According to Luke: Redefining Authorial Intent in Literary Theory

Abstract

This project defines intentionality more comprehensively than the traditional understanding by including the unconscious and unintended social elements of a text. To that end, I discuss relevant aspects of Cultural Studies including ideology; microculture, and macro-culture while exploring how these elements relate to literature. Through examining of the Gospel of Luke, I demonstrate that intention is not coextensive with meaning. When Luke, or any author, makes a statement, his secondary or latent presuppositions should be almost as important as his primary intent in determining ultimate meaning. I show that culture and authorship are intimately linked and that a proper reading is one that accounts for unintended elements of meaning. This project’s primary aim is not an examination of Luke, per se, but is rather the examination of the language, ideology, and social factors as they work in and through an author. As a result of his unique cultural position, Luke offers an excellent text to consider. My aim is not to elevate the theory at the expense of textual analysis but, rather, to develop a fuller understanding of the literary doxastic practice and thereby come to a fuller understanding of authorship itself. Through all of this, I unabashedly promote our interdisciplinary approach as the superlative theory.