What are the sources of information for the Gospel of Luke?

A:In spite of the later attribution to the apostles whose names they now bear, all the New Testament gospels were written anonymously. It is widely accepted among scholars that the author of Lukerelied on Mark's Gospel for everything he knew about the life and mission of Jesus, copying much of the material in exactly the same Words in the Greek language. There is no better evidence for this than the 'Missing Block' in Luke's Gospel. Luke's Gospel does not incorporate any material from Mark 6:47 to Mark 8:27a, a total of 74.5 verses that were probably on exactly 13 pages of Greek text missing from the copy of Mark's Gospel relied on by the author of Luke. This Missing Block results in the curious conjunction found in Luke 9:18 "And it came to pass as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them ..." These clauses are more meaningful when found in Mark at the start and end of the Missing Block.

The author of Luke also relied on the hypothetical 'Q' document for sayings attributed to Jesus. Luke appears to have used the works of Josephus to provide historical background material, certainly for Acts of the Apostles and most probably for the Gospel.