Luke the Evangelist

== Authorship of Luke and Acts ==
{{see also|Authorship of Luke–Acts}}
The Gospel of Luke does not name its author.{{sfn|Sanders|1995|pp=63–64}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2000|p=43}}{{sfn|Senior|Achtemeier|Karris|2002|p=328}}{{sfn|Nickle|2001|p=43}} The Gospel was not, nor does it claim to be, written by direct witnesses to the reported events, unlike Acts beginning in the sixteenth chapter.{{sfn|Ehrman|2005|p=235}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2004|p=110}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|p=143}} However, in most translations the author suggests that they have investigated the book's events and notes the name (Theophilus) of that to whom they are writing.

The earliest manuscript of the Gospel (Papyrus 75 = Papyrus Bodmer XIV-XV), dated {{c.|lk=no}} AD&nbsp;200, ascribes the work to Luke; as did [[Irenaeus]] writing {{c.|lk=no}} AD&nbsp;180, and the [[Muratorian fragment]], a 7th-century Latin manuscript thought to be copied and translated from a Greek manuscript as old as AD&nbsp;170.{{sfn|Brown|1997|p=267}}

The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles make up a two-volume work which scholars call [[Luke–Acts]]. Together they account for 27.5% of the [[New Testament]], the largest contribution by a single author.{{sfn|Boring|2012|p=556}}
[[File:De heilige Lucas schildert de Madonna - Maarten van Heemskerck-1532.JPG|thumb|''St. Luke painting the Virgin'', by [[Maarten van Heemskerck]], 1532]]