A few years ago I was leading a Sunday morning bible study concerning the deity of Jesus of Nazareth. We had been in this particular study for a couple of weeks but on this particular morning one of the older women in the group stopped me in the middle of the lesson and said:
“Are you saying that Jesus is God?”
I answered, “Yes.” And she responded:
“Well I’ve been coming to this church for 65 years and I’ve never heard
“Well I’ve been coming to this church for 65 years and I’ve never heard
anyone say that before…”
After a moment of stunned silence I, very gently, said, “Well then, you must not have been listening.” Maybe I wasn’t as gentle as I thought because she quit coming a few weeks later.
Not only must she not have been listening (because I know I had said it) but she also must have never read Luke’s gospel; Luke over and over and over again makes it quite clear that the man Jesus of Nazareth is both man and God and he does so in many different ways.
C. Kavin Rowe – in his book Early Narrative Christology explores the way that Luke uses the word Lord to express Jesus’ humanity and divinity. “Throughout the story Luke uses κύριος so repeatedly that its reverberation within the narrative becomes the rhythm of the Gospel. Κύριος is thus somewhat like the famous leitmotiv of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, which not only opens the piece in dramatic fashion but also can be heard clearly – with intricate variation – in all four movements, directing, as it were, our listening to and experience of the piece.” (page 29)
C. Kavin Rowe – in his book Early Narrative Christology explores the way that Luke uses the word Lord to express Jesus’ humanity and divinity. “Throughout the story Luke uses κύριος so repeatedly that its reverberation within the narrative becomes the rhythm of the Gospel. Κύριος is thus somewhat like the famous leitmotiv of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, which not only opens the piece in dramatic fashion but also can be heard clearly – with intricate variation – in all four movements, directing, as it were, our listening to and experience of the piece.” (page 29)
Rowe allows for the complexity and ambiguity of the Greek word – which can mean, in one sense “sir” or “master” or “milord” and in another “Lord” as in “the Lord God.” This complexity and ambiguity, he argues, is integral to the way that Luke uses the word, allowing it to point at the same time to both the Lord God in heaven and the Lord incarnate on earth, or allowing it be used ironically as both “sir” and “Lord (God)” at the same time.
For example: He points out that in the birth-infancy stories of Luke the word κύριος is used approximately 25 times – and that only 2 of these instances refer specifically to Jesus (1:43 and 2:11). But these two instances carry such weight within the narrative that they shape the way that whole story is read. Over and over the word κύριος is used in the birth story to refer to God in heaven, the God of Israel but then at the first point in the story when Jesus exists in the human plane (1:43) he also is addressed as κύριος. The connection shouldn’t be missed.
Rowe very carefully explores the way that Luke draws out these connections with the word κύριος throughout the gospel. He is detailed and exhaustive in his examination of the text.
I’ve enjoyed reading the book. It hasn’t changed what I believe, (unlike the woman of my bible study group, this is something I’ve heard before…) but it has given me new ways to think about it, shown me a new depth of meaning within the text.
But it’s been a difficult book for me to read. I’m not a professional academic. I don’t know German – so when Rowe quotes German sources and doesn’t translate … I can’t follow. He also doesn’t translate the Greek texts. I also don’t read or speak Greek. (I am a bilingual illiterate. I can’t read in two languages!) I can pick out the few words that I recognize but I can’t really read it. In order to read Rowe’s book, I’ve had to keep the Bible close at hand so I can read along (which maybe isn’t a bad thing…) Rowe has written this book for the academic community and not for the ‘ordinary’ Christian reader. This is my only complaint. I would like to recommend this book to others, but as difficult as it is, I’m not sure how many would be able to get through it.
But it’s been a difficult book for me to read. I’m not a professional academic. I don’t know German – so when Rowe quotes German sources and doesn’t translate … I can’t follow. He also doesn’t translate the Greek texts. I also don’t read or speak Greek. (I am a bilingual illiterate. I can’t read in two languages!) I can pick out the few words that I recognize but I can’t really read it. In order to read Rowe’s book, I’ve had to keep the Bible close at hand so I can read along (which maybe isn’t a bad thing…) Rowe has written this book for the academic community and not for the ‘ordinary’ Christian reader. This is my only complaint. I would like to recommend this book to others, but as difficult as it is, I’m not sure how many would be able to get through it.
Early Narrative Christology: The LORD in the Gospel of Luke
C. Kavin Rowe
C. Kavin Rowe
Baker Academic, Grand Rapids MI, 2009
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