The Theology of St. Luke PDF
Preview The Theology of St. Luke
THE THEOLOGY OF LUKE ST. The Theology of St. Luke The Theology of Luke St. by HANS CONZELMANN Translated by GEOFFREY BUSWELL FORTRESS PRESS PHILADELPHIA Acknowledgement is made to Messrs. Seeker and Warburg for permission to quote,onpages 132and 162,twopassagesfromM.Burrows'stranslationofThe DeadSeaScrolls. © Copyright 1961 this translation, Geoffrey Buswell. Copyright © 1960 By Faberand Faber and Harper& Row, Inc. OriginallypublishedbyJ.C. B.Mohr(PaulSiebeck),Tubingen,in 1953(Sec- ond Edition 1957) under the titleDieMineDerZeit. All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permis- sion ofthe publisher. First Fortress Press Edition 1982 Library ofCongressCataloging in Publication Data Conzelmann, Hans. Thetheology ofSt. Luke. Translation of: Die Mitte der Zeit. Originally published: New York: Harper, 1961. Bibliography: p. 235 Includes indexes. 1. Bible. N.T. Luke—Theology. 2. Bible. N.T. Acts—Theology. I. Title. BS2589.C6513 1982 226'.406 82-2372 ISBN 0-8006-1650-2 AACR2 9601B82 Printed in the United States ofAmerica 1-1650 . Contents Introduction page 9 PART ONE Geographical Elements in the Composition ofLuke's Gospel A. Prologue: John the Baptist 18 (a) The Place (b) The significance ofJohn the Baptist according to Luke B. The Course of Jesus' Ministry 27 (a) Galilee (b) The Joumey (c) Jerusalem PART TWO Luke's Eschatology I. The Problem 95 II. Luke and the Eschaton 98 Summary 131 PART THREE God and Redemptive History I. Introduction: The Situation of the Church in the World 1.37 1. The political apologetic 2. The Church and Judaism Conclusion II. The Rule of God in Redemptive History 149 1 The pattern ofthought concerning redemptive history 2. God's plan 3. Election 7 . | — CONTENTS III. The Past page 157 1. Scripture 2. Israel 3. World History PART FOUR The Centre ofHistory I. Introduction 170 II. God and Jesus Christ 170 1 The Christological Titles 2. Father, Son and Spirit III. The Centre of History 185 1. The place ofJesus in history 2. The life ofJesus as a fact of history IV. The Life of Jesus 187 1. Jesus and the world 2. Jesus' life and teaching 3. Jesus' Ministry 4. The Passion 5. Resurrection and Ascension PART FIVE Man and Salvation: the Church I. Introduction 207 II. The Church 209 1. The Beginnings 2. The progress ofthe mission III. The Bearers of the Message 215 IV. The Message 218 V. Man as the Recipient of Salvation 225 1. Conversion 2. The Christian life Bibliography 235 List of Abbreviations 243 Index of Authors 244 Index of Scripture Passages 246 8 Introduction 1. This study ofSt. Luke's theology is, by its approach to the problems, for the most part not dependent on any particular literary theories about St. Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles,foritisconcernedwiththewholeofLuke'swritings as they stand. If these form a self-contained scheme, then for our purposeliterarycritical analysisisonlyofsecondaryimportance. Nevertheless, in this secondary sense it is important, and is We therefore not to be despised. must make it plain, however, that our aim is to elucidate Luke's work in its present form, not to enquire into possible sources or into the historical facts which A provide the material. variety of sources does not necessarily imply a similar variety in the thought and composition of the author. How did it come about, that he brought together these particular materials? Was he able to imprint on them his own views? It is here that the analysis of the sources renders the necessary service ofhelping to distinguish what comes from the sourcefrom what belongs to the author. 2. In Germany during recentdecades the study ofthe Synop- tics has been dominated by Form Criticism.1 There are good reasons for this, but even if we take this method not as in the narrow sense aesthetic but in a wider sense as having a socio- logicaltrend,2itstillhasitslimitations. Itdoesnotmakeliterary critical analysis superfluous; on the contrarythis is presupposed and must becontinued along with Form Criticism.3 Form Criticism arose in part from the destruction of the 'framework ofthe life ofJesus'.4 This was an event ofdecisive 1Theworkofliterarycriticismhascontinuedalongwithit,buthasbeengreatly overshadowed. 1Bultmann, Synoptische Tradition, p. 4. sIbid.,p.3. The appearance ofdetailedliteraryanalyses is in itselfasignthat theseproblemshavenotbeensolved. The EnglishliterarycriticssuchasStreeter andTaylor,whoatfirstevidentlyworkedwithoutaknowledgeofFormCriticism, developeditfurtherafterbecomingawareofitsexistence. *Cf. theworkofK. L. Schmidt. INTRODUCTION significance. Itwasonlynaturalthatattentionshouldturnalmost exclusively to the sections oftradition embedded in this frame- work. The twofold taskpresented itself: thatofdetermining the forms and of making a thorough and detailed analysis of the material.1 However, the study of the framework was at first neglected. It was the question ofthe historical content ofthe life of Jesus that was still being investigated, even though there might be scepticism as to the possibility of reaching definite results.2 Hence interest turned from the framework, now recog- nized as secondary, to the possibly primary materials, and the attempt was made to discover their original form. It was only later that greater attention was given to the framework itself.3 This was not an attempt at reconstruction, but a necessary second stage in the study of the history of the tradition. The separation ofthe framework from the original body oftradition made it possible to see and interpret the framework as an entity in its own right.4 3. One of the main insights of Form Criticism was that the Gospels are in their nature and purpose not a historical record orabiographyofJesus; theirpurpose istheproclamationofsav- ingevents, though, itistrue, ofsuchas inthe author'sviewhave takenplace inhistory. Yet solong a—s study is directedprimarily tothe separ—ateparts ofthetradition stories, sayings, andsmall collections itcan becontentwith ageneral statementofthe in- sight that the formation of the synoptic tradition was deter- mined bythekerygma; butifitapplies itselfmoreto theformof the single Gospel as such, then itmust be moreprecise. Towhat 1Thetwotaskscannotofcoursereally beseparated. YetDibeliusismorecon- cernedwiththeformer,Bultmannwiththelatter. 1One mustnotconfuse scepticism as to method with a general scepticism. Ct. Grobel,pp. 105f. and,forthegeneralbackgroundofthisscepticismastomethod, Bultmann, GlaubenundVerstehen, p. 101. *SpecialmentionmustbemadeinthisconnectionoftheworksofE.Lohmeyer, C. H.DoddandR. H. Lightfoot. 4InthisrespectLohmeyer'sworkon'GalilaaundJerusalem*representsanim- portant step forward as regards method, although there were of course many earlierattempts. It helped to bringthequestion ofthe life ofJesus once again to the fore. Whereas K. L. Schmidt mainly analyses the chronological framework (althoughwithathoroughexaminationofthegeographicalaspects),herethemain emphasisisonthegeographicalframework.Theexaminationofthechronological frameworkisreplacedbytheattempttoidentifythecentrestowhichthelocaltradi- tions belong. Lohmeyer's work isstillofimportance, even ifthedetailed findings cannotbesubstantiated. 10
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