Luke's Jesus: Between Incarnation and Crucifixion

by Joseph Blenkinsopp

Overview

The third evangelist tells the story of Jesus in clear, dramatically compelling, and humanly moving terms. His Jesus is a man of great power, a deep sense of mission, and profound compassion for those on the outskirts of society. And Luke's Gospel has the best stories—that is, parables—including a number that are unique to him. Luke's story fills in the gap between "born of the virgin Mary" and "suffered under Pontius Pilate" in the Apostles' Creed. While it is usually important for those who write biography to report how the lives of their subjects began and ended, Luke's story of Jesus's birth differs from Matthew's version, and the conclusion to Luke's account of Jesus's life ends neither with his death nor with his resurrection but with his being taken up from the earth to the heavens. The Gospel of Luke is historical in its approach, for which there are no apologies: a historical reading follows necessarily from the Christian doctrine of the incarnation, which teaches that God has entered the history of humanity through Jesus. At the same time, Luke's approach is theological: together with the other evangelists, Luke intends to show his readers that in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, God has drawn near to humanity in an inexpressible and unique way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506471839
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	10/12/2021
Pages:	114
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Joseph Blenkinsopp is the John A. O'Brien Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, where he has lived and worked since 1970. He is the author of dozens of books, the most recent of which include Essays on the Book of Isaiah (2019), The Beauty of Holiness: Re-Reading Isaiah in the Light of the Psalms (2018), and Essays on Pre-Hellenistic Judaism (2017).

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Principal Abbreviations xi

1 The Author: Luke 1

2 The Subject: Jesus 5

3 Family, Social Status, and Wealth: The Families of Jesus 15

4 John and Jesus: Preparation in the Wilderness 23

5 Jesus the Miracle Worker 29

6 Jesus the Galilean 37

7 Jesus the Teacher 51

8 Jesus the Storyteller: Four Parables 65

9 Two Parables about Rich Men 83

10 Summary 101

Suggestions for Further Reading 103

Notes 107

Editorial Reviews

"Luke's Jesus is a personal and faith-oriented exploration of Jesus as we find him in Luke's Gospel, with plenty of attention to historical questions that situate Jesus in his time and place. When a scholar of Joseph Blenkinsopp's renown writes a short book on Jesus, we know immediately to find a comfortable chair and an hour or two to read it from cover to cover." —Joel B. Green, Fuller Theological Seminary

"Sometimes short books are the best, and Joseph Blenkinsopp's study of Luke's Gospel is one of those sorts of books—well written, clear and to the point, reflecting a lifetime of laboring in the vineyard of Holy Scripture, and bringing to bear his previous scholarly work on the Old Testament Prophets and the Pentateuch in ways that helpfully illuminate Luke's Gospel. Especially helpful is Blenkinsopp's treatment of the Lukan form of Jesus's teachings on wealth and poverty and on those six narrative parables that are unique to Luke's Gospel. This little book does what C. H. Dodd said about the parables themselves: it 'teases the mind into active thought.'" —Ben Witherington III, Asbury Theological Seminary

From the Publisher