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Item Open Access CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE INCENTIVES THAT UNDERPINNED JESUS’ DISCIPLESHIP IN LUCAN WRITINGS(DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES FACULTY OF ARTS NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI, 2018-06-13) Abel, Adeyemi AlamuA fully developed perspective on Luke‟s nuance of discipleship which rests on motivation had for long been neglected. This is why this thesis attempts to fill this gap. The historical-critical method which involves the consideration of the biblical text, its source and the historical context of the events in the text (social, political, economic, philosophical, religious conditions) is used in this thesis. The study has identified certain incentives in the writings of Luke which are: Jesus‟ Messianic identity; the promise of eschatological salvation; Jesus‟ act of showing mercy to the marginalized; Jesus‟ miracles; Jesus‟ teaching and teaching prowess; Jesus‟ resurrection; ascension; the Pentecost experience; fellowship of disciples, and Jesus‟ continual guidance. It is the conclusion of this thesis that it is inadequate to develop a discipleship outlook from Luke‟s writing without the incentives embedded in that phenomenon. That means incentives inextricably underlie discipleship. Therefore, contemporary discipleship must be driven by the right motivations or incentives in order to achieve sustainable growth and triumph as that of Jesus and his early disciples. The contribution of this thesis to the subject of discipleship include the following: (i) the study has put forward a fully developed Lucan perspective, which integrally involved his nuance of incentive; (ii) taking advantage of the poor conditions in many parts of Africa especially Nigeria to reduce or equate following Jesus (discipleship/Christianity) to a means of only solving present problems is an aberration of Jesus‟ kind of discipleship; (iii) the thesis suggests that it is helpful to emphasize the meaning of discipleship as traveling on the way of the Lord. The thesis observes lack of interest of African biblical scholars on the theme of discipleship and thus recommends that they need to focus their attention on it to help produce profound foundational works that will guide and enrich the practice of discipleship in the churches and among Christian groups across the continent.