Luke/Acts and the End of History (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft Book 238)

This book began as an agging question, posed well before Ib egan my doctoral work: how do ancient writers make sense of experience, especiallyn egative experience? Forreasons thatIhope will become obvious, this became aset of questions about how texts portrayt he structure of time, what they saya bout divine and human agency in history,a nd whyL uke/Acts in particularh as been at the centre of controversy over just these questions.Ibecame fascinated by the ways the post-war context had shaped the most influential of modernL ukan scholars and their concepts of delayedp arousia, theologia gloria,a nd salvation-historicalparadigms.When Ifound these same ideas embedded deep within the assumptions and footnotes of contemporary commentaries and introductory textbooks,this book-or,moreprecisely, the 2017 Oxford doctoral dissertation on which it is based-started to take shape. By examining Luke/Acts alongsidet en contemporaneous texts,Ihope to illuminatethese themes of history,time, and divine and human agency. These are themesw hich, in turn, are essential for understanding other matters-like how ancient writers explain experience, includingnegative experience, and their approaches to hope, politics, and divine justice. As well as having something helpful to sayabout these themes in Luke/Acts, my hope is that this studyisawayof hosting aconversation about these big ideas, and about how we go about doing Lukans tudies when it comes to these kinds of questions. This book is itself the product of manye arlier conversations. It is also the product of the support and care of ag reat number of people, to whom Io we much more thant hese notes of thanks can say. To my doctoral supervisors, Christopher Rowland and Markus Bockmuehl, I owe ag reat debt of thanks. They werei deal supervisors, excellent individually and formidable in combination. Chris'sc areful questioning in the earlys tages of my project sharpened my questions; Markus'si nsightful suggestions for further readingl ikewise shaped my thinkinga nd research. They bothh avea deep familiarity with an extraordinary rangeo fp rimary texts,a nd discussions with them helped me to identify the scholarlyp atterns and assumptions that layb ehind so much of what Iwas wanting to question about Luke/Acts. Emails and conversations with Chris retain his characteristic mix of intellectual insight and pastoral depth. I'ms imilarlya ppreciative of Markus'sc onsistent work with me in the years following Chris'sretirement,for his absolute commitment to supporting my professional development as well as my doctoral project,and for his kindness. Giventhe breadth of my project,Ihave boldlyenlisted the expertise of scholars from diverse areas,and Iamvery grateful for the good humour and excellent advice particularlyofBarnaby Taylor,Tristan Franklinos, and TessaRajak. Loren Stuckenbruck offered enthusiastic support of my project and ap republication copy of his recent work on time in Second Temple Judaism and the New Testament,a nd John Barclayg enerouslye ngaged with me about his work on 4E zra. Martin Bauspieß and Michael Tilley happilym ade themselvesa vailable to discuss Lukan eschatology in and around Tübingen, and Michael Wolter has been ag reat encouragement ever since he gave the responset oarelated paper Ip resented in Bonn. I'ma lso much obliged to the classicists who welcomed me into the Princeton-Oxford Classics conference and gave me helpful feedback, as well as to the communities of biblical scholars who gave me feedback on papers related to parts of this work, includingthe British New Testament Society Acts session, the Society of Biblical Literature Acts session, the New Testament graduatea nd senior seminars at Oxford, and the members of the Texts, Traditions, and EarlyC hristian Identities team at Australian Catholic University. Ia mg rateful to my examiners, LovedayA lexander and Teresa Morgan, as well as to those who gave feedback on my doctoral project at the earlier internal stages of assessment: David Lincicum, Mary Marshall, and Christopher Tuckett.I also welcomed comments from two anonymous reviewers on behalf of the BZNW series editors. Together they have all helped to strengthen,refine, and correct my work; anyr emainingw eaknesses are all my own doing.Ihave been privileged with an amazing team of proof-readers, both for the thesis and the finished book. Thanksg ot ot he marvellous Nicholas Moore (who read and commented on ac onsiderable proportion of the thesis manuscript), Christine Joynes, Jenny Crane,S arah Leeser,R oosmarijn de Geus, Sarah Apetrei, and Sam Kiss. And my sinceret hanks to Martin Wright,who was not daunted by the book'sl onger manuscript,p roducing indexes and identifying errors with characteristic efficiency,a ccuracy,and good humour.Iam alsograteful for the care and efficient work of the de Gruyter editorial team and the BZNW series editors. Over the course of this project,Ihavebeen the grateful recipient of generous financial support from the Clarendon fund, the Keble Association, Ivens-Franklin Travel Fund, Alan Stockbridge Award, Squire and Marriott Bursaries, Crewdson Fund, and abursary from Gladstone'slibrary.A cademiccommunities have supported me in manifold ways;I'mgrateful for the communities at Keble and Trinity Colleges and ACU, and the extraordinary hospitality of JennyR ead-Heimerdinger,w ho welcomed me into her research house in Wales for an intense week of writing. Thanks are duetothose who supported my academic work in earlier stages, particularlyBrendan Byrne,who taught me to read Luke in new ways and super-VIII Preface vised my Masters thesis, and DorothyLee, who taught me manythings, not least the surprising reality that NT Greek readingcould be agood class with which to ease backi nto studya fter ab ereavement! And thanks to Sean Winter,who encouraged me to consider the outlandishp ossibility of undertaking doctoral work in the UK. Finally, to the communities who have supported me through this time of research and the long road thatled to it: thankyou. Forall thosewho have shared meals over the years, exchanged tense messages over particularlyf rustrating chapters, or discussed the frivolous and the divine, shared joy and profound grief, and politics and faith and theodicy-thank you, and maythe conversation (and meals) continue! Whether in Oxford or in MelbourneIh aveb een so fortunate to have extraordinary friends around me, and-conscious of the inadequacy of anylist of names-Iwould like particularlytothank: Sam Kiss, Roosmarijn de Geus, JennyC rane,

Luke/Acts and the End of History investigates how understandings of history in diverse texts of the Graeco-Roman period illuminate Lukan eschatology. In addition to Luke/Acts, it considers ten comparison texts as detailed case studies throughout the monograph: Polybius's Histories, Diodorus Siculus's Library of History, Virgil's Aeneid, Valerius Maximus's Memorable Doings and Sayings, Tacitus’s Histories, 2 Maccabees, the Qumran War Scroll, Josephus's Jewish War, 4 Ezra, and 2 Baruch.

The study makes a contribution both in its method and in the questions it asks. By placing Luke/Acts alongside a broad range of texts from Luke's wider cultural setting, it overcomes two methodological shortfalls frequently evident in recent research: limiting comparisons of key themes to texts of similar genre, and separating non-Jewish from Jewish parallels. Further, by posing fresh questions designed to reveal writers' underlying conceptions of history—such as beliefs about the shape and end of history or divine and human agency in history—this monograph challenges the enduring tendency to underestimate the centrality of eschatology for Luke's account. Influential post-war scholarship reflected powerful concerns about "salvation history" arising from its particular historical setting, and criticised Luke for focusing on history instead of eschatology due to the parousia’s delay. Though some elements of this thesis have been challenged, Luke continues to be associated with concerns about the delayed parousia, affecting contemporary interpretation. By contrast, this study suggests that viewing Luke/Acts within a broader range of texts from Luke's literary context highlights his underlying teleological conception of history. It demonstrates not only that Luke retains a sense of eschatological urgency seen in other New Testament texts, but a structuring of history more akin to the literature of late Second Temple Judaism than the non-Jewish Graeco-Roman historiographies with which Luke/Acts is more commonly compared. The results clarify not only Lukan eschatology, but related concerns or effects of his eschatology, such as Luke’s politics and approach to suffering. This monograph thereby offers an important corrective to readings of Luke/Acts based on established exegetical habits, and will help to inform interpretation for scholars and students of Luke/Acts as well as classicists and theologians interested in these key questions.

La 4e de couverture indique : "Two types of exegetical habits shape interpretations of Lukan eschatology: enduring assumptions when approaching the text that, in contrast to his synoptic siblings, Luke has removed eschatological interest in response to the delayed parousia; and recent tendencies to focus on genre and thus to compare Luke/Acts to (predominantly) non-Jewish Graeco-Roman historiographies, where themes of an eschatalogical character do not feature. This study takes a fresh approach, demonstrating the need to consider Luke's text within its broader literary context, providing a rigorous methodology for cross-genre comparisons of themes which transcend generic boundaries, and ultimately reasserting the importance of Luke's understanding of the end of history as it reshapes experience in the present." "Two types of exegetical habits shape interpretations of Lukan eschatology: enduring assumptions when approaching the text that, in contrast to his synoptic siblings, Luke has removed eschatological interest in response to the delayed parousia; and recent tendencies to focus on genre and thus to compare Luke/Acts to (predominantly) non-Jewish Graeco-Roman historiographies, where themes of an eschatalogical character do not feature. This study takes a fresh approach, demonstrating the need to consider Luke's text within its broader literary context, providing a rigorous methodology for cross-genre comparisons of themes which transcend generic boundaries, and ultimately reasserting the importance of Luke's understanding of the end of history as it reshapes experience in the present."-- Back cover Publisher's description: Luke/Acts and the End of History investigates how understandings of history in diverse texts of the Graeco-Roman period illuminate Lukan eschatology. In addition to Luke/Acts, it considers ten comparison texts as detailed case studies throughout the monograph: Polybius's Histories, Diodorus Siculus's Library of History, Virgil's Aeneid, Valerius Maximus's Memorable Doings and Sayings, Tacitus's Histories, 2 Maccabees, the Qumran War Scroll, Josephus's Jewish War, 4 Ezra, and 2 Baruch Preface 7 Contents 11 Abbreviations 15 Translations 17 Chapter 1: Introduction 19 Chapter 2: Genre, themes that transcend genre, and the approach of this study 39 Chapter 3: The direction and shape of history 75 Chapter 4: Determinism and divine guidance of history 153 Chapter 5: Human responsibility and freedom 223 Chapter 6: The present and the end of history 287 Chapter 7: Conclusion 354 Appendices 363 Bibliography 371 Index of ancient sources 398 Index of modern authors 426 Index of subjects 432