Greco-Roman friendship in the Gospel according to Luke.

The Gospel of Luke contains more references to friendship than does any other work in the New Testament. This dissertation analyzes those references to friendship in light of Greco-Roman discourse on the subject in order to attain a wholistic understanding of friendship in the Gospel of Luke. It finds that the Gospel of Luke draws from the wide spectrum of Greco-Roman friendship in its portrayal of Jesus, his disciples, and ethics, but also significantly transforms the practice of friendship. The dissertation begins with an overview of friendship in the Greco-Roman world, finding that relationships between men and women, teachers and students, patrons and clients, and many others could all be called friendships. These findings are applied in a survey of passages from the Gospel of Luke in which forms of philos occur. In addition to illuminating those individual passages, this survey identifies friendship with Jesus and friendships among other people as the two main contexts of friendship in Luke. Luke only uses forms of philos twice in the context of relationships with Jesus, but friendship still plays an important role in Luke’s characterization of its main character. Jesus and his disciples relate to each other as friends throughout Luke, though their friendship ultimately rests on Jesus’s faithfulness and forgiveness rather than the disciples’ virtue. These friendships represent a continuation of Jesus’s other friendships, namely those with sinners and tax collectors. In its portrayal of friendships among people, the Gospel of Luke largely maintains the principles underlying reciprocity and the evaluation of good and bad friendships that prevailed in popular morality in the Greco-Roman world. At the same time, it radically transforms the practical application of those principals by applying them in light of Lukan eschatology and theology. The Gospel of Luke exhibits remarkable coherence in its portrayals of friendship with Jesus and friendships among other people. It portrays Jesus practicing the kinds of friendships that he promotes in his teaching. These friendships form across status divisions and promote the sharing of resources in ways that differed markedly from most friendships in the Greco-Roman world.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Grantor

Baylor University.

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Brewer, Eric J. (Eric Jacob), 1987-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Parsons, Mikeal C. (Mikeal Carl), 1957-

• Friendship.
• Bible. Luke.
• Jesus and friendship.
• Philos.
• Men and women.
• Teachers and students.
• Patrons and clients.

Statement dc:rights

• Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2104/13920

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/13920