The Enigma of Saint Luke

We live in a time of great turmoil and uncertainty. The United States government may default in the payment of its obligations. In such times, we cherish the self evident truths, such as, the Gospel of Luke was written by a Gentile physician to an unknown Gentile, possibly a slave in Rome. Cadbury obtained his PhD by taking away Luke's MD and so began a slippery slope of critical cut and paste analysis of words and deeds of limited value. it was not that long ago that people believe that Jesus and all of his followers were all Gentiles. The critical analysis was necessary but perhaps a bit extreme in its undertaking.

There is a paradigm shift occurring not only in Washington DC but also in the thinking of Biblical scholars and everyday Christians. Luke is not only a Jew, he may even be a priest, and most excellent Theophilus is a high ranking appointed Roman official who served as High Priest in Jerusalem. Having said this, we can appreciate that to a long list of descriptive titles, such as Luke as the Gospel of women, Gospel of prayer, we can Luke as the Gospel of irony.

I am reading a very good book on my Kindle by Bruce W. Longenecker wishing it had been available when I was struggling with my book, Who are Johanna and Theophilus?: The Irony of the Intended Audience of the Gospel of Luke. I probably would have cited it in support of several of my arguments. I am also comforted by the fact that I am not the only author confronted by Kindle formatting problems. Introducing Romans: Critical Issues in Paul's Most Famous Letter is a very well written book and I will have more to say about it when I finish reading it and another book Longenecker authored, Remembering the Poor which is not available as an ebook.

Problems with Kindle formatting will past, the debt crisis will be resolved, problems will be solved by people with common sense but lacking PhDs and the way we receive information and the way we think about debt and the Gospel of Luke will dramatically change.

The Role of the Hapax in the Gospel of Luke

Since the days of Henry J. Cadbury, scholars have noted that Luke has used a hapax legomenon as part of their review of a particular periscope. Hapax legomenon is from the Greek ἅπαξ λεγόμενον “[something] said only once.”

In fact, Luke used hundreds of rare words which appears only once in Luke-Acts and nowhere else in the New Testament. I believe Cadbury identified more than 800 Greek words that appear only in Luke-Acts and nowhere else in the New Testament. Luke is certainly a prolific writer and a brilliant wordsmith. However, no one has offered an explanation of why Luke might use so many rare words. Cadbury did not consider the question because he defined hapax as a word appearing once in Luke-Acts and nowhere else in Greek literature.

Luke does so for a simple reason. As noted by Monica Gale, the use of a rare word can be an allusive marker pointing to the use of the same word in another writing. For instance, Luke has used the Greek word

παραδείσῳ in this statement made by Jesus on the cross: ““Today you will be with me in παραδείσῳ.” The translators of the Septuagint called the Garden of Eden planted by God himself, with a river running through it,

παραδείσῳ. This word is not a Lucan hapax because it also appears in 2 Cor 12:4 and Revelation 2:7 but its usage does illustrate the point that Luke is alluding to the idea that paradise is like a Garden of Eden in heaven.

Note that in Luke 16:6-7, the owed amounts are 100 baths of oil and 100 cors of wheat. In Ezra 7:22, we read “up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred cors of wheat, a hundred baths of wine, a hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.” The Greek words for “a hundred cors of wheat” and “a hundred baths of oil” appearing in the Ezra 7:22 (LXX) matches the Greek words appearing in Luke 16:6-7 for these two phrases. Luke is able to use the Greek word batouV as an allusive marker because it is a double hapax legomenon. This means this Greek word appears once in the New Testament in Luke 16:6 but more importantly appears in the Septuagint only in the Book of Ezra (2 Edras).

Gale has indicated that ““The reader is particularly likely to detect allusion where the language is in some way ‘marked’ . . . for example through the use of hapax legomena or other uncharacteristic vocabulary.”” This finding is further confirmed by Jeffrey Leonard’s third principle: ““Shared language that is rare or distinctive suggests a stronger connection than does language that is widely used.”” In this instance, we have two shared phrases. Leonard’s fourth principle states: ““Shared phrases suggest a stronger connection than do individual shared terms.””

My recently published book, Who are Johanna and Theophilus:? The Irony of the Intended Audience of the Gospel of Luke, has a number of examples demonstrating that Luke intended to use rare words as allusive markers. There are of course many more examples which have not yet been identified.

© by Richard H. Anderson, 2011.

　

My Book has been published.

Who are Johanna and Theophilus?: The Irony of the Intended Audience of the Gospel of Luke is now available on Amazon.com as an e-book for only $9.99.

This book is the first comprehensive analysis of the identies of Johanna and Theophilus.