the role of the lukan parables in terms of the purpose of luke's gospel

Chapter 8
The Role of the Lukan Parables in the Purpose of Luke’s Gospel
Having identified in the previous chapters the unifying motif of the Lukan parables as
‘perspectives on the Christian life’ by examining the theological themes of the Lukan
parables and exploring the travel narrative, I propose here finally to investigate the purpose of
Luke’s Gospel, and to ascertain the role of the Lukan parables within that purpose.
1. Some suggested views of the Purpose of Luke-Acts.
1-1. An apologetic defense of Christianity’s religio licita status
The interpretation of Luke-Acts as a political apologia pro ecclesia has long been taught in
various other forms. 1 They share much in common in showing that every religion in the
Roman world has to be approved by Rome so as to operate with freedom. According to them,
Judaism at that time when Luke-Acts was written benefited from the status of religio licita
from Rome. In this situation, Luke strives to acquire its privileges, showing Christianity as a
religion which has to be generously treated by Rome, or as a genuine branch of Judaism. B.S.
Easton claims that Luke argues that Christianity is qualified to receive the same legal status
as Judaism, since Christianity is virtually nothing more or less than Judaism. Even though
there are the differences between Judaism and Christianity, Luke refrains from detailing them,
so as not to miss the opportunity of winning official recognition from Rome. 2 On the
contrary, Paul is the one who positively distinguishes Judaism from Christianity showing that
Christianity is a true way in Judaism to failure and eventual obscurity. 3 Although they make
a large contribution to the continuity between Christianity and Judaism, and the political
dimension of the narrative, it is difficult to accept it as the purpose of Luke-Acts, for the
following reasons: Firstly, from recent scholars’ surveys, it is doubtful that the religio licita
existed at the time of Luke’s writing. 4
Even if it did, scholars cast doubts on whether Roman
1. F.J. Foakes-Jackson and K. Lake, The Beginnings of Christianity, part 1, vol. Ⅱ, (London: Macmillan, 1922),
177-87: H.J. Cadbury, The Making of Luke-Acts (London: SPCK, 1968), 299-316; B.S. Easton, “The Purpose of
Acts,” in ed., F.C. Grant, Early Christianity: The Purpose of Acts and Other Papers (London, Seabury, 1955),
33-57. For standing in the same vein, see F.F. Bruse, The Acts of the Apostles: The Greek Text with Introduction
and Commentary (London: The Tyndale Press, 1952), 23; Caird, The Gospel of St. Luke, 13-15; F.V. Filson,
Three Crucial Decades (Richmond, VA: John Knox, 1963), 17-18; Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke, 10;
E. Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1971), 102, 630-1, 691-4.
2. Easton, “The Purpose of Acts,” 37, 46.
3. Ibid., 114-15.
4. A.C. Winn, “Elusive Mystery: The Purpose of Acts,” Int 13 (1959), 144-56, here147; Maddox, The Purpose
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