LUKE, SAINT

flourished 1st century AD in Christian tradition, the author of the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, a companion of the Apostle Paul, and the most literary of the New Testament writers. Information about his life is scanty. His writing style indicates a cultivated literary background. Tradition based on Gospel references has regarded him as a physician and a Gentile. He was a coworker of Paul and probably accompanied him on several missionary journeys. Additional reading C.K. Barrett, Luke the Historian in Recent Study (1961), a brief and readable survey of a number of contemporary writers; The Identity of the Editor of Luke and Acts, pp. 205359, in F.J.F. Jackson and K. Lake (eds.), The Beginnings of Christianity, vol. 2, pt. 1, The Acts of the Apostles (1922), an extensive presentation and analysis of biblical and post-biblical traditions about St. Luke; E.E. Ellis (ed.), The Gospel of Luke (1967), a short summary of the background, life, and theology of the evangelist in the light of recent research; also useful, I.H. Marshall, Luke: Historian and Theologian (1970), and L.E. Keck and J.L. Martyn (eds.), Studies in Luke-Acts (1966).