Worldview and metamorphosis in Luke 3.1-4.13

Abstract

After adopting a social-scientific approach for reading the text this thesis examines Luke’s Jewish-based temple theology. It argues that Luke wanted his readers to perceive God’s corporeal presence among them. The second part of the study examines Luke’s aims and intentions and places Luke’s symbolic universe in relationship to Homer’s projection of reality and the repudiation of divine/human corporeal commerce by Greek philosophers. The investigation concludes by describing Luke’s mindset and aims in Luke 3.1–4.13 and language about corporeality and metamorphosis in Luke 3.21-22. By examining Luke’s unique language of a corporeally-descending spirit/dove in Luke 3.22, particularly in light of Luke’s mindset and cultural context, the thesis argues that Luke’s narrative draws upon Jewish expectations about God’s corporeal return to his people. As an educated Hellenistic writer, however, Luke also understands that this temple theology has implications for his urban Christian audience. The Most High’s corporeal descent would have sounded very similar to Homeric paganism and its sanctioned belief in divine/human corporeal commerce, including gods who would alter their form upon their descent to human civilization. Luke also would have been aware of Greek philosophy and its repudiation of divine/human corporeal commerce. Too much scholarship in the last few generations has depicted Luke as if his mindset were similar to Greek philosophical views. But actually Luke’s perception of the world was far more like Homer’s, and this is how we should understand Luke. Arguing that he believed that the presence of the Most High God descended corporeally upon Jesus during his baptism in the metamorphosed form of a peristeros (dove), this thesis explores how the production of Greek allegorical exegesis in Luke’s cultural context gives us the data we need to interpret Luke’s aims responsibly. He wanted to bolster confidence in Jesus by representing Christianity as a more powerful version of Homeric paganism.

Date of Award	21 Jun 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	N. T. Wright (Supervisor)