Living Footnotes in the Gospel of Luke: Luke's Reliance on Eyewitness Sources
Description.
Did Luke interview eyewitnesses to write his Gospel? As a more focused and technical version of The Historical Tell, Living Footnotes in the Gospel of Luke provides a careful, thorough examination of Luke’s claims (Luke 1:1–4), demonstrating that he not only claims to use living sources but also did so. It builds a corroborative evidence case towards this end, not merely by accumulating unrelated strands of evidence, but by showing the interconnectedness of independent lines of subtle clues in Luke’s text. These historically rich, unintentional features weave together to generate a robust impression upon the reader: Luke not only relied on living informants but in fact sifted his sources in preference of eyewitness testimony.
Endorsements.
"Luuk van de Weghe’s Living Footnotes in the Gospel of Luke is a welcome addition to the literature on the third evangelist’s connections to eyewitness testimony. Van de Weghe brings fresh material and a fresh perspective to an important topic. His chapter on onomastic congruence (name statistics) goes farther than the work of Richard Bauckham, refining the statistical analysis and making it more rigorous. His discussion of Holocaust memoirs is especially useful for its emphasis on variances and even appearances of discrepancy. Most of all, van de Weghe’s perspective is valuable because he takes seriously the question, “What was the character of the third evangelist, and how important did he consider historical truth to be?” The field of New Testament studies needs this sort of serious engagement with a reportage model of the Gospels."
Lydia McGrew
Author, The Eye of the Beholder: The Gospel of John As Historical Reportage
"Luuk Vandeweghe takes seriously Luke on his own terms as an ancient historian, giving focused attention to his claim that eyewitnesses functioned as primary sources for Luke-Acts. Through rigorous research and argumentation, van de Weghe has tipped the scales in favor of the conclusion that Luke did consult eyewitnesses. Among other gems, he demonstrates that the best explanation for the striking agreements between Luke and John's Gospels is that Luke relied on the Beloved Disciple as an eyewitness source."
John Peters
Author, Luke Among the Ancient Historians
"Luuk van de Weghe has written an important volume. As readers progress through it, they may get the initial impression that this work is a mosaic of various evidence of which several, although interested, are of no great significance. However, as they read on, they will see that all of these evidences add up to a cumulative case that is quite compelling. Much in this work is original and contributed to the case for the third evangelist's use of eyewitnesses in the research and composition of his Life of Jesus."
Michael Licona
Professor of New Testament studies, Houston Christian University
Lydia McGrew
Author, The Eye of the Beholder: The Gospel of John As Historical Reportage
"Luuk Vandeweghe takes seriously Luke on his own terms as an ancient historian, giving focused attention to his claim that eyewitnesses functioned as primary sources for Luke-Acts. Through rigorous research and argumentation, van de Weghe has tipped the scales in favor of the conclusion that Luke did consult eyewitnesses. Among other gems, he demonstrates that the best explanation for the striking agreements between Luke and John's Gospels is that Luke relied on the Beloved Disciple as an eyewitness source."
John Peters
Author, Luke Among the Ancient Historians
"Luuk van de Weghe has written an important volume. As readers progress through it, they may get the initial impression that this work is a mosaic of various evidence of which several, although interested, are of no great significance. However, as they read on, they will see that all of these evidences add up to a cumulative case that is quite compelling. Much in this work is original and contributed to the case for the third evangelist's use of eyewitnesses in the research and composition of his Life of Jesus."
Michael Licona
Professor of New Testament studies, Houston Christian University