Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity
Noble Death in Luke-Acts: Implications for Lukan Soteriology and Christology
Lucan scholars have long recognized the importance of the Greco-Roman ideal of noble death for understanding Luke’s passion and have written about the ways that Luke’s crucifixion shifts the locus of salvation from cross to resurrection and ascension. Less attention has been given to what impact that has on Luke’s Christology and, particularly, the implications for soteriology. What kind of Christ and what kind of Saviour is Luke depicting?
This paper will examine the way that Jesus’s death and resurrection is reframed in Acts in ways that are both concordant and discordant with the passion and resurrection narratives in Luke 23—24. We will ask what role genre plays (speeches versus narrative) in any shifts and propose implications for identifying a distinctly Lukan Christology.