Commentary on the Gospel of Luke

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Luke was a young Gentile disciple and friend of both Peter and Paul, almost certainly by profession a medical doctor, who originally lived in the Hellenistic city of Antioch in Ancient Syria, although some scholars and theologians think Luke was actually a Hellenistic Jew. His Gospel is the most historical of the 5 Gospels and sets out the story of Christ and his teachings in classic Hellenistic biographical style. It takes the story down to the resurrection, and was supplemented by a second book, the Acts of the Apostles, which tells the story of St Peter and the Apostles and St Paul, on down to abruptly breaking off before their execution story is told. Paul Maier, New Testament scholar, crafted a brilliant novel (The Flames of Rome) which has St Luke in Rome with Paul and Peter, just before the Great Fire of Rome in 66AD, almost certainly started by Nero (although he blamed the Christians and used it as a pretext for massacring many of them). Maier argues that both his Gospel and Acts were drawn up in order to defend St Paul from the legal accusations against him. The fact that both St Peter and St Paul were executed at this time by Nero probably meant that Luke fled Rome then, and never managed to finish his earlier writings. Mark had probably written his Gospel just before his. Luke had been with Paul on some of his missionary journeys, probably in Troas, the province which included the ruins of ancient Troy, and probably also in Philippi. He must have interviewed not only Paul and Peter, but many others who had met Christ first hand, and who belonged to the earliest generation of Apostles. He is thought to have died aged 84 in Boeotia, Greece. Tradition says he was also an artist who began the tradition of Icon painting in Christianity. St Luke apparently knew St Thomas because the Thomas tradition in India states that he brought with him an icon painted by Luke when he came to India. Luke has been likened in iconography to a winged ox or bull, representing sacrifice, service and strength, and which is one of the animals that kept Christ and his parents warm in the manger as described by Luke. This commentary draws on Hebrew, Aramaic, Coptic, Greek, Latin and Egyptian studies, to try and track down the roots of Christ’s teachings in all their depth. It also explores the many levels of interpretation which the New Testament requires: historical, literal, figurative, mystical, and allegorical. It draws on the concepts of transpersonal history to enable a comprehensive overview of both the details of the text, but also their wider archetypal, symbolic, psychological, spiritual and historical meanings to unfold. It draws on Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Quaker, Protestant, Qabalistic, Hermetic, Gnostic, Platonic, Druidical and transpersonal ideas.