Luke's Jewish Eschatology: The National Restoration of Israel in Luke-Acts

by Isaac W. Oliver

Overview

Luke, the eponymous author of the gospel that bears his name as well as the book of Acts, wrote the largest portion of the New Testament. Luke is generally thought to be a gentile. This book addresses a question raised by Jesus's disciples at the very beginning of Acts: "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" The question is freighted with political and national significance as it inquires about the restoration of political sovereignty to the Jewish people. This book investigates Luke's perspective on the salvation of Israel in light of Jewish restoration eschatology. It situates Luke-Acts in the aftermath of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The author of Luke-Acts did not write the Jews off but still awaited the restoration of Israel. Luke conceived of Israel's eschatological restoration in traditional Jewish terms. The nation of Israel would experience liberation in the fullest sense, including national and political restoration. Luke's Jewish Eschatology builds upon the appreciation of the Jewish character of early Christianity in the decades after the Holocaust, which has witnessed the reclamation of the Jewishness of the historical Jesus and even Paul.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197530580
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2021
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Isaac W. Oliver (PhD, University of Michigan) is an associate professor at the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies, Bradley University. Oliver has edited and published several works on ancient Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, including, Torah Praxis after 70 CE: Reading Matthew and Luke-Acts as Jewish Texts (Mohr Siebeck, 2013).

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Introduction

Chapter Two: Israel's National Restoration in Luke's Infancy Narrative

Chapter Three: Jesus Messiah Son of David

Chapter Four: Jerusalem and the Restoration of Israel in the Gospel of Luke

Chapter Five: The Acts of the Apostles and the National Restoration of Israel

Chapter Six: Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

"In this insightful study, Oliver challenges common readings of Luke's soteriology to propose a nuanced and historically grounded way of reading the duology...As the "parting of the ways" becomes increasingly dissolved in the study of Jewish and Christian origins, taking other unsustainable dichotomies with it, Oliver contributes an important rethinking of Lukan eschatology." — Margaret Froelich, Religious Studies Review

"He has clearly produced a book that makes a tremendous contribution to Luke—Acts studies. He has adequately defended a position concerning the redemption of Israel and gospel studies, and I highly encourage Luke—Acts scholars to add this to their collection." — Ron Clark, George Fox University, Society of Biblical Literature

"Those curious to know of early Christianity and the Jewish exile under the Roman occupation of Palestine would profit much from this book, and, some theological background will make the reading fruitful." — Joseph Puthenkulam, Vidyajoti Journal of Theological Reflection

"Those curious to know of early Christianity and the Jewish exile under the Roman occupation of Palestine would profit much from this book, and, some theological background will make the reading fruitful." — Joseph Puthenkulam, Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection

"Oliver is to be thanked for giving us a substantive volume on Lucan eschatology. The recovery of this lost theme with its corrective does NT study a great service." — Darrell L. Bock, Reviews of the Enoch Seminar

"Finally, a volume that appreciates Luke's ongoing interest in the salvation of the Jewish people, continuing concern for the promises to David, and both the particularistic and universalistic implications of Jewish theology. Oliver offers not only a brilliant corrective to the anti-Jewish implications of much of Luke-Acts scholarship but also an engagingly written, fully documented historical analysis." — Amy-Jill Levine, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies, Vanderbilt University

"Isaac Oliver presents a powerful and well-substantiated reading of Luke-Acts as a Jewish text where the restoration of Israel as a collective and concrete event is never out of sight. Luke-Acts is seen as expressing eschatological hopes for all Israel and all creation, that is, explicitly Jewish hopes for the universal dimension of God's intervention. Isaac Oliver convincingly argues that the resurrection of the Davidic Messiah Jesus is not the climax of this intervention but a stage in the eschatological events, with all Israel and all of creation living in hope and anticipation of what is still to come. An indispensable reading for scholars and students alike, this study paves a substantial pathway for further conversations over interpretations of these first century texts of Jewish tradition." — Kathy Ehrensperger, University of Potsdam, Germany

"What Isaac Oliver did for Luke's legal reasoning in his 2013 Torah Praxis after 70 CE, he now does for Luke's eschatology in this excellent book: He makes sense of it within the Judaism of that crucial period between the destruction of the temple and the ascendancy of the rabbis. Oliver shows how Luke-Acts, despite its manifestly being a piece of Graeco-Roman literature, speaks fluently the language of ancient Jewish restoration eschatology. A welcome addition to a conflicted field of research." — Matthew V. Novenson, University of Edinburgh

"This book deserves a wide-ranging and respectful reception." — David Neville, Journal of Gospals and Acts Research

From the Publisher