Customer Reviews

Luke-Acts and New Testament Historiography (Ibr Bibliographies)

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This book is part of the IBR, Institute of Biblical Research, series of bibliographies published by the Baker publishing group. The earliest of these books appeared in nineteen eighty and regular contributions are still being published. Baker has even reprinted individual volumes from time to time, however, almost all of these books are currently out of print although many of the individual volumes are available in the used book market. This particular volume on Luke-Acts was originally published in nineteen ninety-four and reprinted somewhat later in the decade without changes and updates. Therefore, this is largely a pre-nineteen nineties assemblage of titles bearing on Luke-Acts. Furthermore, the series maintains a policy of listing English or English translated works in at least ninety five percent of the cites. Within these stated limitations, each volume of the series provides between five and six hundred sources with publisher information and a short abstract of the material covered in each source. The vast majority of cites are for books rather than articles which is a boon to readers not blessed with access to a seminary library or a first rate university library at a school with a religious studies program and/or a department of theology.

The authors of this volume on Luke Acts are both highly respected scholars. Both are affiliated with schools having ties to the American Baptist Convention. Therefore, there is a slight bias in favor of conservative and mainstream scholarship. The works cited are divided into three sections of about fifty or so pages each. One section is on the theology of Luke-Acts. A second section is on the historiography of Luke-Acts. And, the third section covers everything else including bibliographies, commentaries and more. These sections are further broken down into sub-sections facilitating the ease of use of this bibliography. From Henry J. Cadbury forward, most prominent English language scholars of Luke-Acts are included. The section on the historiography is the strongest, but even here, inclusiveness is not achieved. For example the works of B. H. Streeter, Vincent Taylor, and other scholars following them are absent. I could illustrate other examples, but space does not permit me to do so. Therefore, one star is duly deducted. And, of course, there are another ten thousand or so book length considerations of Luke-Acts that did not make the cut. Also missing is the vast scholarship on the topic in the German language. In spite of all my quibbles, I find this bibliography extremely useful. I recommend it most highly to both serious students and scholars of Luke-Acts.