John T. Carroll

A solid commentary on the Gospel of Luke, focused especially on its literary themes, presentation, and "intertextuality" within itself and other Biblical literature.

In the introduction the author establishes his belief that the book was written sometime in the final years of the second century and that the commentary will take the text at face value, implicitly suggesting that the "Jesus of faith" as presented by Luke may not accurately represent the Jesus that actually existed. Nevertheless, most of the commentary takes the text seriously and seeks to understand it as intended by its original author in terms of its original audience. On a textual level, the only matter of great concern is the author's penchant for accepting the readings of Codex Bezae (D) even when against the witness of all other texts, particularly evident toward the end of the Gospel, reflecting the influence of Erman and his views on the "orthodox corruption" of Scripture. To the author's credit, even when he does accept D over the other readings, he will discuss the interpretation of the passage both according to his view of omitted sections but also, alternatively, as if the sections really were written by the original author.

The great strength of the commentary is the author's careful attention to language, the rhetorical device used by the author of the Gospel, the parallelisms and evocations of the various events in the Gospel throughout, and the deep connections between how the story of Jesus is told in Luke and the message of God's redemption and rule throughout the Scriptures. Reference is made to the other Synoptic Gospels but mostly in contrast to how Luke presents the story: this is truly a commentary on the Gospel of Luke, and not an exercise in harmonizing the Synoptics.

To this end the commentary is profitable and useful for those seeking to gain better understanding of the Gospel of Luke. Beyond the concerns noted above there is not much influence of modern scholastic liberalism or insistence on the doctrines of particular denominations; the author is writing to a twenty-first century audience and does indicate certain points of contact, but on the whole is content to explore the text as written by its author to its audience.

**--book received as galley for review… (mehr)