Customer Reviews

The New American Commentary Volume 24 - Luke

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Robert H. Stein, a capable evangelical scholar, has given us perhaps the best volume of the NAC series. It is well-written and insightful, giving good treatment to the introductory matters and contextual issues. The one disappointing feature of the commentary, however, whether it by by the creation of Stein or the editors of NAC, is the format of the verse-by-verse notations, instead of opting for a continuous paragraph format. This feature makes the commentary seem tedious. However, this is offset by a discussion of the context of each pericope followed by a theological discussion of each passage. I've used this book twice as a textbook for undergraduate courses on Luke. While the commentary is long, the theological exposition makes it the best choice among one-volume commentaries.

Stein's commentary does a good job of balancing technical specifics with the broad themes and message of Luke. Though his writing style is readable, his terseness can be irritating at times -- one wonders whether a complete technical treatment of Luke (or any other gospel) can be adequately set forth in only one volume.

Stein's outlook is decidedly conservative Baptist, but his treatment is even-handed. My main complaint is the amount of time Stein spends rebutting more critical (i.e. liberal) views of Luke. His rebuttals are overly brief to the point of being cryptic, and few of them are footnoted, leaving one to wonder whose views are being rebutted. Because the rebuttals are so brief, a beginner would find them confusing, while an expert would find them conclusory and unsupported. Personally I would have preferred more emphasis on pastoral application than on responses to criticism, but then again, I'm a layman, not a professional scholar.

For a pastor or teacher who chooses this commentary, I would recommend using it in combination with a commentary that has more emphasis on the pastoral. I was very happy using Stein in conjunction with J.C. Ryle's commentary.

This is the closest I've ever come to reading a commentary cover to cover. Stein's contribution to the NAC series is a helpful intermediate level work. The commentary for each text unit is structured by three categories.

1. Context

2. Comments

3. Lukan Message

Though the Comments section usually occupies the most space, the context and Lukan message section are most helpful.

The author does not pay a lot of attention to grammar and syntax except in obvious places. The footnotes are often the location for his discussion of the latest scholarly controversy at hand and were almost always worth reading. Though you never felt like you exhausted a passage like with NICNT, you felt moderately informed about the major issues involved in the text at hand.

To sum it up, I feel the need to read, though no longer buy, any more commentaries on the Gospel of Luke and thus recommend it to you.

I find this book to be full of all information required to study the Gospel of Luke intensively. It gives not only the information on the dating of the book, but the authorship, the reasons why it was written and to whom it was addressed to, Theophilus. Luke teaches us to how to understand the Word of God through the ministry of Jesus. This comentary explains explicitly each verse by verse in the Gospel of Luke to give an understanding that you can walk away from and retain this information. I really gained alot of knowledge coming from my Bible and referring to the comentary for deeper explanations.