding of a particular text. This is not universally recognized because the attention of scholars has been held by another problem, namely, the substitution of a diachronic redactional interpretation of the Gospels by a synchronic literary interpretation. The underlying dilemma is, of course, the old question of the connection between exegesis and biblical theology. A promising solution might be to immerse oneself into a single relevant text, as Odette Mainville has done in her recent dissertation on Acts 2:33, and to obtain universality through the understanding of particularity—in other words, to follow Kierkegaard rather than Hegel.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 85 , Issue 2 , April 1992 , pp. 175 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

** François Bovon will join the faculty of Harvard Divinity School as Frothingham Professor of New Testament Studies in the fall of 1993.

1 Bovon, François, Luke the Theologian: Thirty-Three Years of Research (1950–1983) (Princeton Theological Monograph Series 12; Allison Park, PA: Pickwick, 1987) esp. 418Google Scholar.

2 Bovon, François, L'Evangile selon saint Luc (1,1–9,50) (Commentaire du Nouveau Testament 3a; Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1991)Google Scholar.

3 See, for example, Schweizer, Eduard, “υἱòς κτλ.,” TDNT 8 (1972) 363–92Google Scholar.

4 For examples of this approach, see Talbert, Charles H., Reading Luke: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Third Gospel (New York: Crossroad, 1982)Google Scholar; Tannehill, Robert C., The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts: A Literary Interpretation (Foundations and Facets; 2 vols.; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986)Google Scholar; Meynet, Roland, Quelle est done cette Parole? Lecture “rhétorique”; de l'Evangile de Luc (1–9, 22–24) (LD 99; 2 vols.; Paris: Cerf, 1979)Google Scholar; idem, L'Evangile selonsaint Luc. Analyse rhétorique (2 vols.; Paris: Cerf, 1988)Google Scholar; idem, Avez-vous lu saint Luc? Guide pour la rencontre (Lire la Bible 88; Paris: Cerf, 1990)Google Scholar; and Aletti, Jean-Noël, L'art de raconter Jésus-Christ. L'écriture narrative de l'évangile de Luc (Parole de Dieu; Paris: Seuil, 1989)Google Scholar.

5 Mainville, Odette, L'Esprit dans l'œuvre de Luc (Héritage et Projet 45; Québec: Fides, 1991)Google Scholar. An exhaustive analysis of a single verse, Acts 2:33, opens the door to a general understanding of the Holy Spirit in Luke-Acts; in turn, this understanding displays the connections with such vital issues as the Hebrew scriptures, christology, and ecclesiology.

6 Koester, Helmut and Bovon, François, Genèse de l'écriture chrétienne (Mémoires premières; Turnhout: Brepols, 1991)Google Scholar.

7 Pervo, Richard, Profit with Delight: The Literary Genre of the Acts of the Apostles (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987)Google Scholar.

8 Tertullian Marc. 4.

9 Lévi-Strauss, Claude, Tristes tropiques (Le monde en 10 × 18, 12–13; Paris: Union Générate d'éditions, 1962)Google Scholar.

10 Barthes, Roland, Bovon, François, Leenhardt, Franz J., Martin-Archard, Robert, and Starobinski, Jean, Structural Analysis and Biblical Exegesis: Interpretational Essays (PTMS 3; Pittsburgh: Pickwick, 1974)Google Scholar.

11 See the periodical of CADIR, Sémiotique et Bible, as well as one of their publications, Groupe d'Entrevernes, Signs and Parables: Semiotics and Gospel Texts (PTMS 23; Pittsburgh: Pickwick, 1978)Google Scholar.

12 Bovon, François, “Le dépassement de l'esprit historique,” in Le Christianisme est-il unereligion du livre? Actes du colloque organisé par la Faculté de théologie protestante de l'Université des sciences humaines de Strasbourg du 20 au 23 mai 1981 (Etudes et travaux 5; Strasbourg: Association des publications de la Faculté de théologie protestante et Association de la civilisation romaine, 1984) 111–24Google Scholar.

13 McKnight, Edgar V., Meaning in Texts: The Historical Shaping of a Narrative Hermeneutics (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978)Google Scholar.

14 Bovon, François, “Hermann Gunkel, Historian and Exegete of Literary Forms,” in idem and Rouiller, Grégoire, eds., Exegesis: Problems of Method and Exercises in Reading (Genesis 22 and Luke 15) (PTMS 21; Pittsburgh: Pickwick, 1978) 124–42Google Scholar.

15 Farmer, William R., The Synoptic Problem: A Critical Analysis (2d ed.; Dillsboro, NC: Western North Carolina Press, 1976)Google Scholar.

16 Goulder, Michael D., Luke: A New Paradigm (JSNTSup 20; 2 vols.; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1989)Google Scholar.

17 Ibid., 1. 22–23.

18 Ibid., 1. 22.

19 I was not entirely convinced by Tuckett, C. M., ed., Synoptic Studies: The Ampleforth Conferences of 1982 and 1983 (JSNTSup 7; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1984)Google Scholar, and particularly by the article by H. Benedict Green “The Credibility of Luke's Transformation of Matthew” (pp. 131–55) in that volume.

20 Boismard, Marie-Emile, Lamouille, Arnaud, and Sandevoir, P., Synopse des quatre Évangiles en français, vol. 2: Commentaire (Paris: Cerf, 1972)Google Scholar.

21 Rolland, Philippe, Les premiers évangiles. Un nouveau regard sur le problème synoptique (LD 116; Paris: Cerf, 1984)Google Scholar.

22 Koester, Helmut, Ancient Christian Gospels: Their History and Development (Philadelphia: Trinity, 1990) 334–36Google Scholar; François Bovon, L'Evangile selon saint Luc, 27–29.

23 Gerhardsson, Birger, Memory and Manuscript: Oral Tradition and Written Transmissionin Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity (ASNU 22; Lund: Gleerup, 1961)Google Scholar.

24 Mowinckel, Sigmund, Erwägungen zur Pentateuchquellenfrage (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1964)Google Scholar.

25 See Helmut Koester, Ancient Christian Gospels, 75–128; Friedrichsen, Timothy A., “The Matthew-Luke Agreements Against Mark,” in Neirynck, F., ed., L'Évangile du Luc: The Gospel of Luke (BETL 32; 2d ed.; Leuven: Leuven University Press and Peeters, 1989) 335–92Google Scholar.

26 Lührmann, Dieter, Die Redaktion der Logienquelle. Anhang: Zur weiteren Überlieferung der Logienquelle (WMANT 33; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1969)Google Scholar; Hoffmann, Paul, Studien zur Theologie der Logienquelle (NTAbh n.s. 8; 3d ed.; Monster: Aschendorff, 1982)Google Scholar; Schürmann, Heinz, Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zu den synoptischen Evangelien Beiträge (Kommentare und Beiträge zum Alten und Neuen Testament; Düsseldorf: Patmos, 1968)Google Scholar.

27 Kloppenborg, John S., The Formation of Q: Trajectories in Ancient Wisdom Collections (Studies in Antiquity and Christianity; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987)Google Scholar; Piper, Ronald A., Wisdom in the Q-tradition: The Aphoristic Teaching of Jesus (SNSTMS 61; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sato, Migaku, Q und Prophetie, Studien zur Gattungs- und Traditionsgeschichte der Quelle Q (WUNT 2, Reihe 29; Tübingen: Mohr, 1988)Google Scholar; Zeller, Dieter, Kommentar zur Logienquelle (Stuttgarter Kleiner Kommentar, Neues Testament 21; Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1984)Google Scholar; Delobel, Joël, ed., Logia, Les paroles de Jésus — The Sayings of Jesus, Memorial J. Coppens (BETL 49; Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1982)Google Scholar.

28 Petzke, Gerd, Das Sondergut des Evangeliums nach Lukas (Zürcher Werkkommentare zur Bibel; Zürich: Theologischer Verlag, 1990)Google Scholar.

29 Petzke (ibid., 235–41) explains well how one should deal with myths in a scientific century through Entmythologisierung and Remythisierung, in dialogue with Rudolf Bultmann, on the one side, and Eugen Drewermann, on the other.

30 The Gospel According to St. Luke (The New Testament in Greek 3; ed. American and British Committees of the International Greek New Testament Project; 2 vols.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1984–1987Google Scholar).

31 Metzger, Bruce M., A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (London/New York: United Bible Societies, 1971) 155Google Scholar.

32 Vaganay, Léon and Amphoux, Christian-Bernard, Initiation a la critique textuelle duNouveau Testament (2d ed.; Paris, Cerf, 1986)Google Scholar; ET: An Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism (trans. Heimerdinger, Jenny; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991)Google Scholar.

33 Boismard, Marie-Emile and Lamouille, Arnaud, Le texte occidental des Actes. Reconsti-tution et réhabilitation (Synthèse 17; 2 vols.; Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1984)Google Scholar. Since 1984 these authors have published a large commentary on the Book of Acts: idem, Les Actes des deux apôtres (ÉtBib n.s. 12–14; 3 vols.; Paris: Gabalda, 1990)Google Scholar.

34 Delebecque, Edouard, Les deux Actes des apôtres (ÉtBib n.s. 6; Paris: Gabalda, 1986)Google Scholar.

35 Martin, Victor and Kasser, Rodolphe, Papyrus Bodmer XIV–XV, Évangile de Luc et de Jean, P75 (2 vols.; Cologne/Geneva: Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, 1961)Google Scholar.

36 Blass, Friedrich, Acta apostolorum, sive Lucae ad Theophilum liber alter, editio philologica (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1895)Google Scholar.

37 Vaganay and Amphoux, Introduction, 171.

38 Amphoux, Christian-Bernard, “Les premières éditions de Luc, I, Le texte de Luc 5,” EThL 67 (1991) 312–27Google Scholar; idem, “Les premières éditions de Luc, II, L'histoire du texte au IIe siècle,” EThL 68 (1992) 38–48Google Scholar.

39 Kelber, Werner, “Redaction Criticism: On the Nature and Exposition of the Gospels,” Perspectives in Religious Studies 6 (1979) 14Google Scholar, quoted in Talbert, Reading Luke, 2.

40 Talbert, Reading Luke.

41 Ibid., 5.

42 One of these propositions has been criticized; it does not seem that a genre has existed with (1) the life of the founder, and (2) the story of his successors. See Balch, David L., “The Genre of Luke-Acts: Individual Biography, Adventure Novel, or Political History?” South-western Journal of Theology 33 (1990) 5–6Google Scholar.

43 Conzelmann, Hans, Die Mitte der Zeit, Studien zur Theologie des Lukas (2d ed.; BHTh 17; Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1962)Google Scholar.

44 Tannehill, The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts.

45 Ibid., 1.1.

46 Ibid.

47 Ibid., 1.2.

48 See Meynet's first work, Quelle est done cette Parole! 1. 11–19.

49 Meynet, L'Evangile selon saint Luc.

50 Meynet, Avez-vous lu saint Luc?

51 Talbert, Reading Luke, 114–19.

52 Meynet, Avez-vous lu saint Luci 32–37.

53 Tannehill, The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts, 216–17.

54 See the appendix below for a discussion of the work of Jean-Noël Aletti.

55 Jervell, Jacob, Luke and the People of God: A New Look at Luke-Acts (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984)Google Scholar. For my own opinion on this position, see Bovon, Luke the Theologian, 334–39.

56 Bovon, Luke the Theologian, 323–39.

57 “Jean-Paul Sartre répond,” L'Arc 30 (1966) 95Google Scholar.

58 Brawley, Robert L., Luke-Acts and the Jews: Conflict, Apology, and Conciliation (SBLMS 33; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987)Google Scholar.

59 Ibid., 159.

60 Sanders, Jack T., The Jews in Luke-Acts (London: SCM, 1987)Google Scholar; idem, “The Jewish People in Luke-Acts,” in Tyson, Joseph B., ed., Luke-Acts and the Jewish People: Eight Critical Perspectives (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1988) 51–75Google Scholar; idem, “Who Is a Jew and Who Is a Gentile in the Book of Acts?” NTS 37 (1991) 434–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

61 Sanders, “Who Is a Jew,” 436.

62 Klinghardt, Matthias, Das lukanische Verständnis des Geseties nach Herkunft, Funktion und seinem Ort in der Geschichte der Urchristentums (WUNT 2, Reihe 3; Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1988)Google Scholar.

63 Salo, Kalervo, Luke's Treatment of the Law: A Redaction-Critical Investigation (Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae, Dissertationes humanarum litterarum 57; Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1991)Google Scholar.

64 Esler, Philip F., Community and Gospel in Luke-Acts: The Social and Political Motivations of Luc an Theology (SNTSMS 57; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

65 The studies of all these scholars, as well as those of Hans Conzelmann, Ernst Haenchen, and Jacob Jervell are discussed in Bovon, Luke the Theologian, 323–13.

66 Bovon, François, “Israel, die Kirche und die Völker im lukanischen Doppelwerk,” ThLZ 108 (1983) cols. 403–14Google Scholar.

67 Bovon, François, ‘”Schön hat der heilige Geist durch den Propheten Jesaja zu euren Vätern gesprochen’ (Apg 28,25),” ZNW 75 (1984) 345–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

68 On the topic of Luke and Judaism see also Wills, Lawrence M., “The Depiction of the Jews in Acts,” JBL 110 (1991) 631–54Google Scholar; and Neale, David A., None but the Sinners: ReligiousCategories in Gospel of Luke (JSNTSup 58; Sheffield; Sheffield Academic Press, 1991)Google Scholar. That Jesus is for the sinners and against the Pharisees is, according to Neale, not a historical memory but an ideological interpretation. On Luke's view of the temple, see Bovon, L'Evangile selon saint Luc, 139 n. 28 (with bibliography).

69 Vielhauer, Philipp, “Zum ‘Paulinismus’ der Apostelgeschichte,” EvTh 10 (1950–1951) 1–15Google Scholar, reprinted as idem, Aufsätze zum Neuen Testament (ThBü 31; Munich: Kaiser, 1965) 9–27Google Scholar; Conzelmann, Die Mitte der Zeit.

70 Schürmann, Heinz, Das Lukasevangelium I (HThKNT 3; Freiburg; Herder, 1969)Google Scholar; Ernst, Joseph, Das Evangelium nach Lukas übersetzt und erklärt (RNT; Regensburg: Pustet, 1977)Google Scholar; George, Augustin, Etudes sur l'œuvre de Luc (SB; Paris: Gabalda, 1978)Google Scholar; Schneider, Gerhard, Das Evangelium nach Lukas (Oekumenischer Taschenbuch-Kommentar zum Neuen Testament 3.1–2; 2d ed.; 2 vols.; Gütersloh: Gütersloh Verlagshaus and Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 1984)Google Scholar; Fitzmyer, Joseph A., The Gospel According to Luke (AB 28–28A; 2 vols.; New York: Doubleday, 1981–1985)Google Scholar.

71 A bibliography of Dupont's works can be found in A cause de l’ Evangile: Études sur les Synoptiques et les Actes offertes au P. Jacques Dupont O. S. B à l'occasion de son 70e anniversaire (LD 123; Paris: Cerf and Bruges: Saint-André, 1985) 809–26Google Scholar.

72 Kränkl, Emmeram, Jesus, der Knecht Gottes: Die heilsgeschichtliche Stellung Jesu in den Reden der Apostelgeschichte (Biblische Untersuchungen 8; Regensburg: Pustet, 1972)Google Scholar; Lohfink, Gerhard, Die Himmelfahrt Jesu: Untersuchungen zu den Himmelfahrts- und Erhöhungstexten bei Lukas (SANT 26; Munich: Kösel, 1971)Google Scholar.

73 O'Toole, Robert F., The Unity of Luke's Theology: An Analysis of Luke-Acts (Good News Studies 9; Wilmington, DE: Glazier, 1984)Google Scholar; Karris, Robert J., Luke: Artist and Theologian: Luke's Passion Account as Literature (Theological Inquiries; New York: Paulist, 1985)Google Scholar.

74 Schottroff, Luise and Stegemann, Wolfgang, Jesus von Nazareth: Hoffnung der Armen (Urban Taschenbücher 639; 2d ed.; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1981)Google Scholar.

75 Ford, Josephine Massyngbaerde, My Enemy is My Guest: Jesus and Violence in Luke (New York: Crossroad, 1984)Google Scholar.

76 Drewermann, Eugen, Dein Name ist wie der Geschmack des Lebens: Tiefenpsychologische Deutung der Kindheitgeschichte nach dem Lukasevangelium (Freiburg: Herder, 1986)Google Scholar.

77 See above n. 28.

78 Erlemann, Karl, Das Bild Gottes in den synoptischen Gleichnissen (BWANT 126; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1988)Google Scholar.

79 Moessner, David P., Lord of the Banquet: The Literary and Theological Significance of the Lukan Travel Narrative (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989) 290Google Scholar.

80 Koester, Ancient Christian Gospels, 334–36; Bovon, L'Evangile selon saint Luc, 27–29.

81 Roberts, Colin H. and Skeat, T. C., The Birth of the Codex (The British Academy; London/New York: Oxford University Press, 1983)Google Scholar.

82 Bovon, L'Evangile selon saint Luc, 226–27.

83 Aletti, , L'art de raconter Jésus-Christ. Space does not allow me to give justice to Charles L'Eplattenier, Lecture de l'évangile Luc (Paris: Desclée, 1982)Google Scholar. It is also important to mention Barr, David L. and Wentling, Judith L., “The Conventions of Classical Biography and the Genre of Luke-Acts: A Preliminary Study,” in Talbert, Charles H., ed., Luke-Acts: New Perspectives from the Society of Biblical Literature (New York: Crossroad, 1984) 63–88Google Scholar.