Echoes of Scripture in Luke-Acts: Telling the History of God's People Intertextually (Library of New Testament Studies | LNTS)
Overview
Litwak challenges previous studies of the use of the Old Testament in Luke-Acts as inadequate. In contrast to previous studies that consider only quotations or obvious allusions, he examines intertextual echoes of the Old Testament at strategic points in Luke-Acts, as well as quotations and allusions and echoed traditions. Thus, this study's database is larger. Previous studies generally argue that Luke's use of the Scriptures is in the service of Christology. This leads to the exclusion of scriptural citations, such as those of the temptation (Luke 4.1-13) which have different emphases.
Litwak views ecclesiology as the overall purpose behind Luke's use of the Old Testament, but he does not skip or avoid intertextual references that may lie outside an ecclesiological function. Whilst other studies contend that Luke uses the Old Testament according to a promise-fulfillment/proof-form-prophecy hermeneutic, Litwak argues that this fails to account for many of the intertextual references. Other studies often subsume all of Luke's use of the Scriptures of Israel under one theme, such as the 'New Exodus', but this study does not require that every intertextual echo maps to a specific theme. Rather, the many intertextual references in strategic texts at the beginning, middle and end of Luke-Acts, and Luke's use of the texts, are allowed to dictate the 'themes' to which they relate.
Top Highlights
“Steyn argues that Luke made use of the Scriptures of Israel on two levels, informative and normative” (Page 13)
“Jesus uses his own life, death and resurrection to point backwards into the Scriptures of Israel to interpret them, making sense of Israel’s sacred traditions through his own experience, not vice-versa.” (Page 120)
“Luke applies Scripture not to a Gentile church but to an Israel which contains both repentant Jews and Gentiles.” (Page 23)
“Luke-Acts is shaped by Scripture according to a specific genre, that of biblical historiography.” (Page 55)
“citations, allusions, scriptural ideas and scriptural style” (Page 21)
- Title: Echoes of Scripture in Luke-Acts: Telling the History of God's People Intertextually
- Author: Kenneth D. Litwak
- Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group
- Publication Date: 2005
- Pages: 256
- Volume 282 in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement series