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Reviewed by: Luke's Jewish Eschatology: The National Restoration of Israel in Luke-Acts by Isaac W. Oliver Eyal Regev Isaac W. Oliver. Luke's Jewish Eschatology: The National Restoration of Israel in Luke-Acts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. 279 pp. Recent scholarship of New Testament and early Christianity is still grappling with the question of how "Jewish" the belief systems of Paul, the four evangelists, and other NT authors were. The fact that they addressed their writing to non-Jewish audiences and promoted a new idea of salvation in Christ—while at the same time including many Jewish ideas, motifs, and exegesis—is indeed confusing. Isaac W. Oliver's monograph Luke's Jewish Eschatology discusses one aspect of this paradox: Luke's understanding of the restoration of Israel. How can the evangelist who is known for highlighting the mission to the gentiles also endorse Jewish national eschatology? Oliver opens his book by shining the spotlight on one of the opening verses in the Acts of the Apostles. There, Jesus's apostles ask Jesus: "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (1:6). This verse illustrates the motif of Jewish eschatology in Luke-Acts. Oliver maintains that because NT scholars did not take this question seriously as one that reflects Luke's sincere concern, Luke's Jewish nationalist perspective (following that of the Hebrew Bible) has been neglected. This book aims to correct this. Oliver notes that according to Michael Fuller (The Restoration of Israel, 2006), Luke-Acts proclaims in essence that Israel's reconstitution has already been fulfilled. However, Oliver doubts that the eschaton is already fulfilled in Acts, as the prophecies in the Hebrew Bible have not yet been realized. Moreover, Christ's followers are still longing for the redemption of their bodies. Oliver also examines whether or not Luke desires the restoration of the people of Israel. His major argument is that "Luke still awaited the restoration of the nation of Israel, and his Jewish 'nationalism' was of an eschatological, pacifist type, though certainly not of a passive kind. God, in due time, would see to it that the nation of Israel would be restored" (22). For Luke, the mission of Jesus and his followers was committed to this anticipation of Israel's restoration. Chapter 1, the introduction, sets the stage with a survey of previous approaches to Luke's eschatology in relation to the question of "Jewish nationalism" and other trends in Lukan studies, given the post–70 CE context. Chapter 2 considers the terminology employed in Luke 1–2 to describe Israel's redemption. In his own narrative, Luke uses biblical materials to affirm the traditional expectations held by many Jews concerning the restoration of the nation of Israel. In the ensuing chapters, Oliver attempts to demonstrate that Luke does not abandon the expectations that he deliberately chose to set up at the beginning. Chapter 3 focuses on Luke's presentation of Jesus as the messiah, son of David. This depiction fits perfectly with Luke's understanding of Jesus's restoration program on behalf of Israel. Chapter 4 examines several passages in Luke's travel narrative (9:51–19:44), which describes Jesus's journey to Jerusalem. Jesus's mission is presented in intimate relation to Jerusalem's destiny. Jesus foresees and regrets his rejection by the people of Jerusalem, on behalf of whom he has been sent. Because the people fail to accept him, they miss the opportunity to enter End Page 217 immediately into the divine protection offered by Jesus. Nevertheless, Oliver argues that there is reason to believe that this does not mark the end of Luke's grand story about Israel. Israel's restoration is also hinted at in Jesus's major discourse on eschatology (21:5–36). Chapter 5 discusses how God's aim to deliver Israel remains a high priority in the Acts of the Apostles. Chapter 6, the concluding chapter, summarizes the author's findings and includes some of his reflections on eschatology, universalism, particularism, and nationalism. Oliver is able to demonstrate that, for Luke, salvation means freedom from exile and all forms of oppression—not only spiritual, but also physical, political, social...
Eyal Regev (Mon,) studied this question.