A Reading of the Gospel according to Luke as a Response to the Tragic Tradition

James M. Donovan

Abstract

The author of Luke's Gospel rejected Jewish traditions and substituted in their place a dramatic model of Greek and Roman tragedy.

Part I addresses the question of Luke's rejection of the Jews and their laws and traditions, including their expectation of a militant messiah. Part II suggests the possibility that Luke based his Gospel on a Greek tragic model, and is divided into two sections: Section A lays out the structural requirements of the tragic form, and applies these to the text of Luke's Gospel; Section B discusses the thematic requirements of tragedy, and, using Aristotle's "perfect Plot" as a paradigm, analyzes the Gospel by this standard. [BA thesis]