| This dissertation argues that the image of God as Israel's faithful, merciful, and authoritative Father is central to Luke's theology. The first three chapters address views of human and divine fatherhood in Luke's cultural and religious contexts; the fourth focuses on God as Father in Luke-Acts.;In contrast to the view that Greco-Roman fathers were despotic, Chapter One argues rather that the evidence is far more mixed, and that the patresfamilias of the household were generally loving and attentive toward their children. By extension, the title Pater Patriae likewise represented the Emperor's benign authority. While Zeus was also called Father, Augustus as Father of the Fatherland is far more important to Luke's presentation of God as Father because this honorific title connotes the virtues of liberalitas, auctoritas, and clementia.;Chapter Two presents God as the Father of Israel and Israel's king in the Old Testament. God's election, deliverance, provision, discipline, and restoration of Israel are seen against the backdrop of the exodus and the exile. As shown in Chapter Three, the same view of God as Israel's loving and longsuffering Father is affirmed in Second Temple Jewish literature. The authors of this period often appeal to God's fatherly mercy and protective power in their pleas for forgiveness and rescue from their enemies.;Chapter Four discusses Luke's view of God as Israel's merciful and promise-keeping Father in three specific ways. First, by sending his Son Jesus as the Messiah, God fulfills the promise to David that he will always be a Father to Israel's king. Second, the gift of salvation embodied in Jesus fulfills the promise of Israel's eschatological deliverance. Third, the mission to the Gentiles fulfills the promise to Abraham, that through the blessing of his descendants the nations will also be blessed.;In light of Luke's emphasis on God as Israel's merciful Father, the Concluding Reflections further argue that behind the indictment of Israel's unbelief at the end of Acts lies an implicit hope for Israel's restoration. Moreover, since Augustus functions as a positive foil for God, the Lukan view of the Empire is unlikely to be sharply polemical. |
