Old Testament Conceptual Metaphors and the Christology of Lukes Gospel

Extensive scholarship has been devoted to Jesus depiction in the Gospels, and how such depiction is influenced by the Old Testament. Gregory R. Lanier presents a newcase for the importance of conceptual metaphor, arguing that the Gospel of Luke employs certain metaphors reflected in Israels traditionssuch as horn of salvation, dawn from on high, mother bird gathering Jerusalems children, and crushing stonein order to portray the identity of Jesus as both an agent of salvation and, more provocatively, the one God of Israel. Setting his argument at the intersection of three sub-fields of New Testament scholarshipearly Christology, the use of Israels Scriptures in the New Testament, and contemporary metaphor theoryLanier suggests ways to overcome the low-high binary and perceive the Gospels Christology as multi-faceted. Applying metaphor theory to the influence of the Old Testament metaphors on Lukes Christology, Lanier adds methodological rigor to the tracing of such influences in cases where standard criteria for quotations and allusions/echoes are stretched thin.