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Curated playlist

People in the Gospel of Luke

  • JesusJesus left no writings of his own. Almost everything known about him comes from accounts by others.
  • MosesMichelangelo's statue of Moses has horns because of a mistranslation. A Latin Bible turned ray of light into horned.
  • John the ApostleJohn the Apostle, tradition says, was the only one of the Twelve who died peacefully.
  • TiberiusMobs shouted "To the Tiber with Tiberius" when Rome's second emperor died.
  • Mary, mother of JesusMary, mother of Jesus, is named more often in the Quran than any other woman. The Quran mentions her 50 times.
  • Saint PeterSaint Peter denied knowing Jesus three times on the night Jesus was arrested. Later, he three times said he loved him.
  • SatanIn the Hebrew Bible, Satan began as a heavenly prosecutor working for God. He later became the Western symbol of evil.
  • Judas IscariotIn the Gospel of Nicodemus, a roasting chicken crowed and Judas ran to hang himself.
  • Mary MagdaleneThe English word maudlin, meaning sickeningly sentimental, comes from the way painters showed Mary Magdalene weeping. The woman behind that word left no writings of her own. She is never mentioned in any of the letters of Paul or in the…
  • Pontius PilatePontius Pilate is the only person, apart from Jesus and Mary, whose name is spoken aloud in the Christian creeds. The Nicene Creed says that Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered death and was buried. The Apostles Creed uses…
  • Saint JosephSaint Joseph, the husband of Mary and the legal father of Jesus, shares his name with the most common place name in the world. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency identifies that name as the Spanish form, San Jose. Yet the man…
  • Andrew the ApostleAndrew the Apostle was one of the Twelve chosen by Jesus, yet his most visible legacy is a pattern of color. The white diagonal cross on a blue field that flies over Scotland carries his name. The same cross sits inside the Union Flag, on…
  • John the BaptistJohn the Baptist is the only saint whose birth and death are both commemorated in the Roman martyrology. He was a Jewish preacher who worked along the Jordan River in the early first century AD, and he is thought to have been born around 6…
  • GabrielIn Hadith traditions, the angel Jibril is said to have six hundred wings. Jibril is the Islamic name for Gabriel, an archangel known across Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other Abrahamic religions. In some cultures he is called Cebrail.…
  • ElijahEvery Saturday evening, as the Sabbath ends, Jewish families perform the Havdalah ceremony and sing a plea for Elijah to arrive. The hymn goes: "Elijah the Prophet, Elijah the Tishbite, Elijah from Gilead. Let him come quickly, in our day…
  • Theophilus (biblical)Two New Testament books are addressed to Theophilus, yet no one knows who he was.

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