SOURCE-CRITICAL STUDIES IN LUKE-ACTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR UNDERSTANDING LUKE, THE EVANGELIST

Contemporary scholarship recognises Luke‟s Gospel and Acts of the Apostles as two volumes of Luke‟s one book. This has greatly improved understanding of Luke‟s literary contribution to Jesus‟ story. One gulf yet impedes better knowledge of Luke‟s contribution. For some two centuries now, majority of scholars adopt either the TwoDocument Hypothesis or the Two-Gospel Hypothesis in explaining the composition of Luke‟s Gospel. Observably, the Two-Document Hypothesis ignores, and to some degree, the Two-Gospel Hypothesis glosses over Luke‟s rhetorical concerns and narrative goal in writing, which is central to any utterance. This paper examines the usefulness of these approaches and then presents an alternative one.