Hearing the Silence

Synopsis: In this refreshingly unique book, Bruce Longenecker demonstrates that reading Luke's narrative is richly enhanced through attentiveness to what is tantalizingly left out of the Lukan narrative. In Hearing the Silence, the reader is invited to delve deeply into literary and theological dimensions of the Lukan narrative through an exploration of Jesus' strangely under-narrated "escape" in Luke 4:30. The options for interpreting the mechanics of that curious event are brought into dramatic relief by Longenecker's survey of the scene's reconstruction in Jesus-novels and Jesus-films, in which a variety of strategies have been employed to iron out the scene's narrative oddity. Against their backdrop, Longenecker's own constructive proposals bring the reader into direct contact with some of the most significant features of the Lukan Gospel and worldview. Endorsements: "'But the dog did not bark!' Sherlock noted. Now Bruce Longenecker, with a similar steely detective-like resolve, explores one of the most perplexing silences in the Gospel of Luke. Specifically, what actually happened to Jesus on the edge of a hill in Nazareth, that he was able to walk away scot free from an angry mob? With literary sensitivity, Longenecker demonstrates how the silence of details actually speaks volumes ...God is at work to reveal the liberating power of the kingdom of God by preserving the messianic deliverer in the midst of evil. An engaging read!" --Michael Bird Professor of Theology and Bible, Crossway College, Brisbane, Australia Author of Colossians and Philemon: A New Covenant Commentary (Cascade, 2009) "This is an entertaining book with a serious point. Longenecker takes his readers on a captivating journey from the absurd to the sublime. Focusing on a single 'gap' in the text of Luke's Gospel, he starts with novelistic attempts at filling it (the absurd) and ends with deft reflections on how Luke crafts a narrative Christology (the sublime). With this highly innovative approach, Longenecker deepens our appreciation of Luke's Gospel, while also bearing testimony to the mystery of Christ." --George Hunsinger Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systematic Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary Editor of Thy Word Is Truth: Barth on Scripture (2012) "Longenecker proposes a 'christological arc' for hearing Luke's narrative as a whole: the one who undergoes the eucatastrophic 'escape' from the enraged townsfolk of Nazareth and is 'taken up' by divine custody from his death by his nation to fill out the greater, overarching blessing to Israel and the nations. The author's wit and imagination for filling in the 'gap' of Luke 4:30 through the ...'arc' of Psalm 91 outsmarts even the most creative Jesus novelists ...in making sense of Jesus' mysterious 'passing through their midst'--stimulating, provocative, a delight to read!" --David P. Moessner A. A. Bradford Chair of Religion for Biblical Studies, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth Author Biography: Bruce W. Longenecker is Professor of New Testament and the W. W. Melton Chair of Religion in the Department of Religion at Baylor University, Texas.