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Luke's Christology of Divine Identity by Nina Henrichs-Tarasenkova

2017, Religious Studies Review

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LUKE’S CHRISTOLOGY OF DIVINE IDENTITY​. By Nina Henrichs-Tarasenkova. The Library of New Testament Studies 542. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016. Pp. xvii + 235. Hardback, $114.00. This book asks whether and how Luke-Acts characterizes Jesus as divine. Henrichs-Tarasenkova begins with two observations: that the text never uses the term ​despotēs​ for Jesus; and that current scholarly consensus also denies the use of ​theos​ in this way. However, she follows with two complications: that an author might characterize a figure as divine without explicit use of divine titles; and that as a title, ​theos​ and its related words do not necessarily refer only to God as such, even in monotheistic traditions such as Judaism. Primarily, Henrichs-Tarasenkova uses a narrative approach for her analysis, focusing on the characterization of Jesus as divine throughout Luke/Acts, both in terms of direct (“telling” or expositional) and indirect (“showing” or narrative) methods of characterization. Chapter 3 explores how modern theories of identity can be relevant to ancient texts, and how ancient authors themselves conceived of and constructed individual identities. The author finds that the two most crucial aspects of identity in the ancient world were relational (that is, one’s place in a community or family structure) and functional. The ensuing chapters apply this finding to the characterizations of God and Jesus in Luke/Acts to show that titles and explicit exposition are not the only or even always primary ways in which the text expresses divine identity. By thoroughly examining what seems at first like a simple question, this book provides a needed reassessment of Lukan christology. It will be of interest to scholars wishing to better understand early Christian theological thought. Margaret Froelich Claremont School of Theology