Luke

“With this outstanding new commentary on the Gospel of Luke by Mikeal C. Parsons, Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament adds another stellar volume. This lucid, concise commentary displays the distinctive strengths that Parsons has brought to a distinguished career as scholar and author. With a keen eye for the literary artistry of Luke’s narrative, impressive knowledge of Luke’s cultural environment, and an ear carefully tuned to the rhetorical design and impact of this Gospel, Parsons provides a reliable guide for readers of Luke. On a variety of selected themes the commentary offers brief and provocative theological reflections that engage the religious imagination and allow the narrative’s ethical vision to gain a fresh hearing by contemporary readers. I am pleased to give this book my enthusiastic endorsement.”—John T. Carroll, Harriet Robertson Fitts Memorial Professor of New Testament, Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, Virginia; co-chair of the SBL Section on the Gospel of Luke

“Since his groundbreaking Departure of Jesus in Luke-Acts in 1987, Mikeal Parsons has been a leading voice in Lukan studies, and this outstanding Paideia commentary marks his latest important contribution to the field. Rich with illustrations and informative sidebars, this text not only explores the first-century literary, rhetorical, historical, cultural, and theological contexts of the Lukan narrative but also carefully interprets the final form of Luke section by section and distills critical theological issues raised by the Lukan text. No one is better suited than Parsons for the task of creating such a multifaceted commentary on the Gospel of Luke, and he delivers an innovative and helpful work—brilliant yet succinct and accessible.”—David B. Gowler, Pierce Chair of Religion, Oxford College of Emory University

“Contract a Greco-Roman historian, a literary critic, and a theologian—or commission Mikeal Parsons! Filled with rich interdisciplinary and intertextual insights, Luke in the Paideia Commentaries is vintage Parsons: tersely brilliant.”—David P. Moessner, A. A. Bradford Chair and Professor of Religion, Texas Christian University

“Mikeal Parsons deftly navigates through Luke’s Gospel, attending to its rhetoric, theology, historical context, and interpretive history. His rich engagement with the text itself makes this companion volume to his Acts Paideia commentary a welcome read.”—Brittany E. Wilson, Duke University Divinity School

“Mikeal Parsons’s Paidea commentary on Luke adds to the growing appreciation of the literary and rhetorical environment in which the Gospels were written. Parsons’s close attention to the rhetoric of the narrative—his exposition of and at times delight in the various devices and figures that help to advance Luke’s story of Jesus—will reward many readers. Rather than focusing on historical elements behind the Gospel story, Parsons allows us to see and at times hear the way the ancient audience might have heard this story of Jesus. Working with a rich understanding of ancient literature and rhetorical education, Parsons leads the modern interpreter to a richer appreciation for the context of this Gospel. He allows the various texts that would have been present for the ancient audience, including but not limited to other Gospels, to help inform a deeper understanding of Luke’s rhetorical strategy. This will certainly be an important volume for readers of both Luke and the Gospels in general.”—Mark A. Matson, associate professor of Bible, Milligan College