The Historical Tell: Patterns of Eyewitness Testimony in the Gospel of Luke and Acts

by Luuk van de Weghe

Many are familiar with the concept of a poker player's the nervous tick, the slight change in behavior, the pattern of very subtle, largely unintentional cues that give away the truth of a poker player's hand. The Historical Tell looks at similar patterns in Luke's Gospel-at the rich historical details that would be very difficult for Luke the Evangelist to fake and very easy for him to overlook and get wrong. Bolstering the case for Luke's reliability, The Historical Tell investigates the significant claim Luke makes at the that he relied on eyewitness testimony (Luke 1.1-4). It demonstrates that five patterns in Luke's Gospel are not only best explained by Luke's claim being true, but that these patterns fit together to form a corroborative evidence case. We do not need to take Luke's claim about eyewitnesses at face value; we do not need to simply take the church at its word. But by following the evidence, we can gain new confidence in the claims Luke makes and in the eyewitnesses whose voices echo even today.

Genres: History

188 pages, Paperback

Published July 25, 2023

Reviews

[Collin Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and easy to read. After 2,000 years of studying the gospels there are still new tools being used to look at them in different ways and confirming the eyewitness sources behind them. The main points can be little hard to follow at times, but that may just be because they are so interconnected.

[Nick Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luke, the Evangelist, claims an interest in eyewitness testimony. Does he merely feign it? I've never thought so, but remained eager to see an argument demonstrating his use of eyewitness testimony. And here it is. Overall, I find the case to be a strong one, but particular proposals will have to be tested by others doing work in this field.

[Matthew Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book. Very insightful. Puts forth strong evidence suggesting truth claims of Luke as historian who gathered eye witness testimony and what in Luke's accounts of Luke-Acts accentuates those points as "tells".