On the basis of Pierre Nora's theory of generations, this article re-examines the relationship between Luke's work and the so-called ‘Pastoral Letters’. From this perspective, informed by the sociology of memory, the article analyses the affinities between these two traditions not as the traces of a community of author(s), but rather as the expressions of a memorial consciousness under construction: that of a foundational past identified with the generation of the apostles.

In 1963, New Testament Studies published an article by Pierson Parker in which he argued that the commonalities of the Third and Fourth Gospels result from direct contact between their respective authors. This article strengthens Parker's case. It highlights additional patterns of commonality between the two Gospels. It demonstrates that these areas of commonality align with events in the Fourth Gospel allegedly experienced by the Beloved Disciple. It considers the best explanation of this phenomenon.

The Synoptic Gospels contain a significant number of so-called doublets, i.e. sayings or narratives which appear twice in one and the same Gospel. Since the nineteenth century these doublets have functioned as a classical argument in favour of the existence of Q. Focusing on treatments of Luke's doublets within the contemporary rivalry between the Farrer hypothesis and the two-document hypothesis, the present article contributes to a not-Q-biased discussion of the evidence. While adherents of the two-document hypothesis should not overestimate the force of doublet-based arguments, defenders of the Farrer hypothesis should pay greater attention to the creation and elimination of doublets as part of Luke's alleged redactional activity.

The following article is part of an essay trilogy dealing with space and spatial concepts in the New Testament. In this trilogy, the spatial thematic approach is profiled as an interface for political, social-historical and theological–christological questions. The article illustrates how this interface function works in the basileia theme in Matthew and Luke.

The Graeco–Roman bios depicts its characters through elements of narrative construction. In order to show that it is worth noting those elements within the Gospel of Luke we use an episode in the infancy narrative (Lk 1.39–45) in which the main character at first sight seems to be absent. The semantic and narratological analysis of the figurative elements opens access to the normative ‘presence’ of Jesus, thereby furnishing fresh insights into the narrative mode of Lukan christology.

It has long been noted by interpreters of Luke 2.1–3 that by the reference to Caesar Augustus and his decree Luke opens up a worldwide horizon in order to underline the universal importance of Jesus’ birth. While the recent discussion of this short passage is largely concerned with explaining the historical background of the decree and its initiator Augustus, the present study, in which Luke-Acts is read as a narrative, provides a detailed analysis of the Lukan picture of Caesar Augustus. By use of a narratological approach it examines how Luke characterizes the figure of this Roman emperor and what role he and the decree play in the narrative in Luke 1–2, especially in relation to the characterization of God and Jesus Christ. At the end of this study its results are related to the geographical orientation of the world presented by Luke in the first two chapters of his Gospel.

In 1993, Dieter Lührmann published a reconstruction of the more intelligible side of P.Oxy. 4009. He demonstrated that this side, which he called the recto, consists of passages parallel to Matt 10.16 par., Luke 10.3 and 2 Clem. 5.2–4. He also argued that the passage stems from the Gospel of Peter. However, Lührmann considered it impossible (‘ausgeschlossen’) to reconstruct the other side of the fragment. The aim of the present article is to demonstrate that a full reconstruction of this less intelligible side of P.Oxy. 4009, lines 1–13, is possible and that it enriches our knowledge of the Gospel of Peter with a new pericope which is an interesting parallel of Luke 7.36–50. The reconstruction also demonstrates that the side reconstructed by Lührmann is actually the verso, and that both sides together point towards the well-known anti-Jewish redactional tendencies of the author of the Gospel of Peter.