発行者による作品情報
Mikeal Parsons, a leading scholar on Luke and Acts, examines cultural context and theological meaning in Luke in this addition to the well-received Paideia series. This commentary, like each in the projected eighteen-volume series, proceeds by sense units rather than word-by-word or verse-by-verse. Paideia commentaries explore how New Testament texts form Christian readers by attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs, showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits, and making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this well-researched, if specialized, study, Baylor University scholar Parsons draws on a wealth of resources to explore how the author of the Gospel of Luke functions as an ancient bard, an interpreter of received traditions and an evangelist of the early Church. Situating Luke in his Hellenistic and late Jewish context, Parsons locates Luke's canny control of narrative and his dramatic storytelling skills in the arts of ancient Greek rhetoric. Parsons demonstrates, for example, the ways that Luke used Greek rhetorical exercises as a means of structuring the preface to his own gospel. Luke's writing was enriched, according to Parsons, by his lively interpretations of Hellenistic ideas such as friendship and Jewish notions such as the suffering servant. As an evangelist, Luke redefined the idea of Christianity and the roles that Gentiles could play in this Jewish sect. Regrettably, Parsons's book lacks a clear unity and often reads as a collection of disparate essays thrown together without any rhyme or reason; the lack of a conclusion only intensifies the book's incoherence. Only readers with deep familiarity with New Testament scholarship will be able to wade through the Greek, the frequent references to previous scholarship and the scholarly tone of this well-meaning book.
