Luke’s prologue is distinctive among the Gospel texts because it is written in excellent classical Greek, showing that Luke is consciously writing a literary work. Many have preceded Luke in composing Gospels, relying on the oral testimony of eyewitnesses who handed down the tradition. Luke has also decided to compose a Gospel; one cannot demonstrate from the text that he has decided to do this because he thought the previous Gospels were inadequate or inferior. Indeed, verse 2 implies that Luke trusted the reliability of the previous accounts. Luke then displays his credentials for writing a Gospel. His investigat…