The SŌTĒRIA Concept in Luke's Gospel and its Relevance. 2nd Edition

The Christian doctrine of Salvation (Gr. S¿t¿ria) moves between two hermeneutical poles. The first is the universal human need for deliverance, anchored in the split nature of human existence. The second is the appearance of the Saviour in history, who mediates the actual salvation human beings need. These two poles are captured prominently in the literary corpus of Luke. Thus, several notable New Testament scholars have indicated that "salvation" lies at the centre of Luke's Gospel, and it represents the dominant idea of his message. That Luke has a great deal of emphasis placed on this theme has amply been studied by scholars in its various dimensions. But, no scholar has yet given any attention to discover the underlying factors that motivated Luke to develop the theme in a way that no other Evangelist had done. This oversight has seriously affected the way one understands the content, scope and the reception of salvation in Luke's Gospel. Accordingly, the main task of this research was to investigate Luke's unique interest in the concept of salvation as well as identify the underlying factors that influenced the development of the concept.