To what am I referring? For a long time now I've loved the Gospel according to Luke. Since taking New Testament Survey at Harding University many years ago and learning that Luke's gospel emphasized Jesus' relationship with the poor, the outcast, women, and children, I've taken special note.
Another thing that has drawn me to Luke are some of the unique passages which add depth and humanness to our Lord. One in particular I first encountered in the hymn, Tis Midnight and on Olive's Brow. Here's a bit I wrote about that several years ago. For other unique passages in Luke, look here.In fact, I am so drawn to Luke's gospel that I have for almost a year now been teaching from it each Sunday. This is my second time to teach on Luke, though this time I've been able to go much slower and studied in greater detail. Sometime when teaching something for this long, there comes a weariness in the subject matter, but this hasn't happened for me. If anything, I am loving the author and his subject even more.
Other things that have caught my interest in the last 20 years or so are the works of N.T. Wright, Richard Hays, and Michael J. Gorman. They have led me to a better understanding of what the Gospel and salvation really mean, and how through God's revelation of himself to humanity as recorded in the Bible, (and found ultimately in his son, Jesus), he has brought and is bringing about the Kingdom of God.
The third aspect of this recounting is that I participate in a theological reading group a friend and I started. We're an ecumenical group and we're not limited to theological works, (We've had discussions of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Les Miserables, and The Light Princess.), though we approach all works theologically.
This month, our reading group will discuss Michael J. Gorman's, Inhabiting the Cruciform God: Kenosis, Justification, and Theosis in Paul's Narrative Soteriology. As I was doing a bit of research for the discussion, I came across a recent booklet he's written, titled, Peace in Paul and Luke.Whatever you may want to call it, however it has come about, it is a happy little convergence.
