“The Text of the Ascension Narratives (Luke 24.50-3; Acts 1.1-2,9-11).”

In view of recent forceful challenges to the authenticity of the so-called “longer (non-Western) text” of Luke 24:50-53 in conjunction with calls to treat individual Western readings more seriously, this investigation undertakes a critical reexamination of Lk 24:50-53 and Acts 1:1-2,9-11 in light of external evidence, transcriptional probabilities, and Luke’s style and theology. It concludes that a development from the B-text to the Western text yields a more convincing and consistent explanation of the evidence than the reverse. The Western reviser quite consistently removes any suggestion that Jesus ascended physically into heaven. The 2nd- and 3rd-century christological controversies provide a most plausible setting in which such a radical reinterpretation of the ascension narrative could take place (C.R.M. in NTAbstr 40.3, 1996, p. 428).