The Gospel According to Luke
Discover the narrative strategies employed in the Gospel of Luke to present Jesus as a historical figure. Explore his redefinition of the Messiah, ethical guidelines for Kingdom living, and the messages of his parables. Uncover your own role as a disciple of Jesus.
What you’ll learn
- Examine the narrative strategies employed to present the Gospel of Luke as a work of history.
- Discover Jesus’s redefinition of Israel’s long-awaited Messiah.
- Discern Jesus’s word of warning to listeners in his time and in ours.
- Probe what the way of peace entails.
- Witness the minds and interactions of various characters in Luke’s account of Jesus’s ministry.
- Identify ethical guidelines for living as a Kingdom of God person.
- Interpret the messages of the parables and how they fit into Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem.
- Discern your own role and calling as a disciple of Jesus.
Who did Jesus think he was? What was the purpose of his ministry? And how do we know?
The Gospel of Luke situates itself as a work of serious history, using eyewitness testimony and oral tradition as its source material. It is the history of Jesus of Nazareth – a real, flesh and blood human – whose personal story is at the same time the story of God’s intention to put things right, for Israel and for the whole world. It is the story of a confrontation between the familiar empires of the world and God’s Kingdom, built on a new model of lordship; it is the story of a revolution of healing and feasting, rather than of violence.
In this course, Prof. Wright ushers students through Luke’s Gospel scene by scene, commenting and drawing out major themes and points of interest. He elucidates the narrative underpinning Luke’s accounts, untangling familiar parables, and dispelling well-worn misunderstandings along the way. Does Luke really depict a more human Jesus than other Gospels? What did Jesus mean by the age to come? This course focuses especially on Mary’s Magnificat as the beating heart which drives Luke’s portrayal of Jesus as Israel’s Messiah come to proclaim God’s visitation of judgement and mercy.
In this course, you will explore themes such as:
Jesus’s way of peace.
Jesus’s message of warning & welcome.
The Temple as a symbol of God’s heaven/earth reality.
How the powers of evil and darkness are defeated.
This course contains 43 video teaching sessions (15-20 minutes each), which you can watch or listen to online or on the Udemy mobile app. Also provided are optional quizzes to check your comprehension, Q&A sessions with Prof. Wright, and reflection prompts to help you apply the material. There are no extra academic articles or required readings.
We encourage students to proceed through this course at their own pace and consult the supplementary resources provided. Students possess lifetime access to course materials.
Come join in the surprising story of God’s visitation and see why Prof. Wright calls Luke ‘the evangelist of prayer, praise, and peace’!
Who this course is for:
- Students interested in the unique contributions of the Gospel accounts.
- Believers who want to be encouraged by the life of Jesus.
- Pastors preparing sermon series or group studies of Luke.
- Teachers committed to encouraging discipleship.
- Curious minds investigating the life of Jesus for the first time.
