Greed and the Dark Powers in Luke-Acts: The Cosmic Battle from Jerusalem to Rome

Abstract

This dissertation examines how Luke interweaves socio-economic exploitation and dark spiritual powers in Luke-Acts to depict a cosmic conflict culminating in Rome. It explores the central research question: how does Luke’s narrative unify wealth ethics and spiritual phenomena in forging a theological vision of resistance to evil? The study addresses its rationale, scope, and methodology, demonstrating how literary and historicalcritical approaches illuminate the socio-economic and political backdrop behind Acts’s trajectory “to the ends of the earth.” A review of scholarship highlights discussions on wealth and poverty, spiritual warfare—including magic and exorcisms—and Luke’s stance toward the Roman Empire, identifying a gap in studies that integrate these themes. Establishing Luke-Acts as a unified, prophetic historiography, the dissertation examines dating, audience, genre, and authorship, proposing that Luke’s writings function as a retrospective theological account shaped by empire. The analysis explores Jesus’s initial battles against demonic forces in Galilee and his teachings on reversal, setting the stage for conflict with Jerusalem’s elite. A detailed exegesis of key passages demonstrates how greed and dark forces intersect in figures such as Judas, Ananias and Sapphira, Simon Magus, Agrippa I, Elymas, the spirit of Python in Philippi, and the Artemis cult in Ephesus. These episodes reveal that the misuse of wealth serves as a potent weapon of darkness, yet also highlight the Holy Spirit’s role in dismantling oppressive structures. As Paul advances to Rome, these conflicts intensify, culminating in a confrontation between the early church and economic and imperial systems under satanic influence. Despite these challenges, the Spirit-empowered witness of the early believers ultimately prevails. The conclusion synthesizes these findings, arguing that Luke consistently presents greed as an ally of dark powers while emphasising the Spirit’s power to liberate humanity from both spiritual and economic bondage. Finally, the study considers avenues for further research, including implications for postcolonial contexts and contemporary prosperity theology.