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A Cadbury Selection from JBL

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]ecently I was reading through John Nolland’s commentary on the Gospel of Luke when I came across the following passage.

A number of scholars have attempted to support Lukan authorship on the basis of a claim that the medical background of the author was evident in his writing. The argument takes its rise from the study of Hobart (The Medical Language of St. Luke) published in 1882. Hobart compared the language and style of Luke with that of ancient medical writing in Greek and found many similarities. The argument is not finally persuasive because Hobart focused on the distinctiveness of Luke over against Mark but failed to take any benchmarks from other literature of the period of a nonmedical nature. What distinguishes Luke from Mark is a use of language that is slightly more literary. As Cadbury has demonstrated (The Style and Literary Method of Luke, 50-51; ]BL 52 [1933] 55-65), we may find the same sort of language use in the LXX, in the works of ancient Greek veterinarians, and indeed we should expect to find it in any reasonably large body of literature written by a well-educated Greek writer with some modest literary pretension for what he IS wanting. Luke’s writing is certainly consistent with experience as a physician, but it cannot be claimed that only a physician would write as Luke does.{1}

I found it interesting that Nolland, writing in 1989 cited an article by H.J. Cadbury written in 1933. Reading on I found many other references to articles by Cadbury, which made me think that it might be a good idea to make these articles more widely available. I contacted the Director of SBL Press at the Society of Biblical Literature who was enthusiastic about the idea. The librarians at Tyndale House, Dr. Williams’s Library and Heythrop College also gave their willing assistance in providing photocopies and scans. Thanks to all of them I can now make the complete of collection H.J. Cadbury articles from the Journal of Biblical Literature available for free download in PDF.

H.J. Cadbury Collection

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “The basis of early Christian antimilitarism,” Journal of Biblical Literature 37.1-2 (Mar.-June 1918): 66-94.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “The relative pronouns in Acts and elsewhere,” Journal of Biblical Literature 42.3-4 (1923): 150-157.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “Lexical notes on Luke-Acts. I,” Journal of Biblical Literature 44.3-4 (1925): 214-227.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “Lexical notes on Luke-Acts. II, Recent arguments for medical language,” Journal of Biblical Literature 45.1-2 (1926): 190-209.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “Lexical notes on Luke-Acts. III, Luke’s interest in lodging,” Journal of Biblical Literature 45.3-4 (1926): 305-322.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “The odor of the spirit at Pentecost,” Journal of Biblical Literature 47.3-4 (1928): 237-256.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “Lexical notes on Luke-Acts. 4, On direct quotation, with some uses of oti and ei,” Journal of Biblical Literature 48.3-4 (1929): 412-425.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “Erastus of Corinth,” Journal of Biblical Literature 50.2 (1931): 42-58.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “Lexical notes on Luke-Acts. 5, Luke and the horse-doctors,” Journal of Biblical Literature 52.1 (1933): 55-65.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “The Macellum of Corinth,” Journal of Biblical Literature 53.2 (1934): 134-141.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “Motives of biblical scholarship,” Journal of Biblical Literature 56.1 (1937): 1-16.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “The meaning of John 20:23, Matthew 16:19, and Matthew 18:18,” Journal of Biblical Literature 58.3 (1939): 251-254.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “A proper name for Dives,” Journal of Biblical Literature 81.4 (Dec. 1962): 399-402.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “Some Lukan expressions of time,” Journal of Biblical Literature 82.3 (Sept. 1963): 272-278.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “Gospel study and our image of early Christianity,” Journal of Biblical Literature 83.2 (June 1964): 139-145.

Henry Joel Cadbury [1883-1974], “Name for Dives,” Journal of Biblical Literature 84.1 (March 1965): 73.

More articles from the Journal of Biblical Literature can be found here.

{1] John Nolland, “Luke 1-9:20,” Word Biblical Commentary,Vol. 35a. Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1989. pp.xxxvi-xxxvii.

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