Luke–Acts in the context of "Gospel of Luke"

The Acts of the Apostles (Koine Greek: Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, Práxeis Apostólōn and Latin: Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament. It recounts the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message across the Roman Empire.

Acts and the Gospel of Luke form a two-volume work known as Luke–Acts by the same author. Tradition identifies the writer as Luke the Evangelist, a doctor who travelled with Paul the Apostle, though the text is anonymous, not naming its author. Critical opinion remains divided about whether Luke the physician wrote it. Many scholars still regard the author of Luke–Acts as a companion of Paul, although they note tensions with the Pauline epistles. Most scholars treat Acts as historiography, though focus is more on the author's aims than on settling questions of strict historicity. Scholars usually date the book to 80–90 AD.

The Ascension of Jesus (anglicized from the Vulgate Latin: ascensio Iesu, lit. 'ascent of Jesus') is the Christian and Islamic belief that Jesus ascended to Heaven. Christian doctrine, as reflected in the major Christian creeds and confessional statements, holds that Jesus ascended after his resurrection, where he was exalted as Lord and Christ, sitting at the right hand of God. Islamic doctrine holds that Jesus directly ascended to heaven without dying or resurrecting.

The Gospels and other New Testament writings imply resurrection and exaltation as a single event. The ascension is "more assumed than described", and only Luke and Acts contain direct accounts of it, but with different chronologies.

The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles make up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts. The author is not named in either volume. According to a Church tradition, he was the Luke named as a companion of Paul in the Pauline letters, but critical views at the end of the 20th century were evenly divided about whether Luke the physician wrote it, with a consensus noting the differences with the Pauline epistles. Most scholars date the composition of the combined work to around 80–90 AD.

Many scholars believe Luke the Evangelist to be a Gentile Christian, though some scholars think Luke was a Hellenic Jew. Nearly all ancient sources supported this theory of authorship. The identification of Luke as a physician comes from Colossians 4:14 and 2 Timothy, but both are viewed by most New Testament scholars to be pseudonymous. Much discussion concerns the “we” passages, though there currently exists no scholarly consensus.