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God as Father in Luke-Acts argues that 'Father' is the central image for God in Luke-Acts by tracing a line of continuity in the portrayal of God as Israel's merciful, faithful, and authoritative Father from the Old Testament to Luke-Acts and its Second Temple Jewish milieu. The fulfillment of the promises to Abraham, David, and Israel in Jesus is best understood as the fatherly actions of Israel's God. Furthermore, the striking similarities between God as Father and Augustus as Pater Patriae undermine the assertion of the Lukan view of the Roman Empire as highly polemical.
About the author
The Author: Diane G. Chen is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University (formerly Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary) in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. She received her M.S. in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her M.A. and Ph.D. in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.
Report
«Diane G. Chen, a new and rising voice in New Testament studies, here tackles the too-long neglected, intriguing, controversial subject of God as Father in Luke-Acts. The chapter on fathers in the Greco-Roman world is rich, as is the careful assessment of God as Father in the Hebrew Bible and in Second Temple Judaism. Chen's focus on God as the universal and inclusive Father in Luke-Acts is a careful, enriching, nuanced theological study and is a helpful and significant contribution to the scholarly literature on Luke-Acts.» (David M. Scholer, Professor of New Testament and Associate Dean for the Center for Advanced Theological Studies, School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California)
«Diane G. Chen has written a very illuminating and groundbreaking study of the metaphor of God as Father in Greco-Roman society, the Old Testament, Second Temple Judaism, and Luke-Acts. Lukan texts that deal with God as Father sparkle with new meaning, as she applies the results of her background studies to them. Her findings will force scholars to reevaluate a number of key points in Lukan study, as she debunks, for example, the common view that Roman fathers were cruel, that Luke uses 'reconstituted Israel' as an ecclesiological category, and that Luke has written off Israel as mission territory. An added plus of this marvelous work is that Chen writes clearly and well.» (Robert Karris, O.F.M., St. Bonaventure University, Franciscan Institute, Research Faculty, St. Bonaventure, New York)
