Luke

The third canonical Gospel, first half of Luke-Acts, tracing Jesus from birth to ascension.

via Wikipedia: Gospel of Luke · see source

The Gospel of Luke is the third of the four canonical Gospels in the New Testament. It narrates the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. With the Acts of the Apostles, written by the same author, it forms a two-part work known as Luke–Acts, which makes up 27.5% of the New Testament, more than any other single writer. The book stands out for opening with a prologue that explains its purpose and method, and for giving the Holy Spirit a larger role than most early Christian writings.

Quick Facts

Religion: Christianity
Author: Traditionally Luke the Evangelist
Language: Koine Greek
Chapters: 24
Verses: 1,151

Facts from the source article.

Background

The Gospel never names its author. Church tradition, first recorded by Irenaeus, identifies him as Luke the Evangelist, a physician and travelling companion of Paul the Apostle, though scholars remain divided on that link. The writer was educated and probably urban, addressing a Greek-speaking audience; the book was meant to be read aloud to believers meeting in homes for the Lord's Supper. Most scholars place its composition around AD 80–90, since it knows of Mark and of the destruction of Jerusalem; around 62 AD is the earliest possible date. The author drew heavily on the Gospel of Mark, and under the two-source hypothesis also on Q, while other theories propose direct use of Matthew instead. The preface also mentions material gathered from eyewitnesses.

Did You Know?

Luke's author calls his book a narrative rather than a gospel.
Codex Bezae sets Luke in Greek and Latin on facing pages.
Papyrus 75 includes an early attribution of the Gospel to Luke.
Scholars compare Luke-Acts with the histories of Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Josephus.