Luke Acts and the End of History investigates how understandings of history in diverse texts of
the Graeco-Roman period illuminate Lukan eschatology. In addition to Luke Acts it considers
ten comparison texts as detailed case studies throughout the monograph: Polybius's Histories
Diodorus Siculus's Library of History Virgil's Aeneid Valerius Maximus's Memorable Doings and
Sayings Tacitus's Histories 2 Maccabees the Qumran War Scroll Josephus's Jewish War 4 Ezra
and 2 Baruch. The study makes a contribution both in its method and in the questions it asks.
By placing Luke Acts alongside a broad range of texts from Luke's wider cultural setting it
overcomes two methodological shortfalls frequently evident in recent research: limiting
comparisons of key themes to texts of similar genre and separating non-Jewish from Jewish
parallels. Further by posing fresh questions designed to reveal writers' underlying
conceptions of history-such as beliefs about the shape and end of history or divine and human
agency in history-this monograph challenges the enduring tendency to underestimate the
centrality of eschatology for Luke's account. Influential post-war scholarship reflected
powerful concerns about salvation history arising from its particular historical setting and
criticised Luke for focusing on history instead of eschatology due to the parousia's delay.
Though some elements of this thesis have been challenged Luke continues to be associated with
concerns about the delayed parousia affecting contemporary interpretation. By contrast this
study suggests that viewing Luke Acts within a broader range of texts from Luke's literary
context highlights his underlying teleological conception of history. It demonstrates not only
that Luke retains a sense of eschatological urgency seen in other New Testament texts but a
structuring of history more akin to the literature of late Second Temple Judaism than the
non-Jewish Graeco-Roman historiographies with which Luke Acts is more commonly compared. The
results clarify not only Lukan eschatology but related concerns or effects of his eschatology
such as Luke's politics and approach to suffering. This monograph thereby offers an important
corrective to readings of Luke Acts based on established exegetical habits and will help to
inform interpretation for scholars and students of Luke Acts as well as classicists and
theologians interested in these key questions.
