The Theology of St. Luke

258 Pages·1982·28.698 MB·English

by  Conzelmann, Hans

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