Presentation of Jesus to the Lord

The present volume explores the narrative significance of the presentation of Jesus to the Lord in Luke-Acts. It applies a combination of narrative and intertextual methods to Luke 2:22-39 and Acts 6:1–8:3 to understand their literary and scriptural composition and narrative function in Luke-Acts. The work proposes that the presentation of Jesus in the temple and the Stephen episode form an overarching structure within Luke-Acts and has the theme of the presentation of Jesus to the Lord. Both the presentation of Jesus (Luke 2:22-39) and the Stephen episode (Acts 6:1–8:3) draw mainly from biblical historiographical texts that have common theological orientations and literary styles. Lukan composition of the above passages shows that their narrative significance lies in the author’s intention to present Luke-Acts as a continuation of biblical historiography of the OT. Therefore the present volume confirms previous Lukan scholarship which considered Luke-Acts the continuation of the biblical history of Israel and suggests a structural pattern based on ‘Testaments’ for Luke-Acts. The motif of the covenant functions in Luke-Acts as an organizing principle.