Date of Award
9-1985
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Theology
First Advisor
William S. Kurz
Second Advisor
Richard A. Edwards
Third Advisor
Joseph T. Lienhard
Fourth Advisor
John J. Schmitt
Fifth Advisor
Carol K. Stockhausen
Abstract
One of the questions with which Luke deals in his two-volume work, Luke-Acts, is that of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. Does Luke still consider the Jews as the People of God or have they been replaced by Christians as a new People of God? There is within the Lucan text a number of confrontation and rejection pericopes in which Jesus or one of his agents (Peter and Paul) suffer confrontation and rejection at the hands of the Jewish people. In spite of this, missionary effort towards the Jewish people is continued with some success. Six of these pericopes are the object of this study because of a common pattern and setting. Each is set within the context of the temple or synagogue. In addition, two of these pericopes are placed within the ministry of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, two within the Church's Jerusalem ministry and the remaining two within the ministry of Paul to diaspora Jews and Gentiles in the Acts of the Apostles. The method used in this study is rhetorical criticism which looks at a pericope within the context of the entire work and asks how the pericope functions within the text and what light such an analysis sheds on the text. These six pericopes for Luke functions within the context of "Promise and fulfillment." The actions of the Jews are part of this schema. Rejection and confrontation are used by Luke to show how the work of Jesus and the early Church continues. Hence, these pericopes function as a "plot device." In general, Luke's attitude towards the Jews is double-edged; there is no wholesale rejection of the Jews. Christianity, which included both Jews and Gentiles in its earliest days, is the legitimate extension of Judaism. Only those Jews who do not accept Jesus are cut off from the People of God.