The Prominence of Women in Luke’s Gospel

Women are mentioned frequently in all four of the New Testament Gospels, but they are especially prominent in the Gospel of Luke. Since this prominence is a radical departure from the ancient androcentric view of society, what literary source could have influenced Luke?

Pseudo-Philo also provides a remarkable amount of attention to women in the narrative who are honored, with the exception of Delilah and Mican’s mother. Pseudo-Philo’s interest in women is truly noteworthy.

I mention Pseudo-Philo in connection with the Gospel of Luke because Luke may have utilized it as a source. Pseudo-Philo was composed in Palestine in Hebrew using a Palestinian biblical text current in the area before the destruction of the Temple.

Certain themes are important to Pseudo-Philo including God’s covenant with Israel, idolatry, slaves and servants, women and angelology. Since these themes are also important to Luke, I have concluded that Pseudo-Philo may have been a possible source for Luke. Eckhart Reinmuth and P.M. Bogaert have also pointed to striking similarities between Luke-Acts and the Liber biblicarum antiquitatum of Pseudo-Philo which I believe has important implications for understanding Luke-Acts in its Jewish context. I will be exploring this further.

copyrighted 2005