Nearly 200 years before Eusebius was born, Luke announced his intention to "write an orderly account" of events related to Jesus Christ, based on careful investigation of "everything from the beginning" (see Luke 1:1-4). With this project, encompassing Luke and Acts, the physician established himself as the earliest church historian—in some eyes, anyway.

The Lucan books were considered reliable history almost universally before the nineteenth century. Then an influential school of thought centered at Tübingen University, Germany, attacked on several fronts: Luke's reports of miracles, his obvious theological aims, the suspicious similarity in voice and ideas among the author and everyone he quotes. A cadre composed mostly of British scholars fought back, and more recent investigations into the contours of ancient historiography have shown Luke to be more trustworthy than many of his contemporaries. Still, the place of his works in the biblical canon makes comparison with other historical ...

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