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O, Excellent Theophilus
hey guys,
im doing a sunday school project about theophilus the man st.luke adressed his gospel and the book of acts to, According to our sunday school teacher he does not actually exists becals theophilus means lover of god so he sugests that st.paul adressed these two to all that love god and me opening my big mouth had to ask a question and now i have to do a project about it ive been looking on google and found nothing of use so plz if anyone knows anything about this and could let me iknow i would greatly appreciate it
thx in advamce
aghape,
chris
im doing a sunday school project about theophilus the man st.luke adressed his gospel and the book of acts to, According to our sunday school teacher he does not actually exists becals theophilus means lover of god so he sugests that st.paul adressed these two to all that love god and me opening my big mouth had to ask a question and now i have to do a project about it ive been looking on google and found nothing of use so plz if anyone knows anything about this and could let me iknow i would greatly appreciate it
thx in advamce
aghape,
chris
Comments
I once read that Theophilus was a holy rich man from the city of Alexandria, Egypt, but I do not remember what was the source.
I can help you by 2 ways:
1- you can find book by Fr. Tadros Malaty on the interpretation of the Book of St. Luke on this web sites: http://www.stgeorge-sporting.org/books/index.htm
The book is in Arabik, If anyone can help you reading it.
2- You can post your question on www.suscopts.org , To His Grace Bishop Yousef. GO to RESOURCES and click on question & answers. God help you in your research.
Not much to say on this buddy. The scholars I consulted identify Theophilus as an historical person to whom the narrative is directed, though "the prologue form itself indicates that it is being released for wider public dissemination." (Dr Green, Joel. B., A commentary on the Gospel of Luke, page 40)
Your suggestion that Luke was referring to all the "beloved of God", due to the fact the narratee's name indicates a symbolic audience, on the basis of the etymology of the word, is highly unlikely, for the following reasons:
1) Theophilus is a common name which is found in the papyri and inscriptions as early as the 3rd century B.C.
2) The appellation "most excellent" would seem quite out of place and pointless
3) Such a symbolic dedication seems unparalleled in Luke's literary culture i.e. no precedent.
Although no one knows who this Theophilus is, whom Luke had in mind - the title "most excellent" was usually reserved for Roman political officials - so we know its a person of somewhat advanced status.
In this reference, Luke seems to be recognizing the role of Theophilus in providing inspiration or at least impetus for his writing, and especially that, though Theophilus's recommendation and circle of freinds and influyence, Luke's book would have gained a much wider audience.